‘Power made perfect in weakness’
A sermon by Revd Katherine Hedderly
Readings for this service: 2 Sam 5.1-5, 9-10; 2 Cor. 12. 2-10; Mark 6.1-13
It’s going to be hard talking about weakness just after England won their World Cup match against Sweden yesterday. But then for those who know, in our home we also support Croatia, so as someone’s got to lose in the semi final they play on Wednesday, I think I can safely stay with the theme. Although with two horses in the race I also can’t lose!
In a new biography of St Paul, Tom Wright describes the difference between the letters 1 and 2 Corinthians that Paul writes to the church in Corinth. “1st Corinthians”, he says “deals with all sorts of problems in the Corinthian church, it is cheerful, upbeat, sometimes teasing and challenging, but always a confident flow of expression. In contrast 2 Corinthians feels like it is being dragged out of Paul through a filter of darkness and pain. It seems like he is writing from his heart that has been heavier than it knew possible. Between 1 and 2 Corinthians”, he says, “something has happened, something like a near death experience for Paul.”[1]
If you read the letter through you find at the beginning the words “for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.”[2] And then in four other passages Paul lists the hardships and suffering he has experienced, including a reference to them in our passage this morning, from the penultimate chapter of the letter; where we hear of the weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities he has faced.
His experiences shape this letter. What this tells us is that when Paul talks about weakness, he is not talking about it in the abstract, but in a gut-wrenching, real, visceral way. He has been beaten, stoned, imprisoned, and daily in danger. He’s someone who knows what it means to go to the bottom of the pond, or as the psalmist describes, to ‘the regions dark and deep.”[3]
Paul is someone whose presentation skills are poor, who doesn’t pass muster in the eyes of the Corinthians, for whom, in this up-market cosmopolitan city, oratory skills and persona are the true marks of a powerful leader. But it is the wisdom of God that Paul has found through these experiences of suffering that give him confidence. He speaks, not from worldly wisdom, but from what he knows and has seen. “I may be untrained in speech,” he says, “but not in knowledge.”[4] Paul has a deep knowledge of God.
It is this knowledge that he most wants to share with the Corinthians, to build up this community, to teach them what is real in the face of false teaching, what is in the heart, not in outward appearances, the grace-filled way of Christ that, in embracing weakness, allows the power of God to be present. He is rooted in and dependent on God, not on his own abilities or power.
To defend himself Paul doesn’t list his achievements but lists his weaknesses and failures. Roman officials were expected to celebrate their achievements and many carved in stone or marble their list of accomplishments and projects as they came to the end of their time in office. Remember the beginning of Mary Beard’s Ultimate Rome: Empire WithoutLimit if you saw the BBC 2 series, when she reads the words on the tomb of one of the earliest Romans: Skippio Barbartus (Beardy Skippio she calls him). “He is a strong brave man,” it says, “but he’s clever and wise. His appearance was as good as his virtue, he really looked the part, he really cut a dash.” It ends with his conquest of part of southern Italy and the hostages he took.
That’s the kind of presentation or CV the Corinthians were likely accustomed to. Paul’s critics just couldn’t understand a person who was prepared to be so publically open about his humanly weakness, even if it was through this that God’s power was working. Imagine applying for a job and sending in a CV full of all your failures and disasters! But Paul goes against the grain insisting that the gospel is commended by these experiences and his way of life, with its catalogue of weaknesses and suffering. He really wants to drive home to the Corinthians so that they to know for themselves, that God’s power really is made perfect in weakness.
Paul even speaks of his own spiritual experiences in the third person, in those first few verses of the passage – the kind of experiences the Corinthians would lap up – to divert the attention away from himself and towards God. And he speaks about the enigmatic ‘thorn in the flesh’ he has been given. We do not know whether this was something physical, or perhaps a person or people that were undermining him, the so-called super-apostles that he refers to a few verses later in this chapter, or a reoccurring experience of depression. But it is an affliction that, in his own eyes, meant he was less able or convincing in his calling. But it is this thorn, that in continuing to keep him in touch with his weakness and vulnerability, keeps him deeply connected to and dependent on God and God’s power not his own.
This paradox is at the heart of our Christian faith and the pattern that Jesus gives us. He is not a power wielding leader but a crucified Messiah. But it is in this weakness that God’s power is most present. Christ death and resurrection are the pattern of all our callings.
What Paul is saying is not that weakness should be glorified for its own sake but that in weakness the power of God dwells in him and the weakness is transformed into strength through God’s creative power at work in the midst of suffering. Paul has the grace to be able to live with weakness, rather than strength and sees that as a way in which the gospel can be presented, shared and broken open. Paul hungers for the Corinthians to open their hearts to God’s grace and power to work in them and in their community in the same way, for Christ to dwell in them also, despite the cultural pressures they face to celebrate success and power.
This is the pattern for Christian witness and ministry. God’s power enables us to be both weak and powerful in his strength. Later in this letter we hear of the authority that Paul has as he reprimands the community, a reference to a ‘letter of tears’ that he has had to write to correct someone who has gone astray. Embracing weakness and vulnerability is not an abdication of responsibility or authority but a way to live that enables God to work in and through us most effective because it means our ego and pride and desire for power don’t get in the way of all God wishes to do powerfully in and through us. It is a way of life that takes us to the lowest place and keeps us connected there, so that in our own experiences of suffering we can be constant companions of others who are suffering and vulnerable, and live out our calling alongside them to be witnesses in our world, in our society and communities to the unquenchable hope of all that God can do now, and will do in the future.
Like the Corinthians the message is the same for us. Through God’s grace we can make space in our own lives for Christ to dwell in us. And he is most able to do that when we let down our guard and don’t rely on our own strength, however much we are programmed to do so. Try listing the things and experiences of weakness and suffering you have experienced in your life and see where God was most present to you in those times. I am sure they will be times when you have felt Christ’s presence most near and a source of wisdom and strength that you often draw on. See how that wisdom and knowledge can empower what you do now and guide you to those in a vulnerable place who need to know God’s transforming grace.
Like the milieu of Corinthian community, our culture also celebrates success, celebrity status, power and influence and it is hard not to also be caught up in that ourselves. By going against the grain we like them are invited to experience God’s grace too, aware that we have this ‘treasure in clay jars’ as Paul describes earlier[5], aware of our weaknesses so that we can be assured that it is God’s power at work, not ours. This is the way to be powerful, in God’s strength as we are called to be alongside those who are marginalised and vulnerable.
This week we have a very powerful man visiting the UK. In light of all that St Paul show us in this letter we might like to ponder what our Christian response might be. I expect it is to stand alongside those who are experiencing rising xenophobia and disregard for human rights as a result of his actions and policies. If we protest I imagine it will be about witnessing to God’s loving regard for those who are the most vulnerable in our world, for their needs to take centre stage this week. It is in simplicity and vulnerability that the disciples are sent out by Jesus in the second part of our gospel reading today. They are told to ‘take nothing for the journey’.[6] This is how we are sent.
And a powerful image from the World Cup to take with you to encourage you: Think of the grace-filled moment as the England manager, Gareth Southgate consoled the Columbian player Mateus Uribe after he missed his penalty on Tuesday this week in the England/Columbia match. He could only do this because he knew the cost of that failure himself, with his missed penalty that sent England crashing out of Euro 96, a failure that would stay with him always. It was only because he had experienced this weakness that he could be so generous and full of grace.
We take nothing for our journey, simply the love of Christ and the promise: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
[1] ‘Paul A Biography’, Tom Wright, SPCK, 2018
[2] 2 Cor 1.8
[3] Psalm 88.6
[4] 2 Cor. 11.6
[5] 2 Cor. 4.7
[6] Mark 6.8
