Grace Sufficient
Deryl Fleming
July 5, 2009
II Corinthians 12:2-10
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I suspect no one in this room has a literal thorn in the flesh. I remember having one under a nail and in so deep I couldn’t dislodge it. I probably prayed as in O M G, but I also found my way to an ER where a doctor removed it for me. Some thorns you can pull out. Others someone else can pull out. Still others have to be surgically removed.
As for figurative thorns in the flesh, some can be talked out in talk therapy. Testimony has it that some can be prayed away. Still others you have to live with the rest of your life.
Obviously it was the latter kind that the Apostle Paul reports. He tried to pray it away: “three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me…” But that wasn’t going to happen.
As with the frequent references to unnamed enemies in the Psalms, Paul’s thorn in the flesh gives us a fill in the blank. Some have speculated that it was a physical ailment or impairment – epilepsy, migraines, a speech impediment or vision loss. I suppose it could have been what we now know as Parkinson’s or some other neurological affliction.
Other chronic diseases such as lupus, MS, fibromyalgia, diabetes are possible guesses. I have a special place in my heart for people with chronic conditions. Following surgery I once had pain so severe I couldn’t read, but I knew the pain would go away in a couple of weeks. Acute is one thing. Day after day and year after year is quite another thing. “Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but…” What a big but people with chronic afflictions are given. I take my hat off to those who have one.
Some have speculated that Paul’s thorn in the flesh may have been an emotional or mental burden. In the previous chapter he speaks of sleepless nights and “daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.” Read II Corinthians in its entirety and you will see why. The church was a mess. No “all things in decency and in order” for that church.
One commentator guessed that Paul’s thorn was chronic depression. Following my sermon last month one person understandably took issue with a statement I made about there not being enough miracles to go around. I had been referring to chronic disorders, particularly bipolar disorders.
Most people who suffer with depression get well, but the miracles to hope for in bipolar disorder are acceptance and effective medical management, as well as compassionate care from loved ones and professionals.
Paul’s thorn in the flesh could have been spiritual, not that there is anything that is not spiritual. Perhaps a recurring temptation, such as hubris was it. “To keep me from being too elated.” Maybe his thorn helped keep him humble. Given his credentials, competence and confidence, Paul needed some help on that one. Besides, so far as we know he didn’t have a wife.
My friend Ton Brunkow, a United Methodist pastor, came home after the service disappointed that he had disappointed the Whites because he had acknowledged the Black’s 50th anniversary and hadn’t announced the White’s 40th anniversary the previous Sunday (because he didn’t know about it). Tom’s wife said, “Tom, you disappoint someone every Sunday.”
Another possibility regarding Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a person or group or persons. Have you ever had a person who was a thorn in your side? One take on “a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated” is someone who thought he was a heretic or an imposter. Never Call Them Jerks, but I guess you can call them “a messenger of Satan.
Have you ever been a thorn in someone else’s side? I remember a parishioner who from time to time on the way out of the service would mildly complain about something we (usually I) hadn’t done. One Sunday she upped the ante, adding, “I guess you and I don’t see eye to eye on lot of things.” A few months later I learned that she and her family were attending another church. One way to rid yourself of a thorn in your side is to move away. Before you do or just after you probably do well to learn something from the thorn.
I have a book written by a Jewish therapist called Thank You For Being Such A Pain. He thinks that everyone who is difficult for him has something to teach him.
The context for the thorn in the flesh vision is a controversy in the Corinthian church over Paul’s authenticity and authority. It seems they had at least four parties. Paul had his followers. Others claimed the eloquent Apollos as their man. Some looked to Peter. Still others claimed only Christ.
Apparently some wanna bes were claiming superior religious experience. Paul refers to “super apostles” who report visions and revelations, which moves him to report his vision saying, “I will not boast except of my weaknesses.”
The late Bill Coffin said that when people join a church they should not be asked so much about their successes as about what they have suffered. Not that suffering defines us, but it gives us a track record. Pastors are sometimes able to refer parishioners in a particular crisis to others who have experienced a similar crisis.
Anne Lamott says that God answers prayer in four ways: yes, no, not now, and you’ve got to be kidding. Most sermons on prayer are in the vein of “whatever you ask in my name believing you will receive.” Maybe, but sometimes all you get is silence, more silence, then “my grace is sufficient.”
Usually grace means unmerited favor, the love you get even if you don’t deserve it. Here in the context of weakness it means strength for living, living gracefully whatever the circumstances, whatever it takes to get you through whatever it is you have to endure.
On A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor advertises Powdermilk Biscuits, which are tasty and expeditious and make shy people get up and do what needs to be done.
Bob Little has a wonderful story about having a heart attack alone in a hotel room far from home. He managed to crawl to the phone and dial 911. Help soon came, but Bob was looking for Jesus. “Where’s Jesus?” Then he realized that Jesus was there in the EMTs.
Grace sufficient is not about self help. No platitudes here about positive thinking or possibility thinking, looking in every cloud for the silver lining, saying everything happens for a reason.
Grace sufficient is not about being stronger. It’s about owning your weakness, in which God’s strength is made perfect. “I will boast all the more of my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
So we gather at the table to receive a power beyond our own. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
