Hidden Strength

Jesu Juva

2 Corinthians 12:1-10                                                              

July 4, 2021

Proper 9B                                  

 Dear saints of our Savior~

          If you read the bulletin carefully every Sunday (as I’m sure you all do), then you are no doubt familiar with the phrase “for blessings received.”  As in, “The chancel flowers are given to the glory of God by so-and-so with thanksgiving for blessings received.”  It is good, right, and salutary that we should, indeed, give thanks to God for blessings received. 

          But I’m still waiting for someone to give flowers to the glory of God with thanksgiving for blessings NOT received—for prayers denied—for requests not granted—for hopes and dreams unfulfilled.  In fact, when was the last time you heard a Christian boasting about how God denied his prayer for relief?  For it’s one thing to accept that God sometimes says “no;” but it’s something quite different to boast about that “no.”

          This is why today’s epistle from 2 Corinthians 12 is so precious and valuable.  For it teaches us about the hidden strength available to every Christian—hidden strength for those times when we are at our absolute weakest—for all those times when God says “no,” or “not now,” or “wait.” 

To teach this important lesson Saint Paul drew from his own personal experience.  “A thorn was given me in the flesh,” he wrote, “a messenger of Satan to harass me.”  He’s speaking metaphorically, of course.  There was something or someone who punctured Paul’s life with pain.  Gallons of ink have been spilled by theologians speculating as to the exact affliction which Paul might have had in mind:  Migraines and malaria, epilepsy and a speech impediment are just a few of the educated guesses that scholars have made over the years. 

The Greek word Paul chose for “thorn” can also be translated as a “sharpened stake” or a “spike.”  From this we can sadly assume that this thorn was no minor abrasion.  Paul needed much more than a band-aid to bring healing and relief.  Paul’s thorn was painful.  More importantly, it hindered the crucial, critical work Paul had been given to do—or so it seemed.

          Now, you would figure that if Paul—a chosen apostle of the Lord Jesus—a man planting new congregations all over Asia and Europe—if he was suffering with an affliction that hindered his ability to function, then a simple prayer should have taken care of the problem.  If the prayers of a righteous man availeth much, then the prayers of Paul should have availed all the more.  Paul was extending the church of Jesus Christ into uncharted territory, boldly taking the gospel where no man had taken it before.  He was the tip of the gospel spear.  Surely, the Lord would be at His most responsive when someone like Paul came before the throne of grace asking for relief.

          Three times Paul the Apostle—the man who was called by the glorified Christ on the road to Damascus—three times he got down on his knees and prayed for relief.  And three times the Lord did not do as Paul requested.  The Lord did not remove the thorn in Paul’s flesh.  Instead, the Lord gave Paul the strength to bear it—hidden strength—grace to carry on despite the thorn in his flesh.  For even as the Lord Jesus denied Paul’s prayer, He gave him a wonderful promise.  It’s a promise from which Christians down through the centuries have drawn this hidden strength for themselves.  Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

          Jesus said “no.”  But this is no ordinary “no.”  This “no” is full of meaning.  This “no” is full of hidden strength for Paul—and for you.  This is the hidden strength of Jesus.  The grace that flows from His cross to you is sufficient.  The grace that flows from His resurrection to you is sufficient.  What Jesus Christ does for you—what Jesus Christ gives to you by His grace—is more than enough to sustain and support you when your life is punctured by pain and loss.  “Therefore,” Paul writes, “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 

          This isn’t the kind of Christianity you hear about from the TV preachers.  Nor is this the kind of Christianity you’re accustomed to hearing about from church bureaucrats with their programs and their slick Powerpoint presentations designed to ensure success and growth and profit.  Real Christianity is about loss—about being a loser—about being weak.  For, as Paul expressed it, “When I am weak, then I am strong,” strong with the hidden strength of Jesus.

          What about you?  What about your life?  What are the thorns in your flesh?  What is it that causes you such pain that it threatens to prevent you from carrying out your callings and vocations in this life?  What is it that brings you to your knees in prayer time and time again because God isn’t giving you the relief you long for?  As I survey even our little congregation this morning I know there are big thorns that need removing:  the thorn of unemployment, the thorn of cancer, the thorn of addiction, the thorn of chronic pain—things that seem to suck all the joy and hope out of life—burdens for which there appears to be no silver lining—obstacles that seem to hinder even your faith in Jesus at times.  Why can’t the Lord Jesus see how much better things would be if only those thorns were miraculously removed?

          You must not forget that the Lord is at work in you for eternity—not just for the next few months or years.  He is at work in your life for all eternity.  And today He makes it absolutely clear that He does some of His very best work in your weakness—when you are flat on your back, with tears in your eyes, all alone, with no choice except to “be still and know that He is God.”  Do you have thorns?  Do you feel weak?  Are you praying for blessings but not receiving them?  Then give thanks to the God whose grace alone is sufficient—the God whose power is made perfect in weakness.  In unemployment, in cancer, in addiction, in depression and every other affliction, the power of God is made perfect. When through fiery trials your pathway will lie, [His] grace, all-sufficient, will be your supply.

          Jesus says, “My power is made perfect in weakness.”  And coming from Jesus, those words aren’t just a lecture on suffering.  Those words point us to His cross.  For in Jesus’ bloody death, God’s power was made perfect.  Jesus’ crucifixion for the sin of the world was God’s most powerful act—by which He forgives your sins and swallows up your death.  When Paul wrote about the thorn in his flesh, he was using a metaphor.  He didn’t literally have a thorn sticking in his flesh.  But Jesus?  He did!  For Jesus thorns are no metaphor.  The thorns in His head and the sharpened spikes in His flesh were the very real payment for your very real sins.  His love for you knows no limits.

          When we are at our weakest, the Savior’s hidden strength takes over.  And allow me to let you in on a little secret:  the Savior’s hidden strength is given away for free, right here in the divine service week after week.  As you confess your sins and receive the absolution, the hidden strength of Jesus is given to you.  As you faithfully eat and drink the bread that is His body and the wine that is His blood, the hidden strength of Jesus flows into your weak and weary body.  As the promises of Jesus are proclaimed from this pulpit, God’s power is perfected in your life.  That power allows you to be content in any and all circumstances, to believe with all your heart that God’s grace in Jesus truly is sufficient for you, that even at your weakest, you are “more than conquerors through Him who loves you.”

          This is the Christian life.  You don’t have to be strong . . . because Jesus is your strength.  Our prayers don’t always get answered in the way we desire.  Not every blessing is a blessing received.  It’s not that we don’t have troubles.  It’s not that we don’t fail.  It’s not that we don’t suffer and die.  We do.  But through it all we have the hidden strength that Jesus gives—strength that will ultimately be expressed in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. For blessings received—and for blessings not yet received—thanks be to God. 

          In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.