The opening of this scene from Amos is funny to me. “The Lord held up a plumb line and asked me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, ‘A plumb line.’” But it doesn’t stay funny. Amos is a prophet, but his timing is a bit different from many. We expect God to speak a harsh word when the people are failing, running after false idols and so on. Then, when things aren’t going well, we expect God to guide the people to repentance and when they do repent to regain prosperity.

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In today’s passage from Second Corinthians, we join Paul as he is wrapping up what is known as his “Fool’s Speech.” It is called that because in the preceding chapter he said he would boast as a fool. He says that because he is trying to navigate between two important factors.

First, the church at Corinth has been disrupted by a number of false teachers who have visited and shared false teaching about God and Christ. These false teachers tended to claim special visions that conflicted with Paul’s testimony and that of the other Apostles. So Paul has affirmed his authority as an Apostle. He does not approach that as an issue of status, but rests entirely on the truth of what he says as consistent with the other Apostles.

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