Strength and Weakness: A Meditation on 2nd Corinthians 12 for the Season of Pentecost

For though I would desire to glory,

I shall not be a fool;

for I will say the truth: but now I forbear,

lest any man should think of me

above that which he seeth me to be,

 or that he heareth of me.

And lest I should be exalted above measure

through the abundance of the revelations,

there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,

the messenger of Satan to buffet me,

lest I should be exalted above measure.

For this thing I besought the Lord thrice,

that it might depart from me.

And he said unto me,

My grace is sufficient for thee:

for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,

 that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,

in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,

in distresses for Christ's sake:

for when I am weak, then am I strong.

 

The ancient city of Corinth, sitting on the isthmus between northern mainland Greece (home of Thebes and Athens) and the Peloponnesian peninsula (home of the Spartans) had a 1000 year history before St. Paul ever set foot there.  It had gone through wars and alliances, economic rises and falls, cultural explosions, and a couple hundred years before Paul showed up it had been destroyed and rebuilt as a Roman colony.  Given its location, it was blessed with a profusion of trade and the rich international culture that comes with it, together with agricultural, artistic, and military exploits.  It was a Greek and Roman center of culture and politics in the 1^st century AD, and the church which was planted there through the preaching and missionary journeys of St. Paul took on an air of sophistication—perhaps even arrogance.  The people who composed the church at Corinth were, after all, Corinthians, and like most sophisticated, erudite, and wealthy societies, they seemed to think themselves intellectually and politically above most everyone else.

 

And why wouldn’t they?  They were strong in every worldly measure.  They had plenty of food to eat, theater to watch, philosophy to imbibe, political clout both locally and throughout the Empire, and a roaring economy.  They had their battle scars, and were still a major international player.  Of course, in their opulence, they also had a number of sins and debaucheries to which they were accustomed, but being as enlightened as they were, they couldn’t believe these things were really all that important.  Why would God really care about who slept with who, with adultery, incest, homosexuality, prostitution, public displays of pornography, and the consequent waves of abortion or infanticide that came with all those inconvenient children born of their parents’ self-indulgent play?  Obviously, the city of Corinth was a successful metropolis, and their strength was a sign of their superiority over any backward religious teachings that stood in the way of their enlightened progress.  The letters of St. Paul to Corinth seem to reveal this prideful spirit within the cosmopolitan church, which were echoes of the sentiment commonly held among the people of the city.  This is likely why St. Paul had to finish his second letter to them by resisting appeals to pride, position, or earthly power, relying solely on the power of God’s Word and Holy Spirit to convict them of the truth.

 

And the truth was then as it currently is, and as it has always been:  the Word of the Lord endures forever, as do those who abide with Him by grace through faith in His living and eternal Word.  Kingdoms of the world large and small rise and fall across the expanses of time, together with their opulence, and all the trappings of their cultures which made them believe they were somehow superior to the Lord of Hosts.  Today, the ruins of ancient Corinth contain the shattered remains of their economic, political, artistic, and religious affairs, including several Christian basilicas.  Is it so hard to imagine what the great modern cities of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle will look like a thousand years from now?  Cities known for their opulence, cultural superiority, economic advantage, political clout, and their general disdain for the Word of God upon their public morals, have much to learn from the example of ancient Corinth—as do the churches within and allied to them, who have drunk more deeply from those poisoned wells of popular opinion than they have from the living waters of the Holy Scriptures.  Should the Lord tarry another thousand years, how shall the archeologists of future generations behold the shattered remains of such once great cities, entombed as ancient Corinth with the wreckage of their cathedrals, missions, and churches which fell through their common embrace of what seemed so reasonable in their times?

 

Yet it is the common curse of every generation see themselves as the pinnacle of progress, and the height of human history.  To us, in our times and places, in our cities great or small, the Word of the Lord through St. Paul reminds us that the Lord’s strength is made perfect in weakness—that His measure of what is worthy of eternal endurance is not the dark machinations of prideful men, but the harmony of faith and repentance in His grace for Jesus’ sake.  The Words of ancient Prophets and Apostles, who have testified across millennia to the will and work of the Lord God Almighty in this world, may seem like the smallest and weakest of things when compared with the mighty words and works of modern titans of industry, politics, or academe.  But it is this Word which brought forth the world, which has sustained it to our day, and shall bring it to its close.  It is this Word which reveals to us who we are, where we came from, and where we are going—of the unseen heavenly or infernal company we keep, depending on the present company we keep either in the Communion of the Saints or in the nefarious cabals of the world.  It is a Word which not only declares to us the futility of our vacuous pride, but heals us through forgiveness and grace unto eternal life.  It is a Word which has already passed from life, to death, to life which never dies again, so that all those who trust in that Living Word shall do the same.  It is a Word which does not build mansions and reputations and glories in this transitory world, but walks on streets of gold in the Kingdom which never ends.

 

This simple Word of Law and Gospel in Jesus Christ is the sure hope of the faithful in every age and place, no matter the convulsions of the world all around it.  Like St. Paul we might pray for the thorns in our flesh and in our societies to be taken from us, but to us also the Lord declares that His grace is sufficient for us.  For if we could but see the eternity which stretches out before us, the trials and tribulations of our short years of sojourn in this world would fall away into insignificance, together with the corrupt trappings and accolades of tempestuous mankind.  For we stand today in the Eternal Kingdom of the King of Glory by grace through faith in Christ alone, with the future mystery of the resurrection made present to us in the waters of our Baptism, the Holy Supper which we share, and the Absolution which we speak in Christ’s Name to one another.  These are the weak things which the Creator of the Universe has established to show forth His redemptive power, and we are the even weaker things in which He works the perfection of His saving omnipotence.  Gory be to our Saving King forever, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, now and unto ages of ages.  Amen.