Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle
[Go to Mission St Clare for an online version of the Daily Office including today’s scripture readings.]
Today’s Readings for the Daily Office:
Psalms 34 (morning) // 96, 100 (evening)
Isaiah 49:1-6
1 Corinthians 4:1-16
In today’s second reading, selected for the feast day of Andrew the apostle, Paul has some firm words and some sarcasm for a group of Christians in Corinth. They seem to believe that the kingdom proclaimed by Christ has made them not apostles, but kings. They feel satisfied, rich, and powerful. As Paul writes mockingly, “Already you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you!”
From Paul’s perspective, though, the kingdom doesn’t make us like kings, but like apostles. The Corinthian Christians thought that Christ had made them wise, strong, and well-respected. Paul had learned something quite different through his apostolic ministry: Christ made apostles like him look like weak fools, brought them into disrepute, left them hungry and thirsty. Paul and his fellow apostles are “like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things.”
It wouldn’t hurt to make a little more room in our own vision of the kingdom for the Corinthian experience. Although the kingdom might not make us as rich and powerful as kings, it may give us some share of wisdom, contentment, and strength. What Paul reminds us is that this inheritance doesn’t come all at once or right away. The kingdom isn’t something we rule, but something we wait for as striving apostles. Especially in this season.
Lora Walsh blogs about the Daily Office readings at A Daily Scandal. She serves as Priest Associate of Grace Episcopal Church in Siloam Springs and assists with adult formation and campus ministry at St. Paul’s in Fayetteville, Arkansas.