Dear Paul

Sunday, July 9, 2006
First-Trinity Presbyterian Church (USA)

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

An open letter to Paul, fellow apostle and author of several letters to the churches of God, including the church at Corinth.

From Emily, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God through the Holy Spirit, in conversation with the church of God in Laurel.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always for you, Paul, because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind – just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened in you – so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I appeal to you, my dear brother, regarding a portion of one of the letters you sent to the church at Corinth. I know that I have not been in your shoes – founding the church at Corinth and then praying for them daily; writing them as frequently as your travel and work would allow; sending them Timothy to remind them of the true message of Jesus Christ when you were concerned about them; and continuing to be in relationship with these brothers and sisters in Christ at Corinth.

I’ll acknowledge all of that upfront, but let me ask you – what were you thinking when you wrote this stuff about a vision and boasting and weakness?! Is this really how you were planning on convincing people to stick with this whole “following Jesus” thing? Where’s the logic and strategy in your rhetoric? Where’s the appeal for the people? Now maybe you haven’t had any marketing or sales experience, but I’m pretty sure your message is not going to sell very well. Let me point out some things here.

First, do you know how annoying it is to begin a story, to really build it up for your audience, to tell us the story is exceptional and the character of the revelations amazing, and then say “sorry, can’t tell you the details” and “then there were things that can’t be repeated or told in words,” or “I’m sorry I can’t tell you the rest, but you would love the story if I could tell it to you.” I mean, why even bring it up, just to dangle it in front of people and then not be able to finish it.

Plus the details that you do tell us, that you are allowed to share and we are privileged enough to hear, you aren’t even sure about those details. Maybe you should leave out whether or not the experience was in or out of the body. If the experience happened fourteen years ago and it was really that exceptional, wouldn’t you remember the details?

Oh, and one last thing about the story itself – was it really about you? Were you pulling the whole “now hypothetically speaking, I have a situation about a person, let’s call this person ‘Paula,’ and her story is …” or the “I have this friend who had this experience.” So was it you or not? If it was, just tell us. Personal testimony often carries more weight than the testimony of some abstract person. You founded this church and have been writing to these people; you even went to visit them once. Tell them the story is about you. It’ll give them a personal connection and interest in the story.

Second, the whole selling point of your paragraph is pretty ridiculous. Listen to what you wrote: “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses … for whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (12:9-10). Weak as the new strong – I really hope you weren’t counting on that point convincing people to stick with being a Jesus follower. Weak – the new strong; don’t think that slogan would sell in my context, in today’s world or even in yours.

It’s utter foolishness. Who really wants to be weak? To acknowledge their weaknesses in front of everyone? To list on their job application the things that they aren’t very good at instead of their greatest strengths and assets? I think people would much rather hear about the strong and the mighty. Why not insert one of those such stories? But one of those stories might make people too confident in their own abilities and you are trying to guard against that, right?

Well, now that I think about it, I remember a story of my own experience with a thorn in my flesh. It was three years ago – the summer between my junior and senior year in college. I was a junior high girls camp counselor at Spring Hill Camps in Michigan. It’s the same job that I had held the summer before.

That first summer, I was stretched out of my comfort zone as I ministered to junior high girls at camp. It wasn’t the job I had applied for, but it was the job I received and I learned to love it. I had an amazing experience and was asked back for a second summer. And I went; I arrived at camp for counselor training with much more confidence and excitement than the first year. This year I knew what I was doing. I would be great; it would be a fantastic summer.

And then it happened. My second week of campers, I was given a thorn in my flesh to keep me from becoming too elated. I had seven campers who either didn’t want to be at camp or hated me from day one for an unknown reason. Thoughts and plans of great Bible study discussions and campfire sessions soon went flying out the door. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get them to have a good time or talk to me. Instead I was more concerned with making sure they didn’t run away, which one girl did manage to do one day.

So, it was only the second day, and I was at the end of my rope. I was exhausted. I had no power in me to make it through five more days like that. I learned I couldn’t find any hope in my own abilities or experience. I appealed to the Lord about these girls, that things would turn around, that we could have just one great campfire talk. But that’s not the way the Lord moved.

Instead, the Lord said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for this day and for this week. My power is made perfect in weakness. It is in me that you will find your strength and be renewed.” And, in God’s grace and strength I made it through.

So, perhaps you didn’t get it all wrong Paul. I may have been too quick to criticize your work. Maybe there are words of hope in your letter and I just need to slow down enough in my reading to grasp them. I need to remember that the good news of the gospel can sound foolish if I listen with ears that are used to this world; in fact, it can all sound down right ridiculous.

But you don’t deny the world and that ridiculousness. You don’t deny the reality of the insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities that your readers may be facing. And I can’t deny to my sisters and brothers in Christ that there is suffering and pain in the world; that children go to bed hungry every day; that adults work long hours at multiple jobs and ends still don’t meet; that disasters happen and we are left wondering why. Those are the realities of this broken world.

So I guess if you are courageous enough to admit those realities to your readers, it’s smart to not deny your weakness as well, because it’s also a real part of life. We all have weaknesses, even though we don’t often advertise them to one another or even admit them to ourselves at times. But we each have days or even weeks when we don’t know how we will make it one more breath or one more step.

But you don’t dwell on the weaknesses and hardships forever, Paul. You open your readers’ eyes to the reality and truth that we are already reconciled to God in Jesus Christ. And so God is with us. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect, complete in your weakness.” You don’t depict these things as future realities that we will eventually receive or what might happen some of the time with God. You force your readers to see the present reality that God’s grace and power are always there and then you encourage them to live into it.

Oh, God’s grace and power doesn’t always feel like a lot. It’s certainly far from the miraculous that is within God’s capabilities. But it’s enough … it’s adequate … it’s sufficient … it sustains us as we continue to take one step at a time and live with the thorn in our flesh, whatever that may be. God’s sustaining grace is exactly what we need but don’t always realize is there.

If these things were your true intention, I might have to give you more credit Paul. You done good. But I still have one more suggestion for you. If you really want the Corinthians, and us, to embrace our weakness and God’s grace, lift up the ultimate example of power in weakness – Jesus Christ.

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, experiencing weakness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5-8). And in the power of that death, when it looked like Jesus was at his weakest and in the hands of the enemy, there the grace and strength of God was present and salvation was made possible.

Paul, continue the good work you do as an apostle for the Lord Jesus Christ. You lead people to the Savior by taking people to the extremes – even in your letters – first talking about the loftiest of experiences and then turning around and talking about utter weakness. In so doing, you tell the story of Jesus Christ, who was truly God in heaven, yet came to earth and died on the cross, so he could reign in power over sin and death and every weakness, accompanying his people through their difficult times, and ultimately redeeming his people even though and because they are weak.

Thanks be to God. Amen.