Sunday
8 July 2018
The
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
LESSON 2 Samuel 5:1-5,
9-10
or Ezekiel 2:1-5
CANTICLE Psalm
48 or
Psalm 123
EPISTLE 2
Corinthians 12:2-10
GOSPEL Mark
6:1-13
Preaching Text
2 Corinthians
12:2-10
I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to
the third heaven — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God
knows. And I know that such a person — whether
in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows — was caught up into
Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted
to repeat. On behalf of such a one I
will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool,
for I will be speaking the truth. But I
refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me
or heard from me, even considering the exceptional character of the
revelations. Therefore, to keep me from
being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to
torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this,
that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for
power is made perfect in weakness.” So,
I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ
may dwell in me. Therefore I am content
with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake
of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
In the name of
the Father,
and of the
Son,
and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
Paul can be so bold! I’m
not simply referring to the traditional definition of that word. I remember discovering at some point in these
last 9 years in which I have lived in Northeastern Pennsylvania that being
called “bold” is not a compliment. In
“NEPA terminology,” to be bold is to be just a bit too proud, a bit too
arrogant, a bit too impressed with one’s own credentials. And let’s be honest; Paul is often all these
things and more. The passage that I
think of the most when I think of Paul being so bold is in the third chapter of
Philippians.
If
anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised
on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor
of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Philippians 3:4b-6
In these verses, Paul is sharing his pedigree as a “cradle Jew”
who is a descendent of the favorite son of Jacob whose birth occurred at the
time of the death of Jacob’s favorite wife among the two sisters and their
servants who were the mothers of the sons of Israel, boasting of his
educational background and his great learning and zeal as a student of the Law
of God.
In this instance in Philippians, Paul is quick to discredit all
these boastings. All these things, he
proclaims, are worthless compared to the knowledge of Jesus Christ who reveals
the loving heart of God. But Paul isn’t
always so quick to be so humble. The
place where we find this shown the best is in the Acts of the Apostles when
Paul is in the Greek city of Athens. The
Scriptures and countless historians tell us that Athens was a mecca of learning
and knowledge. The Athenians loved to
learn new things. When Paul is invited
to engage the Athenians in dialogue, he quickly and comfortably reverts to his
scholarly learning as a Pharisee. He has
been trained well for such a moment as this in which he is found in
Athens. And how well did that work out
for Paul? The Scriptures contain letters
of Paul to the Church in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae,
and Thessalonica. Paul refers in
Colossians to a letter he wrote to the faithful in Laodicea. But never at any point is there a reference
to a letter or any enduring presence in Athens.
Simply put, Paul failed in his mission to proclaim the Gospel among the
Athenians. And how ironic that is, for logic
would tell us that Paul should have had the greatest success with his talents
in that learned city.
Perhaps that failure was in Paul’s mind when he wrote to the
Corinthians the words we have heard today in which he speaks of the “thorn in
the flesh.” There are various
speculations about what this “thorn” was.
Paul never says what it was. He
simply says that the purpose of this was to keep him from being “too
elated.” Perhaps what he truly meant was
that whatever this was, it kept him humble.
We do well to hear what Paul has to say about being humble. I say that because if we are anything but
humble, the final words of our Epistle for today will simply seem to be mere
foolishness. Paul tells us that the
power of Christ is made perfect in our weakness and that our strength as
followers of Jesus is the greatest when we are the weakest and the most
dependent upon the help of God.
Those words remind me of a dear friend of mine who had a “thorn
in the flesh.” Frank was an attorney who
had for many years run like Jonah from the call of God to the priesthood. When at last he submitted to that call and
began formation for ordination, he was diagnosed with ALS. He never made it to ordination. And yet, in those final years of his life,
Frank shared his faith in Christ with such a power amid weakness that amazed
countless persons and transformed lives by his witness to the faith and the
hope found in him. As he became weaker
physically, the power of the Gospel was abundantly and undeniably clear and
present in this man of faith.
There are countless persons whose stories we could share that
speak of such power revealed in weakness.
The point of all these stories is not that we would simply praise these
persons as exemplary figures of faith.
Their stories remind us of something greater. When we are humble before God, aware of our
weaknesses and limitations, it is then that we can truly embrace the truth that
God who has called us – all of us – to share the Gospel with the world. And remember,
dear friends, that God has done so not because of our credentials but
rather out of what God can do with us in spite of us. God has not called those properly equipped
and capable. Rather, God has equipped us,
chosen by grace and not by merit, to be the instruments of grace by which God
will remind all persons that the grace of God is always sufficient for every
need and the love of God is for all persons without exception.
Dear friends, Christ has called us who are baptized into his
death and resurrection to share the love of God found in the Gospel with all
whom we encounter in this place and in every place in which we are found. And how shall we engage that high
calling? If we have a laundry list of credentials
to support our ministry and message, we will be like Paul in Athens. But if we are willing to simply get out of
the way, to not merely speak humility but to embrace it and depend on Christ to
complete what is lacking in us and use us with all our baggage, all of our
weaknesses and shortcomings, we will see powerfully the mercy and love of Jesus
transforming the world around us and within us, always and only, in the
immortal words of Johan Sebastian Bach, “Soli Deo Gloria” – “to the glory of
God alone.”
In the name of
the Father,
and of the
Son,
and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Rev’d Timothy Alleman
Priest-in-Charge
St. Stephen’s Pro-Cathedral
Rector
The Church of the Holy Cross
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