I am weak, but…

Pentecost 5 B 07/05/09

2 Cor 12 , Mark 6

Grace and peace be to you from God, our Father, and from Jesus Christ, in whom we have new and abundant life.

These days, finding just the right job for which to apply is a bear. First off, there just aren’t many jobs of any kind out there. The news says that unemployment is the highest it’s been in thirty years. Second, if you’ve been down-sized or outsourced, chances are the job you’re seeking (one like your old job) will have disappeared. If you’re just entering the job market as a college grad, you’re finding opportunities few and far between. Even high-schoolers are having trouble finding summer employment. And no matter what your situation, for any given job advertised there are scores of applicants. In fact a recent job fair in Manchester attracted so many job seekers, that employers ran out of applications within the first hour.

So, one thing’s for sure—now-a-days you gotta stand out from the crowd. The old resume has got to sizzle and pop. Your appearance must be appropriate and impeccable. Your training and education—up to date. And this tight job market in these tough times demands (demands!) that your interviewing skills be sharp and impressive. That you anticipate every question and have a stellar answer prepared and rehearsed. That you project confidence, talent, and proficiency.

Not like these folks…(taken from an internet survey of HR execs)

• Applicant brought her (very large) dog to interview
• Balding candidate suddenly got up and left the room, returned with a hairpiece on
• Teen wore an ipod and insisted she could listen to interviewer and the music
• Applicant interrupted interview to call therapist for advice on how to answer question about his weaknesses.

I don’t think that last fella got the job. But even though his timing was off, you can’t fault him for trying to work out the perfect answer for this old chestnut of a question. You get it sometimes—usually coupled with a query about your strengths. Strengths is easy. Weaknesses—that’s another story. Because there’s several ways to go here. None of them very good. #1.) The obvious—a “real” answer—which no one in their right mind would use. Like, “My weakness is I’m a little gassy in the afternoon.” Or, “I have an anger management problem.” That won’t do. #2.) You could ignore the question and answer a different one (that’s the political method.) Or, #3.) You could tell the interviewer you won’t answer such a lame 1950s-esque question, and that he should be ashamed to ask it.

It’s a pitfall. Talking about your weaknesses never ends good. Or does it? I suppose it depends on what your definition of “weakness” is. Does it mean a lack of strength—physically, mentally, spiritually, or socially? Usually. But not so much for Paul. At least not in the portion of 2^nd Corinthians which was our second lesson today. For Paul, “weakness” held a totally new connotation. But before I tell you what that is, and what the implications are for us, a little background is in order.

The correspondence we’re speaking of was addressed specifically to the church he had planted in the city of Corinth. Biblical scholars are not entirely sure that all the parts of the 1^st and 2^nd letters to the Corinthians were written in the order in which they appear in the new testament. But what they are sure of is that Paul’s leadership in absentia, his credentials as an apostle, the depth of his religious experience, and his skills as a missionary were all being called into question by a group whom Paul sarcastically calls the “super apostles”—really!

These super-apostles arrived on the scene in Corinth after Paul moved on to his next missionary target. From Paul’s letter we can assume that he was neither fond of them, nor was he enamoured of the skewed gospel message they preached.

The Super-apostles quickly became influential in the Corinthian church. Partly because the people felt abandoned by Paul, but for other reasons as well. The S-A were eloquent with a polished grasp of rhetoric (while Paul was not), they were steeped in mystical religious experience—and let everyone know it (while Paul never mentions any supernatural journeys). The super-apostles were also strong willed, strongly opinionated, and strong physically—and probably weren’t too hard on the eyes, either.

Now, gossip is the only thing that travels faster than the speed of light. And so it wasn’t long before Paul knew all about these usurpers and the thrall they had cast over his coverts. And also what they were saying about him. As with any gossip, there was just enough truth in their critique to cause doubt in the minds of the church. But not in Paul’s.

He could have just “shaked the dust off his feet and said, “Good riddance!” But he wasn’t willing to relinquish them to those super—pains-in-the-neck. He knew he could not go to them immediately (which he preferred, having made one successful return trip there earlier). So, he did the next best thing. He called his secretary and said, “Take a letter.” And what we have as a result is a message tinged with biting sarcasm and bitter disappointment, yet containing perhaps his most poignant illustration of the unconditional grace of God, and an amazing insight into God’s topsy-turvy conception of power and weakness.

What Paul does is to deftly answer that problematic question we spoke of at the beginning of the sermon—that being, “What are your weaknesses? And he does so in a clever way—call it answer #4.) Tell them about your weaknesses and how you overcame them. His weaknesses they know. What they haven’t yet heard is his new definition of “weakness.” He achieves this by placing his human limitations and shortcomings and embarrassing humiliations and sufferings for the good of the mission—his weaknesses—side by side with Christ’s purposeful weakness, and call them, not equal, but related.

If God chose to save the world from sin and death with weakness readily taken on in human flesh, and God did, then Paul would not boast of his accomplishments and pedigree. Which were astounding. Instead he would boast in his weakness in the name of and according to the revelation of Jesus Christ. For it is weakness that brings strength in God’s kingdom, not the other way round. Take that super-apostles!

How can that be so? I am weak, but I am strong? Only if by strong we mean strong in Christ Jesus, who makes us strong. Whose grace is sufficient to make anyone acceptable to God. Not because they were lifted up to seventh heaven, or because they had an ecstatic experience of God, not because they had the strength of will to follow the ten commandments as best they could. No. Because they surrender in weakness and inability to save themselves. That weakness makes them strong!

I am weak, but he is strong—by being weak. So I can be strong. I know, it’s convoluted. Think of it this way. You ever go to a carnival midway? \How many have ever tried hitting that strength tester—the one you smack with a sedge and try to ring the bell at the top. Anyone do it?

You know those things used to be rigged—impossible to ring the bell unless the base you hit was aligned just so, and the carny made sure that didn’t happen unless he wanted it to. Now it may be sacrilege to compare God with a cheating carnival huckster, but the analogy holds true

We are weak, we don’t have a chance to have a right relationship with God. We are weak—even as God’s children—we make mistakes, fall short, and most of us here are not super apostles. I’m not—I have been blessed with talents for ministry, but I am limited by human weakness. So each day when I get up, I surrender the day to Christ, who will transform my weakness and use it to achieve his purposes. It works that way with you too. You are weak—but god knows weak. God’s grace is sufficient for weak.

So boast! Be boastful. Tell God about your weaknesses. Herald them! Say, I am weak. Boast louder—I AM WEAK! And thanks be to God that Jesus took on the weakness of our human existence so that through it, he might make us strong to live in freedom, to pray for peace, to work for justice, and to always always always preach the good news in what we say and what we do. AMEN