18-ed ““A Thorn in the Flesh”:
Why Do We Suffer?
14th Sunday in O.T. (B); JULY 8, 2018
EZ 2:2-5 PS 123 2 Cor 12:7-10 Mk 6:1-6a
Deacon Jim McFadden; St. John the Baptist C.C.
Why do we suffer? I’d like to reflect on this question focusing on the second reading from Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians. Towards the end of this Letter, Paul had been talking about extraordinary revelations that he’d received. But, he does not want to draw attention to those mystical experiences, but rather wants to reflect upon our weakness.
Listen now to Paul: “…that I should not become too elated over the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated” (2 Cor 12:7).
“A thorn in the flesh”—what’s that about? Some have said that it was a physical ailment, such as epilepsy or bad eye sight or a speech impediment
While we don’t know what the “thorn” was, he clearly was not talking about some little passing problem such as a cold. He’s talking about some steady, difficult, painful experience whether it be physical, psychological, or spiritual. It’s a chronic condition that persists and won’t go away.
But, he says that it was given to him so that he doesn’t become too elated. Then we hear this: “Three times I begged the Lord, that it might leave me” (v. 8). Paul repeatedly asked, “Lord, please take this away from me.” Haven’t we all asked God to do that for us? We say, “Lord, this thing is driving me crazy; please relieve me of this burden!”
Every single person has a thorn in their flesh: I’ve got one and you’ve got one. We’ve got not some trivial passing irritant, but something physical, psychological, or spiritual problem that just gnaws as us. So, like Paul I bet that you’ve asked God over and over again to take that thorn away from you. Everyone is in the same boat.
So, listen to the answer he gets from the Lord: My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made possible in weakness” (v. 9a). ‘GRACE’—one of Paul’s favorite terms is unmerited love. The unmerited love is sufficient for you. As the Psalmist says, “Your love is more precious to me than my physical life.” I think what Paul and the Psalmist mean is that if you are connected to God, the deepest source of life and being, then anything in principle can be endured, can be dealt with, can be overcome. Why? Noting trumps God’s love for you: “My grace is sufficient for you.”
Then Paul adds that little addition that’s so typical of the paradoxical nature of Christianity: “…for power is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9b).
What does Paul mean? Can you imagine going outside into the political, economic, or social arena and say, “Hey, you got it all wrong! Power is made perfect in weakness!” If there’s one attribute that’s not highly regarded in our society, it is ‘weakness’ because it is the weak who get preyed upon. But, we’re here in church worshiping a crucified God. So, Paul says, “I preach one thing: Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 1:23).
Somehow the weakness of the Cross is the revelation of God. Power is made perfect in weakness. What sense can we make of this? How can we unpack it?
I’d like to share with you three perspectives which show why weakness, suffering, and failure can bring forth power.
First, our suffering can force us like nothing else to rely upon God. We know fellow sinners that the basic problem we face is egotism,
In which I believe I can make myself happy by obtaining the goods of the world. So, I rest in my Ego and God, therefore, becomes an after thought, Who’s put in the background. But, when I suffer, when I fail, when I come up against this brick wall, spiritual panic sets in because my ego-drama just doesn’t work. I can continue down the same old path which leads to nowhere or I can chose to rely upon God, not upon my own resources. Suffering challenges me to de-center myself away from my ego and onto God. Just look at it: nothing—no success, achievement, or pleasure can do this than like suffering. “Power is made perfect in weakness.”
With Christ crucified in mind, suffering, the conscious bearing of suffering, can effect the taking away of sin. Now listen to Paul as he goes on to say that “Therefore I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, and constraints, for the sake of Christ” (v. 10a). Here, he’s not talking about physical suffering, but he’s talking suffering that comes to him from the outside. I think you can relate to that. Like Paul, you know what its like to be insulted, to be rejected—it happened all the time as he was preaching his way around the eastern Mediterranean. They constrained him with chains. And, you know where Paul lived the final months of his life? IN PRISON! Paul empathizes with your condition because he was there as well!
But, with Christ crucified in mind, what did our Lord do on the Cross? He didn’t fight evil on its own terms: he didn’t answer insult with insult; he didn’t answer persecution with persecution. Rather he took upon himself the sin of the world and thereby took it away. He put a wrench in the works that usually governs human affairs. Violence is met with violence; injustice is met with injustice. That’s the way of the world. But, notice what Jesus did: by bearing insult, persecution, and constraint, Jesus took away the sin of the world. So, we who are his followers, we who are conformed to his Body, the Church, we can unleash power precisely through our suffering. Are we willing to do that? Are we willing to follow Jesus Strange Way here in our time and place?
The last way that power is made perfect in weakness is most mysterious. I don’t pretend to fully understand it, but is something to do that we are members of a living organism, the mystical Body of Christ, the Church. We are not separate islands, but are members of the Risen and Glorified Christ. There is a coherence in our being because we dwell together in this organism—just as branches on a vine, we exist in each other; we are connected to one another. We share the same divine, grace-filled life as long as we are grafted onto Jesus.
So, apply this notion to suffering. Perhaps the suffering I am enduring and bearing is actually taking away the suffering of someone else in the mystical Body? Or, that someone in the mystical Body is accepting in prayer her suffering so that I don’t have to suffer. What that means is that our suffering is meaningful because it’s redemptive. You may have heard that old expression, “Offer it up!” Why? Because our suffering can be used for God’s greater purposes.
But, HOW does this happen? I’m not really sure. But, I accept what Paul says: namely, if we bear each others burdens “for the sake of Christ” (v. 9c) that works for the Good for those who have faith. Nothing is lost; what we endure is a way of alleviating the suffering of someone else.
Paul concludes this section by saying, “for when I am weak, then I am strong” (v. 9d). It’s my suffering, the thorn in my flesh, that allows the strength and power of God to surge into me and indeed through me into the world.
Brothers and sisters, spend some time today with this 12th chapter from 2 Corinthians in this magnificent lyrical passage. The great St. Paul does not boast of his extraordinary revelations, but boasts and rejoices in his weakness because power is made perfect precisely in weakness. Amen.
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