Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10

The preacher may wonder what this text contributes to reflection on Ash Wednesday. After all, in the sequence of readings, it lies between the two texts that more directly address our pastoral concerns for the day. Psalm 51 is the classic presentation of a devout human being recognizing “transgressions” and throwing themself on the mercy of God. One thinks, for example, of the posture of Simon Peter falling down at Jesus’ feet and saying to him, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8). What follows for both Peter and the speaker in Psalm 51 is a changed and redirected life. 

On the other side of this reading from 2 Corinthians are Matthew’s instructions for practicing a life changed and redirected by the teachings of Jesus. In Matthew’s community, the practice of piety looks very different from the religious showmanship of “gentiles” and Matthew’s opponents. At best, what they will get out of such displays is recognition, maybe even admiration. Matthew uses the words of Jesus to sketch the profile of those who will in the end “receive the Father’s reward.” They exhibit the attitude of the psalmist who seeks the “truth in [one’s] inward being” that God desires and the “wisdom in [one’s] secret heart” (Psalm 51:6). 

So why bother with this selection from 2 Corinthians? Because behind it is “church drama,” where themes from Psalm 51 and Matthew’s text take shape in human behavior. Some of these behaviors are all too familiar in the practice of pastoral ministry. At issue are complaints from a congregation about Paul’s leadership and challenges to his authority as a “real” apostle. 

Throughout his correspondence with the Corinthians, Paul is trying to explain himself and justify his behavior. This excerpt from that correspondence offers a glimpse of what is at stake. Like anyone in his position, Paul often falls into a defensive stance and sometimes goes on the attack. In this letter, Paul is responding to what must have been a recent visit that didn’t go so well for him. To bring the matter closer to home, let’s imagine that a “congregational meeting” has been called where Paul is addressing some of the specific complaints leveled against him; he is trying desperately to shore up his authority to shape the community’s “life in Christ.” 

Among the charges are these: that he is “carnal or worldly” (10:2–3), that he is not a good speaker and his “bodily presence is weak” (10:10), that he has “acted dishonorably” (11:7–11). Apparently he is facing a call for a new style of leadership (11:12–13) from those he scornfully calls “false apostles,” who (like those that Matthew calls out) “boast” about their credentials, visions, and other achievements in their spiritual lives. All of this has brought Paul to the brink of losing the right to lead this congregation. 

In order to write such a candid letter, Paul must have done the kind of self-examination that the season of Lent encourages for all of us. He must have spent time reviewing his sincere intentions for his ministry, for he says of it, “We are not putting any obstacles in anyone’s way,” as if that counts as a defense against his detractors. Despite sincere intentions, he ends this passage with an accusation: “There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours” (verse 12).

One almost wishes for more of the tone of the penitent and less defensiveness in the letter. Instead of “talking like a fool” (11:17), we wish that he sounded more like the speaker in Psalm 51: “For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me” (verse 3). Frankly, when he speaks of all that he has endured, he sounds too much like the characters who “disfigure their faces” to look “dismal” as they “practice their piety before others in order to be seen by them” (Matthew 6:1). Listing what he has endured seems like an effort to redirect the Corinthians’ attention away from where he failed to live up to their standards and expectations of him. 

You get the point. Even Paul is not perfect, and he is not handling this challenge from the Corinthian church like a perfect spiritual leader. Nor is he surrounded or confronted by perfect followers of Jesus Christ. None of us are going to perfectly handle a Lenten discipline—neither the church, nor the pastor. All of us will come for the imposition of ashes with something in our lives that is broken and hurts. We are painfully aware that in spite of our best efforts, we fall short. Which one of us wouldn’t want to “do better” and “be better”? 

We can see our own struggle in Paul’s to arrive at a right relationship with God, ourselves, and others. For Paul, a fruit of reconciliation with the Corinthians would be to “work together” with a healthy regard for how God’s grace works in a life and in a community. 

In the simple act of imposing or receiving ashes, we get a lesson in God’s grace. Grace reminds us that the dust we come from and the dust to which we will return is God’s raw material for making human life. Grace is a movement that draws us deeper into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and toward reconciliation with others. Grace has prepared a place where we can be ourselves with God. Grace has given us the season of Lent where we learn to let go of what was and is no more. Are you ready to accept the gift of God’s grace?