14^th Sunday in O.T. (B); July 4, 2021

Ez 2:2-5.  Ps 123.  2 Cor 12:7-10.  Mk 6:1-6a

Deacon Jim McFadden

            Why do we suffer?  I’d like to reflect on this question focusing on the second reading from Paul’s  2^nd Letter to the Corinthians.  Towards the end of this missive, Paul had been talking about extraordinary revelations that he had received.  But he does not want to draw attention to those mystical experiences; he’s not overly elated by them or being spiritually “puffed up” because of them.  Perhaps he realized that such self-aggrandizement could easily develop into a personality cult.  If this occurred, that he became the center of attention, then his Gospel driven message could get side-tracked.  So, this would not happen, he is stricken by a thorn in the flesh, given to him by Satan no less. 

            Just what this affliction was is not at all clear.  Some say that it was a physical ailment, such as epilepsy or bad eye sight or a speech impediment.  Others think it refers to some kind of disorder in one of his churches under his guidance.  Whatever the “thorn” was, he clearly was not talking about some little passing problem, such as a cold.  He’s talking about some steady, difficult experience whether it be physical, psychological, or spiritual.  It’s a chronic condition that persists and won’t go away. 

            But he says that was given to him so that he doesn’t become too elated.  Then we hear this: “Three times I begged the Lord that it might leave me” (2 Cor 12:8).  Paul repeatedly asked, “Lord, please take this away from me.”  Now, Paul was not a wimp when it came to suffering.  Earlier we heard that he endured, “…stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.  From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one” (11:23-24).  The list of sufferings goes on.   What was uppermost in Paul’s mind was his ministry, not personal advantage or disadvantage.  Indeed, he endured all this suffering for his “concern for all the churches” (v. 28b).  Therefore, we can presume that he was reluctant to accept this thorn in the flesh not because he didn’t want to suffer, but because he saw it as an impediment to his ministry.

            So, what answer did Paul get from the Lord?  Listen: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made possible in weakness” (12:9a).  ‘GRACE’—one of Paul’s favorite expressions is unmerited love. My unmerited love is sufficient for you.  Indeed, as the Psalmist reminds us that “For your love is better than life” (Ps 63:4). I think what Paul and the Psalmist mean is that if you are connected to God, the deepest source of life and being, then anything in principle can be endured, can be dealt with, can be overcome.  Why?  Nothing trumps God’s love for you.  Again, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

            Then Paul adds that little addition that’s so typical of the paradoxical nature of Christianity: “…for power is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9b).  What does Paul mean by this counter-cultural assertion?  If there’s one attribute that’s not highly regarded in our control/power-driven society, it is weakness because it is the weak who get preyed upon. Paul came to know that real power is not to be found in dominating or controlling others, but in vulnerability.  Stripped of power one is more likely to turn to God.   It’s like a law of spiritual physics:  the more vulnerable, powerless one is, the more open one can be to God’s power.  Conversely, the more capable, powerful one may be, the less one is prone to look to God for help.

Humbled by his affliction, this thorn in his side, Paul ironically feels more

powerful, for he knows that it is the power of God working through him.  Furthermore, because his affliction is on public display, others will recognize that anything that Paul accomplishes is really the effect of God working through him.  Paul drives this home in his letter to the Galatians that when he dies to his egoic self, when he has been “crucified with Christ; (then, it’s) “no longer I but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:19c-20a).

            These paradoxes would sound like so much foolishness were they not grounded in the Paschal Mystery, the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It was when Jesus was the weakest that he was the strongest.  Now, when Paul is the weakest, enduring insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, he is strong with the power of Christ.  It is a bold boast that Paul makes, but he is making it to believers, who have accepted the bold claims of Christian faith.

            So, brothers and sisters, spend some time with this 12^th chapter from 2 Corinthians in this magnificent lyrical passage.  The great St. Paul does not boast of his extraordinary revelations, but boasts and rejoices in his weakness because power is made perfect precisely in weakness.  Amen.