This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:

IRAN SAYS OLYMPIC LOGO SPELLS ZION 

2 Corinthians 11: 7-21

7 Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news to you free of charge? 8I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. 9And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way. 10As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. 11And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

12 And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about. 13For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds.

16 I repeat, let no one think that I am a fool; but if you do, then accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. 17What I am saying in regard to this boastful confidence, I am saying not with the Lord’s authority, but as a fool; 18since many boast according to human standards, I will also boast. 19For you gladly put up with fools, being wise yourselves! 20For you put up with it when someone makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face. 21To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!

More of Paul’s anger spills out in this extract, but in the details he gives we gain valuable insights into his missionary practice. He preaches the gospel “free”, that is, he doesn’t billet himself and his associates on his converts, but uses support from established church communities. Sometimes, we know, he worked for his own keep, in his trade as tent-maker. This care for new converts is used by his opponents to suggest that he has less affection for them than for other churches. We can see that this sort of deliberate denigration must have been hard to counter. The more unlikely the accusation the harder it is to provide evidence against it. (Iran’s loony claim about the Olympic logo’s a case in point)

Paul also deals with the issue of “boasting.” We would call it hype. The super-apostles have hyped their credentials to gain power. Paul notes that the Corinthians are dissatisfied with his modesty but are charmed by those who take advantage of them. He makes an ironic apology for being too weak to do that.

The use of hyped religion to gain power and money has a long history which continues today. Shamefully some of what is called Islamic extremism is nothing more that a particularly dangerous version of it. The institutionally super-hyped Vatican has been doing this job very successfully for years. Super-evangelists muscle into reformed denominations estranging believers from their more sober leaders. All this is the same kind of thing that got up Paul’s nose and deserves contempt.

Matthew 6:16-23

16 ‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

where your treasure is....

22 ‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

More of Jesus’ evangelical wisdom is found in today’s passage from Matthew. The kind of people Paul calls “super-apostles” Jesus calls hypocrites. Any religious duty, like fasting can be used as an opportunity for display. Jesus points out that people who play to the gallery are rewarded by the applause of the gallery. God rewards those whose dutifulness is concealed from men because it is done for God alone. The vast pageantries of established religion and the manipulated ecstasies of popular sects are equally guilty of having half an eye on God and one and a half eyes on the public. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German theologian and martyr understood  importance of this strand of Jesus’ teaching, calling it the “secret discipline” and advocating it as central to the life of a Christian person in secular society.

Jesus’ teaching on wealth is also shrewd. Where many religious and ethical teachers point to importance of the heart’s affection and teach that wealth may be used in the service of good causes, Jesus notes dryly that “heart and treasure go together”-the heart’s true affection will belong with a person’s wealth. If their wealth is material they will be materialist; if spiritual, they can also live spiritually.

True faith, according to Jesus alters a person’s fundamental perception, her eye. Perception can illuminate bodily existence, but if it is warped it will darken it. This wisdom is similar to that of the good tree producing good fruit. Good deeds issue from a more fundamental “rightness” designated by the good tree or the healthy eye.

It is astonishing to me that such radical wisdom is not taught in every university ethics course and even more, in every church programme of character development.