When our boys were young and I wanted one to do something, I would sometimes chide: “Your brother has already….” Often the end result was disregard. But, in the beginning, this achieved results!
Paul, on a different level, is doing the same thing in 2 Corinthians 8:1-7! Paul exhorts the Corinthian church to do what the Macedonian churches have already done: take up a collection for the economically strapped Jerusalem “Mother Church.” Although the Macedonians have suffered severe affliction and are extremely poor, their joy and poverty have overflowed (How can poverty overflow?) in a wealth of generosity (How can poverty lead to wealth?). Further, their generosity is voluntary, not only according to their means, but even beyond their means (What does “beyond their means” mean if they have no means?). In fact, the Macedonians have begged earnestly for the privilege (How can the “underprivileged” beg for privilege?) of sharing in the ministry to the saints (Shouldn’t the Macedonians be calling upon the saints to minister to them?).
The Macedonians are the reverse of our expectations. Paul knows this. Yet, Paul is “sensitive” to the Corinthians. While holding them up to the Macedonians, Paul “praises” the Corinthians for their excellence in faith, speech, knowledge, utmost eagerness, and in being loved. With such overflowing gifts, do not the Corinthians wish to excel in the generous giving to the Jerusalem church? Sly Paul! My parental heart applauds him!
Yet Paul is not sly for the sake of seeing his collection project achieved. Paul is clear about this. In vs. 5, he notes that the Macedonians gave themselves first to the Lord and then by God’s will, to “us”–Paul and the collection. The grand question is: Why? Why did the Macedonians engage is such radical, unexpected giving?
The key is in vs. 1: the Macedonians have received God’s grace. Interestingly, the Greek word translated here as “grace” and referring to God’s grace in vs. 1 appears throughout this Jerusalem collection passage. In vs. 4, it is translated “privilege;” in vss. 6 and 7, as “generous undertaking.” English hides it (!), but grace is flowing through this text! And this overflowing grace in the Macedonians’ giving, that Paul urges of the Corinthians, is born of God’s grace given in vs. 1. So, what is God’s act of grace? Paul says: Jesus Christ. We can only know God’s voluntary, freely given graciousness in Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Risen One, through the power of the Holy Spirit. And, it is God’s voluntary, free gift of Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit that turns the world upside down: naming peoples who do not know each other (such as Macedonians, Corinthians, and Jerusalem-ites, and those beyond the church) as sharing, caring, new family: creating wealth from poverty, turning takers into givers, because God’s grace in Christ through the Spirit is so astounding, so unmerited, that those who receive can only in joy respond and give, witness and proclaim to all the world this Good News!
Dr. May Burt Persaud
Instructor in Biblical Languages
Wartburg Theological Seminary
