9Paul's second letter to the Corinthians explores the meaning of the cross in terms of personal suffering--his own, and that of all the Messiah's people. If in Galatians he is angry, if in Philippians he is joyful, in this letter his deep sorrow and the raw wounds of his own recent suffering are very apparent. Yet he is determined to view all of his suffering and all of the troubles of the world through the lens of the gospel. These studies by Tom Wright on this powerful epistle point us toward the strange comfort to be found in the suffering, death and resurrection-life of Jesus, the Lord of the world.