Glimpses of Glory – 2 Corinthians 4

A text – 2 Corinthians 4:3-6

4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
4:5 For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.
4:6 For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

A reflection:

The Apostle Paul is writing to the congregation in Corinth, a very cosmopolitan city in Greece, south of Athens on a crossroads of land and sea travel. The folks there felt very sophisticated and urbane, and Paul knew it. They liked to show their smarts.

So here, when Paul says that the good news (gospel) of Christ is veiled or hidden, how do you think these sophisticated Greeks felt about that? Since this gospel had been made known to them and they believed it, they may have been a bit smug about what follows in Paul’s letter. “It is veiled to those who are perishing,” he says. “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers” to keep them from believing in the true God, Paul says. Then in verse 6, Paul says that God “has shone in our hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Paul is making the case that God shone through Paul to the Corinthians and that is how they came to have the knowledge of Christ. It wasn’t anything the Corinthians knew or did that gave them the gospel. It was God’s doing. The Corinthians in their smugness would have to admit they’d received wisdom from outside themselves.

How did Paul himself, when he was still Saul, first encounter the truth about Jesus? You remember the story of his journey to Damascus, holding orders from the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem to persecute the followers of Christ. You remember that suddenly a dazzling light from heaven flashed around him, and he fell from his horse. Perhaps Jesus appeared in his transfigured form, even. It was enough to un-horse Paul. And then a voice from heaven called to him. Even the men traveling with him heard the voice, but they saw nothing. This blinding glory, as we learned from our gospel reflection on Monday, was reserved for a very few to witness. But Paul witnessed it and was blinded. And he never forgot it. It was a gift from God that forever changed him.

What gifts from God do you consider life-changing? Are there such gifts in your life? I don’t say thank you every day for the ones in my life, but I ought to, because they always give me a glimpse of what is good and perfect and deep and shining in a world that often isn’t. Praise to God for these gifts. We don’t earn them. We don’t make them. We receive them as mere beggars and delight in them.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for the glimpses of your glory that you have given us over the years. Help us to regularly appreciate them and thank you for them. Help us to remember that you are our loving parent who provides all we need for a good life.  Amen.