Day 344: The Thorn in Paul's Side (2024)
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Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds, and how we fit into that story today. It is day 344. We're reading Acts of the Apostles, chapter 23, as well as the second letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapters 12 and 13, the conclusion of St. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. And we're reading Proverbs, chapter 29, verses 8 through 11.

As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on Subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates. It is day 344. We are reading Acts chapter 23, 2 Corinthians chapters 12 and 13, the conclusion of 2 Corinthians, as well as Proverbs chapter 29, verses 8 through 11. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 23.

And Paul, looking intently at the council, said, Brethren, I have lived before God in all good conscience up to this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck? Those who stood by said, Would you revile God's high priest?

And Paul said, I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest. For it is written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. With respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead, I am on trial.

and when he had said this a dissension arose between the pharisees and the sadducees and the assembly was divided for the sadducees say that there is no resurrection nor angel nor spirit but the pharisees acknowledge them all then a great clamor arose and some of the scribes of the pharisees party stood up and contended we find nothing wrong in this man what if a spirit or an angel spoke to him

And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and bring him into the barracks. The following night the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, for as you have testified about me at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also at Rome. The Plot to Kill Paul When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.

there were more than forty who made this conspiracy and they went to the chief priests and elders and said we have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed paul you therefore along with the council give notice now to the tribune to bring him down to you as though you were going to determine his case more exactly and we are ready to kill him before he comes near

Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush. So he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. And Paul called one of the centurions and said, Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell them.

So they took him and brought him to the tribune and said, Paul, the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you as he has something to say to you. The tribune took him by the hand and going aside, asked him privately, what is it that you have to tell me? And he said, the Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him.

But do not yield to them, for more than forty of their men lie in ambush for him, having bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you. So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, Till no one that you have informed me of this. Paul is brought to Felix the governor.

Then he called two of the centurions and said, At the third hour of the night, get ready two hundred soldiers and seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea. Also, provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor. And he wrote a letter to this effect. Claudius Lysaeus, to his excellency, the governor Felix, greeting.

This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. And desiring to know the charge on which they accused him, I brought him down to their council. I found that he was accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against this man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.

So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. And the next day they returned to the barracks, leaving the horsemen to go on with him. When they came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. On reading the letter, he asked to what province he belonged. When he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, I will hear you when your accusers arrive. And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's Praetorium, the second letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians. Chapter 12

Paul's visions and revelations. I must boast. There is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to the visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.

Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Paul's concern for the Corinthian church.

I have been a fool. You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I am not at all inferior to these superlative apostles, even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you in all patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong. Here for the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours, but you."

For children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you the more, am I to be loved the less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by guile. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves before you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. For I fear that perhaps I may come and find you not what I wish, and that you may find me not what you wish. That perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned before and have not repented of the impurity, immorality, and licentiousness which they have practiced. Chapter 13. Further Warning. This is the third time I am coming to you. Any charge must be sustained by the evidence of two or three witnesses,

I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warned them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again, I will not spare them. Since you desire proof that Christ is speaking in me, he is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful in you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we are weak in him, but in dealing with you, we shall live with him by the power of God. Examine yourselves to see whether you are holding to your faith.

Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test, I hope that you will find out that we have not failed. But we beg God that you may not do wrong. Not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right. Though we may seem to have failed, for we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. What we pray for is your improvement.

I write this while I am away from you, in order that when I come, I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority which the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down. Final greetings and benediction. Finally, brethren, rejoice. Mend your ways. Heed my appeal. Agree with one another. Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. The book of Proverbs chapter 29 verses 8 through 11. Scoffers set a city aflame, but wise men turn away wrath. If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs and there is no quiet. Bloodthirsty men hate one who is blameless and the wicked seek his life.

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man quietly holds it back. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you so much for this. Thank you for this day. Thank you for your word. We thank you for speaking to us and for pushing us. Thank you for inviting us into our weakness. Thank you for inviting us to a place of humility, to a place where we need to place our trust in you.

Help us to put our trust in you this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So, St. Paul, Acts of the Apostles, chapter 23. Once again, St. Paul's on the ropes. Once again, here's St. Paul on trial. We led up to the trial yesterday in chapter 22 before the chief priest in the council. That's what opens it up, right? And

It's interesting because the fact that they included this portion of the story before the council where he snaps back at the high priest and then they say, hey, that's the high priest. And he says, oh, whoops, sorry, I take it back. I didn't realize you're the high priest. It might be kind of just a fun piece of trivia in the sense that this happened while he was in front of the council, but it also could be a deeper lesson. And that deeper lesson being, you know, St. Paul in his letter to the Romans chapter 13, he talks about obeying those who are set over you. And even St. Paul in essentially kind of apologizing

apologizing right away about snapping back at the high priest. He says that, yeah, it's written in the law to not do that. And so you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. And so St. Paul is demonstrating not only that he has manners, I guess, but St. Paul is also demonstrating that he knows the law and he's before the council, which is going to be very preoccupied with the law. He demonstrates that he has a familiarity and a desire to, you know, in some ways uphold the law. But St. Paul gets out of this whole thing by, you

once again, you know, making the dichotomy or the argument not about him trying to convince you to agree with me as much as he realized, hey, there's Sadducees and there's Pharisees here. So how about this? How about I get them fighting with each other? And he does, because he says, he doesn't lie about it, but he says, I'm on trial because of the resurrection of the body, resurrection of the dead. And it's very clever. And so well done, Paul. You know, that's

That's pretty great. Also, I really like the fact that it's Paul's nephew who usurps the plot to kill Paul. It's one of those situations where it's just kind of a small deal, but it's also...

We realize there's so much about Paul that we don't know. We know Paul was unmarried. We know that he had a sister. We know that his sister had at least one son. And my guess is that here is this son, this nephew of Paul's, who was also a believer in the Lord Jesus. Maybe he wasn't, but he did work to save Paul's life. So that's good on you, nephew of Paul. Imagine him calling him Uncle Paul. But what a gift that is in that sense of just

Here's part of the story and how not only do brothers and sisters in Christ come to each other's aid, but even that extended family, you know, nephews and nieces and uncles and aunts, that kind of situation of just here we are in the family of God, but here in Paul's own family, in his family by blood that he was rescued that day. Now in 2 Corinthians, the conclusion of 2 Corinthians, St. Paul, once again, gets a little bit salty. And, you know, remember he's been criticized at this point.

Because there are some who have come along, these superlative apostles, and they have misled people. And St. Paul, as we said yesterday, is jealous, not jealous of their attention, but he's jealous of the hearts of the Corinthian Christians. And so St. Paul is just doing everything he possibly can to win their hearts back.

But even in this, of chapter 12 of 2 Corinthians is one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible. St. Paul begins by talking about a man I know. And this is one of those situations where like, hey, I have got this friend and he's got this rash, this kind of, that kind of situation. Here is St. Paul who says, I know a man who in Christ 14 years ago was caught up into the third heaven, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. Basically, he's talking about himself. That's the consensus. The general consensus is that St. Paul is talking about himself, but kind of like, hey, there's this guy who once had this happen to him. Um,

But it's him because later on he says, on behalf of this man who will not boast, goes on to say, verse 7,

And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh. So it's like, okay, this other guy 14 years ago has this incredible experience encounter with God. This is beyond description. And in order for me to not become too elated. So it makes the most sense that this is actually Paul that he's talking about. But the part that is fascinating is not just the fact that here is God who gave him this abundance of revelations.

but this thorn in his side, we don't know what the thorn is. We don't know if that's a physical affliction, like he was sick. We know he had problems with his eyes. Maybe that was what it was. It could have been a mental illness. It could have been a sin, a temptation in his life that he had a difficult time overcoming. It could have been a deeper spiritual wound that he just experienced. We don't know what it was, but we do know that he begged the Lord three times to take it from him. And God's response is incredible. God's response, Jesus said to him,

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. My power is made perfect for weakness. I think sometimes when we're wrestling with a weakness, when we're wrestling with sin maybe in our lives, maybe it is physical ailment, we just want God to take it away. And I know sometimes there's that sense that I want God to take away this temptation. I want him to take away this sin because I don't want to sin anymore. I don't want to fail him anymore. I don't want to break his heart anymore. But sometimes it's, I just want to be done with this.

And if we asked why it'd be so that I don't need to rely upon his grace anymore. You know, in some ways I want this to be over because right now I have to walk in faith. Right now I have to, I call out to the Lord every single day, every moment of every day saying, God, please help me take this next step. I want this to be over so that I don't need to rely upon him so much anymore. In some ways, that's what we're saying. But Paul here get this message from Jesus saying, no, my grace is sufficient. It's enough.

for my power is made perfect in weakness. And St. Paul gets so converted by this. He says, I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon me. And now he doesn't boast. He said that, oh, I'm fine now. I can boast in Jesus. He says, no, I boast in my weaknesses. It goes on for the sake of Christ. Then I'm content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. I'm content.

And I wonder about that for myself and for all of us who are part of this community, all of us who are walking through this world. Am I content with weaknesses? Am I content with insults? Am I content with hardships and persecutions and calamities? Or would I say, no, I still buck against them. I still kick against them. I still rail against them. I still rage against them. Or is there a place where I say, you know what? Okay, Lord, it's come to my attention that this is your will for me, that this is what you're allowing in my life.

And so rather than kick against them, I'm going to accept them. Rather than fight against them, I'm going to lean into them. And when I lean into them, I'm going to lean into you, into your love and your mercy. I'm going to trust you. And so I'm content with weaknesses. I'm content with afflictions. I'm content with calamities because in Christ, as St. Paul says, he says, because when I'm weak, then I'm strong.

What a gift to end 2 Corinthians like this. St. Paul still has some salt for the Corinthians, calling them back, pointing out to them that he hasn't demanded anything from them. I don't want your stuff. He says, I just want you. And yet this is what the Lord says too. So often we can be on defensive against people who would use us. And that's true. But we don't have to be on the defensive against the Lord because he doesn't want our stuff. He just wants you. That today, this is maybe what you need to hear.

The Lord, he doesn't want to destroy your life. He just wants you. He doesn't want to break your heart. He just wants your heart. And so I'm praying that this day, once again, you give it to him. Please pray that once again, I give it to him. We pray for each other. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.