March 13, 2019
Hope Lutheran Church
Lenten Service
Psalm 91; 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Hope in Weakness
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
“For whenever I am weak, then I am strong,” (2 Corinthians 2:10).
St. Paul was no stranger to suffering. The book of Acts reads like an action novel as we travel along with the narrative of Paul’s missionary journeys. He was imprisoned on multiple occasions; he endured shipwreck; he suffered physical infirmity when he visited the Galatians. But the hallmark of St. Paul is that his hope never flagged. Our reading from 2 Corinthians ends with his gem: “For whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
The demands of life have a way of grinding us down. Life is a marathon! It keeps coming at us, presenting us with demands and unexpected curve balls. When you sustain one setback after another, it’s hard to keep your spirits up.
Our near-record snowfall this winter has taught us that. One or two big dumps we can handle. But they just kept coming and coming and coming! We’re just plain done in by it all. After this last snowfall on Sunday, I knew it’s been an extraordinary winter when I was grateful that we received only six inches of snow! In any normal winter, that would have been a big storm.
But snowstorms and rain showers are nothing in comparison to life’s big challenges: prolonged illness, hard financial times, facing continual criticism from a mean boss, carrying a crushing load of unending duties and responsibilities. Life can be very discouraging.
When we feel weak and worn, it’s a struggle to stay in the game. Hope wanes. We’re tempted to throw in the towel and give up.
In our reading this evening from 2 Corinthians, we catch a glimpse of a prolonged challenge that dragged on St. Paul. He calls it a thorn in the flesh. There’s been endless speculation as to what this tribulation was. One line of reasoning is that he suffered from some ongoing physical malady. Some think that Paul suffered from a difficulty with his sight, for he writes that the Galatians were ready to tear out their own eyes and give them to Paul.
Others speculate that it was something of a more spiritual nature, a spiritual weakness. Paul says a messenger of Satan was sent to torment him. Perhaps he felt a pull of temptation? Maybe he was troubled by a perceived character flaw.
We don’t know what it is, and maybe not knowing is more powerful for us. We can insert our own struggle in its place. What is your thorn? What burden would you like to be relieved from? What malady sticks to you as persistent as a piece of statically charged cellophane? Imagine that Paul suffers from it, along with you.
Paul takes it to God in prayer. “Please, Lord, if it’s possible, could you relieve me from this thorn?”
Paul reflects on his life. He realizes just how blessed he is. In so many other ways, he has attained spiritual heights he never imagined possible. Spiritually, his life has soared into the heavens like a high-flying kite. But this one, nagging problem keeps him tethered to the ground.
Paul sees a relationship. Lest he become too boastful, does this thorn keep him grounded? A kite needs an earthly anchor. It can’t attain its tremendous heights without the tension provided by its anchor. Does Paul’s thorn do the same for him?
Nevertheless, he’d love nothing more than to be freed from it. He prays – not once, not twice – three times. “Dear Lord, deliver me from this evil.”
What makes the story of Paul’s thorn so powerful is that it’s so relatable. Who among us hasn’t done the same? That persistent, troubling problem that just won’t go away. It’s always in our prayers.
The profound answer Paul received was not what he expected. In fact, he receives two answers. The first one is this: “My grace is sufficient for you.”
God was saying to him, “Paul, you may have a very tough challenge. But I will never leave you with more than you can endure! My grace is sufficient for you. It will see you through.”
Several years ago I came across a story about a critically ill boy in a hospital. The school district in that particular city utilized a tutorial program for hospitalized students or when they had lengthy sick leaves. That way the children would stay up to date with the rest of their class.
So one of the tutors received a call to visit a boy in the hospital. The boy’s teacher had called her. The teacher gave her the boy’s name and his room number at the hospital.
“We’re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now,” the regular teacher said, “and I’d be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn’t fall too far behind.”
The tutor went to see the boy that afternoon. What she did not know was the reason for his hospitalization. It seems that the boy had suffered terrible burns and was in no small amount of pain. She was jolted when she saw him. She stammered her way nervously through the lesson. “Your teacher wants me to help you with nouns and adverbs. That’s what your class is studying.”
She felt just awful when she left. She didn’t think her visit would make much difference to the boy considering his condition.
But when she returned the next day, the nurse nabbed her as soon as she arrived. “What did you do with that boy yesterday?” Now the teacher felt doubly bad! She should not have put that poor boy through such a difficult lesson. She began to apologize to the nurse.
“No, no,” said the nurse. “You’re misunderstanding. We’ve been worried about him. But ever since your visit yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back and responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.”
Two weeks later the boy explained. He had completely given up hope of ever getting better – until the hospital program teacher arrived. He reasoned: “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?” (From Bible.com)
“My grace is sufficient for you.” Just knowing that God will see us through can revive our hope.
The second answer Paul received was just as profound. “Power is made perfect in weakness.”
Indeed. The full power of God’s salvation has been revealed to us through weakness. In weakness, Jesus went to the cross. Like Paul, he, too, prayed that he may be relieved of this burden. But it was not to be. For God’s power is made perfect through weakness.
Jesus died a beaten man, a spectacle for all to deride. He hung in helplessness, nailed into submission. He gasped for every breath. And at last he died. His lifeless body was removed from the cross and laid in a tomb.
But through his perfect weakness, the total power of God’s saving grace has been realized. In fact, it was only through Christ’s weakness that the power of divine salvation would be born. Nothing, nothing at all, can defeat God’s perfect love. That truth was realized in Christ’s death. Nothing in all of creation can quench this love. The worst that death and sin could dish out could not extinguish it. Even the grave cannot overcome it. Only by dying could Christ defeat death. In his perfect weakness, Christ has overcome.
There is hope in weakness. Friends, God’s grace is sufficient for the living of our days. In living and in dying, whenever we are weak, God’s power is never far from us.
