18 May 2018
In ancient times, gods were powerful beings. There was no such thing as a “weak god.” It was inconceivable. And times haven’t changed all that much—with respect
to people’s expectations of “the gods.”
When things go wrong, people expect God to fix it. When there are earthquakes, floods, and natural
disasters, people expect God to stop it.
When people around us lose their faith, we expect to just knock some
sense into them, to set things right again.
But the kingdom of our God isn’t the expected “kingdom of
strength.” We worship a risen Lord, of
course, but we worship even more intensely a crucified Lord, an apparently very
weak and ineffective God who “couldn’t even safe him, let alone others.” Jesus put to humanity a very different
understanding of what makes for godliness and divinity. And he asks his followers to take the same
path of weakness.
For example, we hear of St. Paul’s capture today. He was caught not only by his Jewish
adversaries, but he was also caught in the legal system of ancient Rome. He was just being carried along by whatever
the world threw at him. He didn’t appear
to be very strong.
Another example is St. Peter.
It’s a great line that Jesus says to him: “You will stretch out your
hands, and someone else will…lead you where you do not want to go.” Talk about not having control over your life
or your destiny…
And yet, Peter and Paul are literally foundational figures
for us Christians. Two apparently very
weak men, following the direction of an apparently weak God—Jesus. And yet, they built the foundation of a
Church which has lasted through the centuries up to the present day. They founded a way of life built entirely
upon the idea of “strength through weakness.”
And it’s been wildly successful.
“Strength through weakness:” that’s the vision Jesus lays out
for us. And we know it works. It works to be weak, to say things like: “I
don’t know;” “I don’t understand, but I’ll trust that it’ll work out the way it’s
supposed to;” to call Jesus “Lord” and mean it.
It works to be weak, to be happy with the simple pleasures of life, to
be content with what we have, to be thankful.
“Strength through weakness” is the Way Jesus has shown
us. How can we follow that Way a little
closer today?
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