Transcript:
Greetings, beloved in Christ. I am coming to you from our pilgrimage in the Footsteps of Paul, and today we find ourselves in the Agora, the marketplace, the center of the city that was Corinth.
In Paul's day, Corinth was a city of over 300,000 people. And Paul and Priscilla and Aquila, I imagine, had one of these booths, and as they made tents, they proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ. We know that Paul ran into opposition in his 18 months here. He was brought before the judgment seat, which is close by, and he was absolved by Gallio, and Gallio told his opponents to go away.
It is powerful to be here and hear the words of 1 Corinthians 13 read aloud, even as we hear the chimes from the Orthodox church nearby, to hear Paul's central message of love, that the love of God has been poured into us through Jesus Christ, and that love takes on a particular form. Paul talks about how things pass away, and if you look around these ruins, you can see that the city of Corinth passed away from its great glory. But he reminds us that three things remain constant: faith, hope, and love.
Blessings.