14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the third season of the Chosen, there is a wonderful scene developed by the screen-writers of the show, which so accurately portrays Jesus’ theology and outlook on life that it truly deserves a place in the canonical gospels, even if it is the work of imagination. The scene can be watched at this link: Amongst the twelve apostles, two bear the first name James. One is the brother of John, both sons of Zebedee, and he is a towering strapping young man. In order to distinguish the other James from this his Zebedee namesake, Jesus affectionately calls him “Little James.” Little James walks with a limp and has to use a crutch to aid him in his walking. He has seen Jesus heal many people, but he can’t understand why Jesus has not healed him. He has been a disciple of Jesus for a few months now, and following scene occurs just when Jesus has sent out the 12 apostles to heal the sick and the lame. James confronts Jesus and asks him if it is possible for him to be healed. Jesus responds by saying: “I think you’ve seen enough to know that it is possible,” “Then why haven’t you?” James asks in a hurt tone, “Because I trust you. Little James, in the Father’s will, I could heal you and that would be a great story – but there are already many people who can tell that story, and there will be hundreds more, but think of the story you have, if I don’t heal you, to know how to proclaim that you still praise God in spite of this, to know how to focus on all that matters so much more than the body, to show people that you know how to be patient with suffering because you know that you will spend eternity without suffering. How many people do you think that the Father and I trust with this story – not many.”
“But the others they are so much more better than I,” “James, I love you, but I don’t want to hear you say this ever again. So many people need healing in order to believe, so many people need healing because their hearts are so sick. That doesn’t apply to you. And many people are healed or not healed because the Father in heaven has a plan for them. When you do great things in my name in spite of this, the impact will last for generations.”

In today’s second reading, we have Paul having a very similar conversation with God to the one that little James had with Jesus. Paul tells us that he has pleaded with the Lord three times to take this “thorn in the flesh” away from him. It is not entirely clear to us what this thorn in the flesh was. Some educated guesses have suggested that it was something like a physical handicap that caused him pain like a pinched nerve or a limp, or epilepsy, or an eye condition (Ga 4: 13-15), or even a speech impediment which would have greatly affected his ability to preach and convey the Word of God as he might have wanted to. The argument for seeing it as a speech impediment certainly has a lot of merit. Paul often wistfully references his lack of eloquence compared to some of the other apostles with whom he compares so favourably in other metrics.

Whatever it was, it is clear that Paul experienced it as something that was sent to him by God in order to curtail his boasting. It was something that ensured that he would not be able to continue grow too big for his boots. Despite all the admiration we might have for Paul’s single-minded dedication to the Gospel and his unstinting service of the Christian communities, we are forced to concede that pride is certainly something that Paul struggles with a lot. Just the mere fact that he is wont to compare himself so often with the other apostles reveals that he had an ego about his status as an apostle and vociferously defended his apostolic credentials whenever they were called into question. Thankfully Paul has enough self-knowledge to know that pride is something that he might struggle with, and so he has the grace to be thankful for this thorn in his flesh that prevents him from thinking the world of himself.

In a very insightful article about the priesthood, an American Jesuit, Michael Buckley talks about how the normal question when considering whether a man is fit for priesthood is to ask “is this man strong enough to be a priest?” Buckley turns this question on his head and says that we should instead ask if a candidate to the priesthood is “weak enough to be a priest.” He is quick to underline that the experience of weakness is not synonymous with the experience of sinfulness, in fact he says it is just the opposite of sinfulness. Sin is at its very root a refusal to live in a dependent relationship on God, it is a refusal of our creatureliness. Sin feeds off the myth that we are our own origin and we are strong enough, intelligent enough, resilient enough, talented enough to go it alone and be self-sufficient. Buckley argues that if someone is clever enough they can so structure their lives that they are able to accomplish pretty much whatever they set their minds to so that they are able to effectively banish the experience of failure and ineffectual efforts from their lives. Such a person would make a disastrous priest because they would not be able to identify with the ordinary, average person. Buckley points out that the author of the letter to the Hebrews underlines that the key to Christ’s priesthood is precisely his ability to experience weakness and failure: “He can deal gently with the ignorant and the wayward since he himself is beset by weakness” (Heb 5:2). If we acknowledge that we are all priests by our common baptism, then this qualification of being weak enough to be a priest should apply to all of us. We are all called to sanctify the world with Christ by helping others to realize that their suffering and weakness are actually a call to deeper trust in God. We can only do this if we have an experience of weakness ourselves.

This is why the Lord refuses Paul’s request and little James’ request for healing. His reply to Paul contains the nub of the argument “for my power is at full stretch in weakness.” Weakness is almost never glorious or sexy, it is usually awkward, ugly, hard to explain and makes fools of us. But when we accept it gracefully, that becomes the chink in our armour that God uses to reach the very core of our being. Looking at the examples of little James, Paul and Buckley, there are three reasons that God allows weakness in our lives:

1. The power of God is more fully apparent if it is proclaimed by weak disciples, we witness better to the primacy of grace.
2. Carrying some form of weakness humbles our pride and keeps our ego in check, so that we never get ahead of ourselves and begin to think that our talents are something we can take credit for.
3. Our weakness enables us to identify with others who are going through the same thing and places us in the ideal position from which to minister to them. Questions for reflection
4. Do I allow myself to become frustrated with the weaknesses that life sends my way?
5. How can I come to see the crosses that I must bear as conforming me to the image of Christ?
6. In what ways do the crosses that I must bear enable me to minister to others and understand them better?