Dem Let Am Down Inside Basket

Midnight for Damascus. Guards dey watch every gate. High up for di city wall, one window open with small noise. One big basket, with one man wey fold imself inside, dey go down slowly inside darkness on top rope.

Many years after dat night, Paul dey write to di church for Corinth. Some teachers wey visit there don dey show off. Dem dey boast about dem Jewish family line, how dem fit talk well, dem spiritual experiences, and dem dey look down on Paul. Paul call dem, with small irony, super-apostles. E hate boasting. E call am to talk like fool. But e be like say boasting dey impress di Corinthians, so Paul decide to follow di game, only dis one time. If na credentials dem want, e go give dem credentials. Only say no be di kind wey dem dey expect.

Dem be Hebrews? Me too. Dem be Israelites? Me too. Pikin-pikin of Abraham? Me too. Dem be servants of Christ? I dey talk like mad man now, Paul talk, but I pass dem. And then e list im record. E work harder pass. Dem put am for prison more times. Dem beat am more times wey e no fit count, many times near death. Five times e receive di synagogue punishment of thirty-nine strokes of whip. Three times dem beat am with rod. One time dem stone am. Three times ship scatter with me, one night and one day I dey inside deep sea. One whole night and day, e dey float for open sea.

Di list continue. Journey after journey. Danger from rivers. Danger from robbers. Danger from im own people and from Gentiles. Danger for city, for wilderness, for sea, and from false friends. Hard work and tiredness, plenty nights wey e no sleep. Hunger and thirst, many times without food, cold, without enough clothes. And on top all of dat, every day, di pressure to care for all di churches. Who dey weak, and I no weak? e ask. When anybody fall, e dey burn me for inside. Then Paul talk di thing wey turn boasting upside down. If I must boast, I go boast about di things wey show say I weak.

And for im final proof, Paul tell di oldest story, di one wey shame pass. For di very beginning, just after e meet Jesus, e dey preach for Damascus. Di book of Acts tell us say people there plan to kill am, and dem dey watch di city gates day and night. Paul add say di governor under King Aretas put guard round di city to arrest am. So one night, im friends carry am, put am inside basket, and let am down through one window for di wall. Through one window, inside basket, dem let me down by di wall, and I escape from im hand. No be hero wey charge. One great apostle, wey fold imself like market load, dey escape for darkness.

Roman people wey read am for catch one joke here. Di Roman army dey give one special award, di mural crown, to di first soldier wey climb up and cross enemy wall. Di writer Aulus Gellius list am among di military honours of Rome. Di wall story wey Paul dey proud of pass na di opposite: na im be di first person wey go down di wall, dey run inside basket. Some scholars think say e choose dis story on purpose, to laugh at boasting itself.

Dem let am down inside basket. You go find am for Second Corinthians chapter eleven, verse twenty-one to thirty-three, and for Acts chapter nine, verse twenty-three to twenty-five. One man wey fit boast about many things, but e choose to boast about weakness, because im strength come from God. So see one question wey you go carry dey go. How e go be if you stop to dey try impress people, and trust God with di places wey you weak?