"The Greatness of Weakness"
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 20, 2009
Mark 9:30-37
He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is
going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.
And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.”
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Why are you praying for strength when you ought to be praying for weakness?
Are you still caught up in the way the world looks at things that you
would seek the opposite of what God thinks you ought to have? Do you
so easily go through the motions of the liturgy that you don’t take
time to meditate on what each part is saying to you, the faith that
you are confessing, what it means for you?
In the Collect we prayed: “O God, whose strength is made perfect in
weakness, grant us humility and childlike faith that we may please You
in both will and deed.”
I have prayed for strength many times. I desire it often. Especially
in times of need. Especially when I’m weak. It’s natural, isn’t it?
Maybe that’s the problem. We’re weak, so we need strength.
But that’s not what the Collect says. It’s not what we prayed. It’s
not what we ought to seek. What we’re praying for is weakness. It is
in our weakness that we are strong. Not when we’re strong. When we’re
strong we’re weak. Paul says God’s power is made perfect in weakness
so that’s what we pray in the Collect.
We pray for strength. We pray everything will be all right. We ask God
to turn things favorably our way.
But we don’t pray for weakness.
That’s why we need the liturgy. The liturgy helps us pray for what we
ought to pray. It guides us in praying in the way we ought to pray.
And so we pray for weakness.
God is great, of course. We are comforted in knowing that we have an
all-powerful God. But His greatness is not in His greatness but in His
weakness. The genius of God is that He makes Himself known in
weakness, humility. His power is made perfect in weakness.
Why were the disciples discussing among themselves who was the
greatest? Was it because they were arrogant? Were they like many men
who couldn’t keep from making a competition out of everything? Had one
of them issued a challenge and the others couldn’t help but accept the
challenge?
Mark says they didn’t understand what Jesus had been saying to them.
Here’s the thing, it was the opposite of who was the greatest. Jesus
wasn’t trying show them how He was greater than all of them combined,
He was preparing them for His suffering and death and resurrection.
They didn’t understand what He was getting at. And they were afraid to
ask. We don’t have to deal with that now. It was a long trip back to
Capernaum and they had to talk about something. Perhaps the failed
attempt at casting out the demon from the boy was still fresh in their
minds, sparking protests of fault and rationalization to go around.
There’s no weakness here. There’s no talk of Christ. It’s all about
strength. It’s all about how you’re consumed with yourself and how
pleased you are with yourself. How much better off you’d be if things
would work out a little better in your life than they do. It certainly
should follow that a great God—the Almighty God, Lord of
Creation—would bring about great things in your life. But instead, He
invites us, pleads with us, to pray for weakness. That’s where power
is known. That’s how His greatness is perfected.
In weakness.
They didn’t understand. Will we? Will we see in His words what we need
to know so that we may be content, even seek weakness? Jesus wasn’t
just telling them He would suffer and die. He was laying out on the
table how God brings about His power. It is in weakness. “The Son of
Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” He doesn’t say
that He will walk up to that cross to die on behalf of the world. He
will be handed over. Betrayed. He will willingly suffer the indignity
of being falsely accused and arrested and mocked and led to the
slaughter. He will walk to that cross in humility, in weakness.
The whole way through Jesus never prays for strength. He never seeks
power from His Heavenly Father. He humbly goes the way in weakness.
How can you receive strength if you are praying for it? How can you
expect power from God if you are seeking it? Instead, learn from the
liturgy and pray for God’s strength to be made perfect in weakness.
Learn from how we pray in the liturgy that after we are absolved of
our sins we pray the Kyrie. The words “Kyrie eleison” mean “Lord, have
mercy.” Why do we pray for mercy right after being absolved of our
sins? Are we ever not in need of Christ’s mercy? Might we go from the
Absolution and think that now we’re good to go? Might we walk away
from there forgetting that it is always the mercy of God we need? Not
power. Not strength. Not greater.
The Absolution is, of course, pure mercy. It is the pure forgiveness
of sins, God’s mercy toward us in His Son Jesus Christ. But we tend to
forget that, don’t we? Perhaps even in the seconds after being
absolved. So there is the Kyrie to turn us back toward Christ. The
plea for mercy. The prayer of the one who is weak, not strong.
Why are you seeking greatness and strength from God? Rather, seek
weakness. He comes to you plainly. In ordinary bread. In ordinary
wine. He said it to His disciples but embodied the words Himself: “If
anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
There will be multiple times this week you will wish you had stronger
faith—turn your thoughts back toward the very Body and Blood of your
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is in the humble means of bread and
wine—not in power—that He has delivered Himself over to you so that
you may receive Him in His Holy Supper.
God’s greatness is in His weakness. He made Himself weak so that you
may be strong. Your strength is in weakness. When you are being bugged
by people you will recall in the liturgy that it is in your weakness
God has called you to be their servant. Glory in the fact that you are
a poor miserable sinner. Mercy is your plea and mercy is what your
Lord God grants you. He has come, after all, to serve you. Amen.
SDG
--
Pastor Paul L. Willweber
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS]
San Diego, California
princeofpeacesd.net
three-taverns.net
It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything
except where the marks of the Church are concerned.
[Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian]
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