Pastoral Reflections III ~ Pastoral Authority: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11,especially vs. 8:
"how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?"
St. John Chrysostom when referring to his own call to pastoral authority, drew an example from the secular world and expressed strong doubts about his own personal adequacy to bear the authority of a Pastor: "if anyone in charge of a full-sized merchant ship, full of rowers, and laden with a costly freight, were to station me at the helm and bid me cross the Aegean or the Tyrrhene seas, I should recoil from the proposal at once." So far as the priesthood is concerned, St. John admits frankly, "I know my own soul, how feeble and puny it is; I know the magnitude of this ministry, and the great difficulty of the work: for more stormy billows vex the soul of the priest than the gales which disturb the sea."
St. John's assessment of the priestly ministry is fair. Who is equal to the holy service of God? In today's reading, St. Paul reveals the only possible basis by which any man can reasonably assume pastoral authority. Note, however: what he teaches is pertinent to every Christian, because, being frail human beings, all who share in the life of the Church, ordained and lay alike, are far from equal to the demands which come with membership in the Body of Christ.
St. Paul fully trusted his authority as an Apostle (vs .4). He knew he was no peddler of the word of God' (2 Cor. 2:17) in need of written "epistles of commendation" (2 Cor. 3:1) to secure his position. As he pointed out to the Corinthians, "you are our epistle...written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God" (2 Cor. 3:2,3). Whence was his confidence? "through Christ toward God" (2 Cor. 3:4). The Lord Himself had confronted Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, brought him to repentance, and given him authority as His Apostle (Acts 9:3-15).
Every person who unites himself to Christ and then extends love to the undeserving, speaks against fraud or injustice, refuses to lie, cheat or indulge his cravings, is acting on a similar "trust through Christ." Every such act participates in the pastoral work of the Great Shepherd and bears in itself the full authority of God. Such is our powerful yet humble position!
Despite having received his credentials for ministry directly from the Lord, the Apostle Paul remained modest: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves..." (2 Cor. 3:5). He viewed himself as a mere recipient of the powers of an Apostle. Later in this Epistle, after describing an amazing array of achievements (2 Cor. 11:22-12:4), he says bluntly, "of my self I will not boast except in my infirmities" (2 Cor.12:5).
How then could St. Paul function as an Apostle? "...our sufficiency is from God, Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant" (2 Cor. 3:5). In what manner? by the working of the Spirit; "for...the Spirit gives life" (vs. 6). Whenever our Faith is challenged and we are called upon to stand up for the Gospel, we too can anticipate that God will make us sufficient in and through the indwelling presence and action of the life-giving Holy Spirit.
St. Paul was confident because he knew that his efforts would last. Looking back historically, who can say that he was not absolutely correct? What made him certain in that early period? He suggests: "...if the ministry...written and engraved on stones was glorious...how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?" (vss. 7-8). There is no comparing the earlier, partial revelation of the Mosaic law with the Incarnation of the Lord and His gift of the Spirit. All other ministries are superseded in Christ (vss. 9,10). Christian Faith "is much more glorious," for it endures into all eternity. No cup of water given in the Lord's Name is wasted (Mt. 25:37-40). Let the Faith, which we have received give us confidence before God.
It is meet and right to worship Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity, one in Essence.