Tuesday • 6/13/2023 
Tuesday of the Third Week After Pentecost (Proper 5) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 61; Psalm 62; Deuteronomy 30:11–20; 2 Corinthians 11:1–21a; Luke 19:1–10 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we draw insights from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. Today is Tuesday of the 2nd Week After Pentecost, and our readings come from Proper 5 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

In Deuteronomy, Moses calls for, and in Luke, Zaccheus exemplifies, simplicity of vision and purity of passion. What we find in 2 Corinthians is that these are the very things Paul has worked to instill in the Corinthian church. Paul sees a threat to the simplicity and purity of faith in the different view of Jesus, of the gospel, and of the Holy Spirit being foisted on the Corinthians by false teachers who claim to have greater credentials and deeper knowledge than Paul.  

Sometimes our enemies make us better. In this case, Paul is pushed, for the first time in his writings, to portray the church as the bride of Christ. She is betrothed to Christ, but her chastity is being threatened by seducers: “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2–3).  

In painting this portrait, Paul recalls the Bible’s long story arc about God marrying his people to himself. Later, and in a context of less pressing circumstances, Paul elaborates on the metaphor of Christ as Groom and the Church as Bride, composing a lovely description of the mystery of the love relationship God has been building between himself and redeemed humanity (Ephesians 5).  

For now, though, Paul utilizes this powerful image of Eve’s deception to warn the church against being seduced by smooth-tongued pseudo-teachers. We can only dimly make out the contours of their teachings: 

Another Jesus. Paul’s opponents exude an air of superiority. Theirs is a Jesus who promotes pride rather than humility, and competitiveness rather than kindness. This “other Jesus” is a chaplain for the successful—a Jesus who has no place for the “nobodies,” and who shoves the “have nots” to the rear of the line (1 Corinthians 1:28; 11:22).  

A different spirit. Thus, for Paul, the chief mark of the Spirit of God is love. For the Corinthians, it’s power. Paul has accepted financial support from the impoverished Macedonian church, but has refused support from the prosperous Corinthian church. Paul knows that the Macedonians give because they love, but that the Corinthians give because they want to put Paul under obligation to themselves. The Corinthians understand the Spirit of God when the Spirit inspires tongues and creates miracles. But they misunderstand the Spirit when the Spirit lovingly says “No” to their manipulative ways.  

A different gospel. Accordingly, theirs is a gospel that is unfamiliar with “the foolishness of the cross” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). Their gospel has little room for Paul’s: “…Christ died for our sins…,” much less his “…he became sin for us…” (compare 1 Corinthians 15:3 with 2 Corinthians 5:21). They would be unable to make sense of the Book of Common Prayer’s Palm Sunday prayer: “Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” 

The devil: posing as an angel of light. Though the false message seems flattering and appealing to the Corinthians’ ego, Paul points out that it is ultimately degrading. He says the false “super-apostles” are “deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:13–14). These false teachers, insists Paul, are enslaving the Corinthians, exploiting them, taking advantage of them, behaving arrogantly toward them, and slapping them in the face (2 Corinthians 11:20). Behind the veneer of light (their Jesus for winners, their spirit of self-aggrandizement, their Cross-less gospel) lies a deep abyss of darkness. The logic was well captured in C. S. Lewis’s sketch of the mind of the Devil in his The Screwtape Letters: “We (devils) want cattle who can finally become food; He (God) wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over.” 

Today’s passage presents a healthy check for all of us: is our Jesus a Jesus of humility, or of pride? Does the Spirit within us prompt love for others, or put us on a quest for power or control or influence for ourselves? Does our gospel have as its centerpiece, “Christ died for our sins”? In the wrong answer to these questions lies the path to death, in the right answer, fullness of life.  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+