Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 370

Therefore, that I might not become too elated,
a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan,
to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,
but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is made perfect in weakness.”
I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.

Since ancient times preachers, scholars and lay folk have endlessly speculated about Saint Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Nearly everyone supposes, “He must have suffered what I am suffering.” which is perhaps narcissistic but not a half-bad approach to that all-important project of finding oneself in the scriptures.

In its context the thorn seems to be Paul’s quarrel with fellow Christians, the “super apostles” who were promoting their own interpretation of the gospel. No matter where he went he encountered their misdeeds; and no sooner did he leave town than they’d arrive to undermine the foundations he had laid.

But, because he was a genius and the Holy Spirit was with him, his “thorn in the flesh” has proven to be endlessly useful for generations of Christians. For the past 20-25 years, since my own personal train wreck, I’ve often reassured penitents, “If you get to 40 years of age and haven’t screwed up big time yet, you’re not even trying.” Every one of us has an unsavory history of what we’ve done or what was done to us. Every one of us has tried and failed, but tried again and failed again. Insanity is doing the same thing again and expecting different results. (Welcome to my world.)

“For power is made perfect in weakness.”

Many critics want the church to be not so fallible. They complain that we don’t practice what we preach, that we don’t do what Jesus would do, and we don’t think what God thinks. (They assume that God thinks, and has opinions on every little thing, which also -- as it happens -- agree with their thinking. And they fervently believe the next pope will finally bring the whole church around to their way of thinking.)

Sunshine through the tree
reveals its skeleton.

But God has never wanted to make it easy to be disciples of Jesus. He provides each of us with a thorn and all of us together with bramble bushes of thorns, so that we might boast of our weakness, and that the power of Christ might dwell in us.

But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair…