8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. 10 We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, 12 and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day. – 1 Corinthians 4:8-13
When Jesus was walking with the crowds he told them a parable. The particular parable I have in mind, is the one where laborers are called to work in a vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16), some in the early morning hours, some a mid-day, some mid-afternoon, and the final call for laborers near the end of the day. At the end of the work, there was grumbling among those who worked harder and longer that they were paid exactly what was agreed upon. Their anger wasn’t necessarily at the pay, but at the workers who came in much later and made the same wage as they.
Jesus says this parable as an analogy of what it is like in the kingdom of heaven. The difficulty we have in our society is that we seem to always expect more. I know I was taught to not complain about work, to get up early, to work hard, and be rewarded. I would assume many of us were taught the same. We, most of us know the value of a hard day’s work. However, we see (and complain) when someone seems to always have an easy road, living on easy street without having (by our perception) any hardship along the way.
Paul, in the passage above, speaks of the seemingly easy road the Corinthians are living. Corinth, of all the first century churches we know about, was the most wealthy. They did seem, to the rest of the world ,to live like kings. However, what we know about this church is that there were plenty of divisions within. They argued about everything, and Paul, who in my opinion, speaks with a great deal of cutting humor, speaks to them as the children, like which they were acting.
They had it so well, and could have been great among the churches, could have supplied so many ministers, support for ministries, they could have done much for the kingdom of heaven, but instead they spent their time arguing among themselves. Instead of laboring for the kingdom, they disputed about things that in the long run wouldn’t matter.
Truth is, they still receive the reward of the kingdom of heaven, for they had faith in Christ. But for those who know the value of hard work, or even from Paul’s perspective in writing this letter to them, we might be tempted to judge. However, just like the vineyard owner in the parable, Paul’s remarks remind to offer blessing for the last as well as the first. For we all belong to God.
Grace & Peace,
Sam