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February 25, 2000At the end of chapter 2, Paul abandons his treatment of specific events and their explanation, and launches into a long digression on the nature of his ministry and his qualifications for it. The liturgical readings for today and the next four Sundays of Ordinary Time are from this part of Second Corinthians.
Although the connection of this digression with what precedes it is not totally clear, we still find traces of the work of the critics that we have seen before. They seem to have been complaining that Paul presented himself in Corinth without appropriate documentation, without letters of recommendation that would attest to the authenticity of his apostolate and his previous activity. Moreover, he hadn’t received any recommendation from them to present at the next stages of his apostolate.
Paul doesn’t want to have anything to do with such things. He says in our reading that he has no need of letters of recommendation to or from the Corinthians. Their very existence as a Christian community is enough to recommend him. That, and Paul’s affection for them, give abundant testimony to anyone who wants to understand that Paul’s work is authentic apostolate. Moreover, this "letter" constituted by their faith is not a piece of paper written on in ink like the credentials of other preachers. It’s not even a set of stone tablets like the Ten Commandments that Moses received. Paul’s "letter of recommendation" is Christ’s doing, written by the Holy Spirit on their hearts and his. Paul says that that’s all the certification he needs. Of course this qualification for mission and the confidence that his successful preaching instils in him are not based on his own achievements. They come from God through Christ. God has established him as minister of a new covenant of life that replaces the ineffective written covenant of the old law. Paul’s apostolate is God’s doing.
Paul’s defense of his own importance as an apostle and his grateful awareness of his success invite us to reflect about what importance and success mean for us. The two concepts are related, but they have different overtones.
Importance is a state of being, being of significant worth or influence. There are lots of reasons why people are considered important. It can be because of their credentials, generally accepted testimonies to their talents and abilities, like having Ph.D. or M.D. after one’s name. It can be because of the office they hold. The president of the United States is important. It can be because of the resources they have at their disposal. "Of course he’s important. He owns half the town." Sometimes people are important because of the value they are given by others. A movie star is important to his or her fans and children are important to their parents.
Success is more concerned with outcomes. A successful person is one whose efforts have yielded positive and desirable results. She worked her way through college and law school and is now managing partner of the biggest firm in the city. She’s a success. He has taught for twenty years and has published seven learned books. He’s a successful scholar. They worked hard and raised five wonderful children. They’re successful parents.
Importance and success are not bad things. Today’s reading shows us that Paul himself had some interest in them. We all want to be important in some way because being important involves the recognition of our worth and if there is no context in which we are important, nobody to whom we are important, it means that we are without worth. We all want to be successful, too, because success involves using our talents and gifts to better ourselves and others and if we are totally unsuccessful it means either that we had no abilities to start with or that we have wasted them. We are all persons of worth and ability, made so by God, and it is not inappropriate want to have that worth acknowledged and see that ability produce results.
But we have to determine very carefully where we want to find importance and in what context we want to pursue success. How significant are superficial importance and transitory success that have nothing to do with our fundamental calling as children of God? Being rich and famous won’t do much for us when we stand before a Father who isn’t impressed with such things. Being fabulously successful, gaining the whole world, in fact, won’t be of much consequence if we haven’t given adequate attention to the main project and purpose of the life the Lord has given us.
The real secret of importance and success is that we are not the owner of our life but its steward. Like Paul, we are ministers of the Lord, His servants called and gifted by Him to carry out His plans. No testimonial to our importance, no evidence of our success is of any value whatsoever unless it is certified by its origin in the Lord’s generosity and its usefulness for His purposes.
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Conversation Questions:
What is important in my life? Why?
What have been my greatest successes?
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