Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honour, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day. (1Corinthians 4: 8-12)

There are basically three ways of communicating. The explicit depends on our ability to know and say precisely what we mean. This is usually the best form of communication. But when offering critique the explicit can provoke defensiveness and ensuing argument.

The implicit depends on a readiness of the listener to hear our meaning. This is often the most effective way to offer criticism of another. But if the other is not listening carefully or not inclined to self-criticism what is implicit can be missed or easily ignored.

The ironic offers the opposite of what we mean in such a way that our meaning is felt even more than heard. It is a powerful mixture of implicit and explicit. Irony can be especially effective in puncturing an inflated sense of self: our own as well as another's.

Is the crucifixion a profound irony? Above is a 14th Century Russian Orthodox icon.