Strength and weakness

2 Corinthians 12:2-10 & Psalm 123 

There is a desperation about Psalm 123 (which we just heard read).

“Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy, 
for we have had more than enough of contempt”.

It is a plea for help in times of trouble. A desperate plea that God will strengthen his people. It conjures up the image of someone looking helplessly up at God, hoping for God to intervene and help. Taken on its own it’s not a Psalm that seems to offer much hope: but it is, at least, honest. 

‘Have mercy on us O Lord’

Sometimes we all know that feeling of helplessness, hopelessness, when we experience times of weakness, difficulty, even feeling under attack. Those times when we cry ‘Now what!’  - when we are criticised by others, feel misunderstood, and are very aware of own failings.

Then where is God?

At the Zoom Bible Study on Tuesday we asked ourselves ‘how do you react at those times of weakness? Some of us confessed to putting on a brave face in public, whilst inside we might be crumbling. Others talked of frustration or shortness of temper. We could all agree that when life is really difficult – even when we might feel we are in danger – we reach a point of knowing it is out of our hands, and we just have to put our faith in others.

These feelings all give us an insight into Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth. 

Paul founded the church, then moved on in his work, but kept in touch through letters and even through a visit. What we know as the second letter to the Corinthians was written ‘in sorrow’, as things have gone badly wrong. Paul is talks of planning a 3^rd visit to them, to try to sort out some of the problems in the church.

Perhaps you could hear, in the part of the letter we heard read, Paul’s defensiveness and irritation, his pain, and the way he repeats himself ? He is writing quickly, it’s flowing out of him, he is fed up of the Corinthians and their lack of respect for him. 

So what’s been going on in Corinth to get Paul so rattled?

Some people Paul refers to as “Super Apostles” or “False Apostles” have moved in to Corinth and are teaching the church. They claim to be superior in their experience of God, because they talk about having strong experiences of God’s presence, and they claim that they are seemingly more ‘successful’ than Paul, so God must be with them.  Paul isn’t there to defend himself, and there has been a tendency of these super Apostles to ask ‘Who is this Paul, anyway?’.

That’s why Paul tells that strange story, from fourteen years before, of the person who he knows who went up to heaven (whether in or out of the body, I do not know.. says Paul). This person, in heaven, heard things which are not to be told, which no mortal can repeat.

You might wonder why Paul tells this rather underwhelming story.

Paul is minimising the sort of amazing spiritual experiences that the Super Apostles talk about – because they don’t lead to teaching that can be shared with the church, for the good of the whole church.. but are just personal – and certainly shouldn’t be boasted about.

I have certainly met people who feel very sure of their own experience of God – who rather look down on others who don’t have amazing stories to tell. I have been told that if I was a better Christian and a more inspiring Christian leader I would be able to speak in tongues and heal people in the name of Jesus. I have also been told once by another Christian leader “the membership of our fellowship has doubled in just a year – but that’s what happens when God is with you.”. The implication was made very strongly that if a church is not ‘successful’ it’s our fault for not being properly faithful to God.

I’m with Paul – God’s Spirit is not just there to give us something to boast about, the Spirit comes to bring gifts which build up everyone. Meanwhile outward success is no proof that you are doing what God wants you to do. 

Paul then tells the Corinthians about his own vulnerability – the ‘thorn in the flesh’. We don’t know what exactly this is – a physical ailment, or something affecting what we would call his ‘mental health’. It is clearly something Paul wants taken away – because three times he has asked the Lord to remove it.

Paul is not afraid to admit that he is not perfect and that he has cried out to God for help, without success. Then where is God?

The turning point in this section of Paul’s letter comes with the words that he hears from Christ himself “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”. Here is God - alongside Paul, speaking words of comfort and grace in the risen Christ. “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul is left content with his weakness – even happy to admit to it – because God will use even the weaknesses Paul has to do God’s work. 

He is given enough of a revelation of God’s grace to enable him to keep going. He reflects on the suffering which Jesus went through – becoming a weak human being, and dying on the cross. Then Paul realises that the strength of God’s love is best shown in the most extreme human weakness.

So when we are feeling at our weakest and are asking where is God and God’s strength, how does Paul’s example help us?

We concluded at the Bible Study that 

1.   Paul being prepared to be vulnerable helps us feel more confident in our own ability to be disciples of Jesus despite our weaknesses.

 

2.   Paul’s example encourages us to listen to other people’s Christian witness, even if they seem unlikely or unimpressive. We thought of the work of Greta Thunberg – a young woman, just a school girl when she began her work, who has manged to make the whole world listen to what she has to say about care for creation.

 

3.    We realised that when we feel strong it’s easy to tell ourselves that we don’t need God. But when we are weak we have no option but to ask for God’s help and strength.

 

4.   We thought about how good it is to share moments of weakness or suffering with others, so that we can help other people to realise they are not suffering alone. I don’t know if you’ve seen the advert for a phone network where a mum with a baby seeks out her friends in the kitchen at midnight – though they are on the phone not there in reality. Having people to talk to when life is difficult – even in the middle of the night – makes a huge difference.

 

Back in 2014, Rowan Williams wrote an article in the Catholic Herald “Why my favourite book of the bible is the Second Epistle to the Corinthians”. He wrote about Paul’s vulnerability in the face of criticism (something Rowan would know about from his time as archbishop of Canterbury) and the way in which God uses Paul to talk to the Corinthians and to us about the hope we are given.

 

Rowan concludes his article be saying this about the second letter to the Corinthians:

“A favourite book, then, simply because of the way – unique even in Paul’s writings – the entire mystery of the Incarnation and the reality of the Mystical Body are laid out before us in the context of a vulnerable human story, a wounded psyche like yours and mine. A hymn to a new creation that transfigures the old from within.”

 

To each one of us this morning who might feel we have called out to God for help and not received it; to everyone who feels life is a struggle; to everyone who would like to be better at following Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ says “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Where is God when we struggle? Right here beside us speaking these words of grace. 

 

So we receive grace in bread and wine, in remembrance of the broken body and poured out blood of Christ – symbols of weakness yet sources of strength.

 

In the love of God the Father, the self-giving of Christ the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.