Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Tone 5. Return of the Relics of the Holy Apostle Bartholomew (829-42). Holy Apostle Titus.
2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4. Matthew 22:1-14.
Read 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4
Three is the most unstable number in human relationships. As closeness occasionally shifts between the different groupings of two and one according to interests, activities, and personalities, there can be the risk of one person feeling left out and the other two feeling undeservedly resented. Communication is essential in such situations for understanding each other’s actions and intentions.
Paul’s words in today’s epistle reading communicate his heartfelt intentions toward the Corinthians because his actions were at risk of being misunderstood. He had purposely delayed a further visit to them at that time. Due to conflict within the Corinthian church and opposition to his apostleship, in-person contact would be counter-productive because it would be so fraught with pain. Instead, Paul exercised his apostolic authority and pastoral appeal by letter.
God is always the third party in any human relationship. Whether His voice is given priority over all others, disregarded, or not heard at all, that unstable number of three always exists in any human relationship of two because God is always there, loving and calling.
Paul says that his primary relationship and calling was with and by God. His decision to be physically absent was not an absence of love, it was a discernment regarding how to love. We are not apostles, but Paul includes us with him as being established in Christ and commissioned. We too are not only called to love but to be engaged in discernment about how best to love. And part of that calling – sometimes a difficult part – is to communicate with the other person. But effective, meaningful communication is not only about speaking but also about observing and listening. Paul heard the Corinthians’ pain and reassured them that they were not being left out of their three-way relationship with God.