STRENGTH FROM WEAKNESS 2 Corinthians 12:1-10; Mark 6:1-13 We live in a culture that s not very comfortable with weakness. Its power and strength that is valued above all else. As human beings we ve all experienced moments of weakness and vulnerability but very rarely do we let it show. We learn very early in life and the world teaches us to conceal our vulnerability, so we won t be hurt, to hide our weakness, so no one will take advantage of us; to camouflage our inadequacies with self-confidence, self- reliance and self- assurance. And we certainly don t like the kind of weakness that Paul talks about in his second letter to the church in Corinth. The kind that is a thorn that stays with you The kind that may perhaps never be removed. We d rather focus on stories of triumph over weakness. I wonder sometimes if the church Hasn t become just as uneasy as the world with weakness. Have we become a people who believe it is up to us to overcome our weakness, to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make our life an award winning event so that everyone will be impressed? The Corinthian church that Paul spent 18 months nurturing and establishing had definitely lost sight of the value of weakness and the role Christ plays in it. The idea of strength from weakness made no sense to them. After all, strength and weakness are opposites. Logically, they don t go together at all. Weakness is bad, and to be avoided at all costs.
So Paul writes a letter to the church in Corinth, A church that had become very dear to his heart. It had become a very successful church. But since his departure a group of people have showed up and stepped in as leaders boasting about their superiority and calling into question Paul s credentials. The way they have decided to do it is to undermine Paul by challenging his authority as an apostle. They are having some success with these efforts. Paul labels them sarcastically as super apostles (2 Cor 11:4-5, as he writes to the Corinthians to defend his authority as an apostle to the Gentiles. The list of accusations is pretty stunning. Some of the people that are making these accusations are people Paul has nurtured in their faith This is very painful experience for Paul. He loves these people deeply And this is what he gets in return. They say of Paul that he s a second rate apostle, a hypocrite bold in his letters but underwhelming in person. In contrast to his "weighty and strong" letters, they mock his physical presence as "weak." His speech, they say is contemptible." (2 Cor 10:10) Moreover these so called super apostles begin a campaign to require potential ministers to first demonstrate that they have had a super spiritual, ecstatic or mystical experience; an experience that they can use and recount to illicit a wow response from their parishioners. At the base of these accusation this church in Corinth is used to being entertained by these impressive, powerful, eloquent preachers. They ve enjoyed sitting in pews being awed by stories of mystical experiences that have really knocked there socks off.
What did Paul really have to offer compared to these other leaders? Paul has heard enough and he s alarmed for the well-being of the church in Corinth. Their maturity, their life is at stake. Paul shoots back with energy and a pretty mocking tone he says - you want me to boast about a mystical experience sure I ve had one, and I ll give it to you in the third person, its pretty spectacular, it happened 14 years ago and I m not going to tell you what it s about because only God knows what it means. Sure I ve had a mystical experience, an exceptional one at that, but what does that prove. He began to list his credentials. He hated to do this, but his opponents were driving him to it. Then he backed off and said, maybe I shouldn t take this path of boasting, except of my weaknesses. Then he spoke about his thorn in the flesh. a messenger of Satan. What was his thorn in the flesh? Scholars have been creative in their suggestions: Some have said the thorn was psychological depression, Other bad eyesight, still others ulcers or epilepsy. Three times, Paul says, he appealed to the Lord That this thorn would leave him But it didn t. He had to learn to live with it. He heard God say my grace is sufficient for you For power is made perfect in weakness. In this divine no, Paul understood more clearly the nature of God s power. If his opponents boasted of spectacular things, Paul was obliged to boast of his weaknesses,
not because weakness itself was glorious, but because it was the arena in which Christ s power was most clearly displayed. Therefore, Paul says, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamites, for the sake of the Christ. His final statement is without question one of the most quotable quotes in the Bible: whenever I am weak, then I am strong. What a contrast with his opponents misguided philosophy, When I am strong (in personal power), then I am strong (in spiritual things). What is the gift of weakness for you as you seek to live your life of faith? Where are your thorns in the flesh? For we all have a thorn. We all have something we have to learn to live with. Where does your faith and witness meet resistance, if not outright rejection? Have you, in your strength, been tempted to think that the life of faith is all of your own doing? Real strength is not something we can get on our own. Whether we re the picture of health or struggling with a life threatening disease, whether we re at the height of success or convinced that nothing we touch will ever blossom again whether we re absolutely secure in our faith and can talk easily and openly about it or are confused, timid and not quite sure what we believe, hear this good news: Real strength emerges out of a continuing relationship with God. God enters our weakness and transforms it into strength for God s own purposes. The power that raised Jesus from the dead, the power that left the cross empty as a sign of victory rather than defeat,
is the power that God promises to you, to me, to all who come to God in weakness. In our Gospel lesson for this morning, the people of Nazareth fail to acknowledge or recognize God at work in Jesus their hometown boy, and recite his family history as proof that he is just one of them, that his teaching is a sign of over-reaching and perhaps even arrogance. We might do well to examine our preconceptions about whom we consider "worthy" of leading or teaching us. How do we even begin to look at one another with the eyes of God, to see in the most unexpected of people those whom God has chosen to lead? Would we really have chosen the youngest one, the one out with the flocks, to be anointed as the next king? Would we really open our hearts and minds to a hometown kid, someone we ve known all of our life? Could anyone of importance really come from here, from us? How faithful, how open, are we to God s transformative power in our lives? How open are we to being challenged, especially by the unexpected, unlikely people sent by God to do just that. Jesus then sends out his disciples to continue and expand his ministry and to be God's agents at work in the world, traveling light and depending on God to provide all that they would need. The followers of Jesus do this not by their own power or authority, but by the authority and power Jesus has placed in them, "sent out," as ambassadors to preach Jesus' message, in Jesus' name. And they are enabled, through the power of Jesus, to do amazing things.
Jesus knows that the journey and the work will be hard, but he sends out his "ambassadors with very little besides the good news, each other, and a walking stick, perhaps for safety, perhaps for support. We so often practice evangelism as a ministry to bring people to church It can be a challenge to picture ourselves taking the good news out on the road, out into our lives, out into the world that hungers for it. If we focus too much of our time, energy and resources on the physical plant of this church, we might grow dependent upon it, seeing it as our possession or as a security blanket. Don't think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment. The more vulnerable we realize that we really are, the more open we can make ourselves to the presence of God, and the deeper our faith. The more we try to protect ourselves, to control our lives, and avoid pain and weakness, the more we cut ourselves off from the presence of God, and the weaker our faith. That means the very path to discovering new strength is through embracing and facing our weaknesses. But in order to do that, we have to take the step of faith that God s grace truly is sufficient for us. We can only discover that strength if we entrust ourselves into God s hands. Taking the step of faith is a risk that opens us up. It can be a scary thing for most of us. Like the people at Nazareth, we often feel safer with our doubts than taking the risk of faith. But the only way we can truly experience the sustaining grace of God is to take that risk. When we take that step of faith,
we discover the truth in Paul s affirmation that when we are weak, then we are strong. It can be all too easy to focus on our limitations; our weaknesses, our handicaps. It s easy for us to use them as excuses to not fulfill our potential, to not become who God has created us to be. But when we do that we limit God and the power God has to work through us, work in spite of us, and do amazing things through us. One of Canada s treasures is Jean Vanier, a philosopher, theologian and humanitarian. Vanier came from a prestigious family, his father was a former general governor of Canada. Jean had all the security, status and income anyone could ever want. He joined the Royal Canadian Navy just after the Second World War and was on a career path which would have led to a top position in the Canadian Navy. But he left it all to take the risk of searching for deeper purpose and meaning. He found purpose and meaning through his Christian faith when he met some special human beings with developmental disabilities. Vanier discovered a whole other world not available to him in his former life of strength, power, money and security. Vanier founded L Arche (French for Ark) which welcomes people with developmental disabilities so they in turn can live with people who don t have such disabilities. What Jean Vanier discovered in his life work is that those with the more obvious developmental disabilities can help people like you and me with our spiritual disabilities. Don t be afraid of vulnerability and weakness. Don t see your disabilities as something to hide. Vulnerability and weakness can be a pathway to love, friendship, compassion, empathy, understanding and openness. It s okay to know who we are in our weakness and vulnerability, and to accept that we have limits. As human beings we are beautiful even when we are fragile.
When we discover this truth our need to judge others, be better than others, or protect ourselves from others falls away. We discover a common humanity and we discover joy, freedom and peace in being together rather than fighting against others or seeking to prove we are better than them. Earlier this year Jean Vanier was awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize. worth 1.7 million US He donated the money to the L Arche communities he founded, which are located all around the world. Jean Vanier, was awarded the Templeton Prize for his innovative discovery of central role of vulnerable people in the creation of a more just, inclusive and humane society. Rev. Dr. Harris Athanasiadis a minister in Toronto says: Every one of us is vulnerable. Every one of us has weaknesses and limits whether we come face to face with them yet or not. The beginning into something new is to discover our deepest purpose, freedom, and hope as human beings how to love and how to open ourselves to love, how to accept others and how to accept ourselves, how to let others be themselves and how to allow ourselves to be who we are; how to forgive others and how to acknowledge our need for forgiveness; how to support other on their journey as we welcome support on our journey Facing the truth of our weakness and vulnerability is the beginning to finding a different kind of strength, one more resilient and more powerful than all the power, money, success, health and security life in the world can ever provide. [True Weakness, True Strength, Rev. Dr. Harris Athanasiadis St. Mark s Presbyterian Church, Toronto; We all have our stuff. For some, it is just more visible than for others. The challenge for us on the road of faith, is to embrace it as part of our humanity and welcome others to join with us along the way. God s is beyond sufficient for each and every one of us.