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- . “REACHED IN GRACE CATHEDRAL, RANCISCO . te Fetruary 21, 1960 ‘ by The Very Rev. C. Julian Bartlett, Dean e+e 2 COR. 11:30; "If I must boast, I will boast of the things which show my weakness." 2 COR. 12:9 and 10; "but (the Lord) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weekness.' I will all the more gladly toast of my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weak nesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am week, then I am strong." , . In the world of men, it has been said that "the best defense is 2 good offense." This axiom is very widely accepted, we all know. We appiy it to football teams, to contract bridge, to the trying of cases in courts of law, to our military preparecress program, to alinost 211 areas of endeevor. The concept even has produced theories in psychiatric diag- nosis where a person with an aggressive behavior pattern is sometimes said to be really "cevering up" an inferiority complex, In the part of the 2nd Letter to the Corinthians, from which our Epistle of the Day and our texts ere taken, St. Paul is deferiding himself and his role of authority. Appar- ently some self-styled apostles had come to the church in Corinth during St. Peul's absence and had laid claim to certain authority. St. Paul tekes his stand with two goals in mind: Ist, to protect the Corinthians from the usurpation of authority by those false apostles; and, end, to preserve among them the pure doctrine he ha taught, with regard to the latter, we are reminded of our Lord's Parable of the Sewer and the Seeds, which is our Gospel of the Day. The Corinthian Christians have been at least in part like the plants that grew by the wayside, like those which grew upon the rocks and among the thorns. St. Paul chides the Corinthians for letting false doctrine deceive them -and displace or uproot the teaching he gave them. But it is principally of the former goal I would have us think today: i.¢., the manner in which the Apostle defends himself. We infer easily from the letter that the false apostles had boasted of their accomplisiments, their prowess, as "proofs" of their author- ity. St. Paul first meets them on their owm terms. He declares: (vs. 21& ff) "... But whatever anyone dares to boast of--I. am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Isreelites? So amI. ... and etc." He goes on to recapitulate all his credentiezls and to recount all that he has suffered for Christ's seke, That was his "worldly defense." It was ¢ good offense. In effect, the Apostle says he will take a "back seat" with no one. His credentials and his performance are and have been 2ll thet anyone could demand. He is Willing to match measure for measure with any felse apostle. That, I sey, wes his "worldly defense." It was a good offence, really, for € Ss challengers to match his credentials & performance. Up to this point, his argument reminds us of ow ves, it seems to me, How do we re- act to challenges which threaten us? Mest of us, I think, mobilize ourselves to meet the threat measure for measure--by argument, by eggressive action, by "worldly proofs" of one kind or another. The truth, of course, is that seldom are such offensive tactics really effectual. We do not really and thoroughly defeat the threat and we are left with either anger or frustration--or both. St. Paul somehow knew this to be so, apparently. Accordingly, he sweeps all that aside He even called himself a fool for allowing the ergument to proceed on that level: "what I an saying," says he, "I say not with the Lord's authority but as a fool, in this boastful con- fidence; since many boast of worldly things, I too will boast." (ch. 11, vs. 17) But event- ually, he sweeps all that kine of boasting aside and reveals the secret of life which he had found: "If I must boast, I will boast of the things which show my weekness." Of his greatest weakness (to which he repeatedly referred as his "thorn in the flesh") he sexs that he preyed three times to the Lord to te relieved. When those prayers did not refu- its removal, he saw in this the challenge to throw himself in dependence upon Christ He reads Jesus! mind and will as saying to him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for er is made perfect in weakness." He goes on, therefore, to affirm a great Christian rae dox: "I will all the more gladly beast of my weaknesses, that the power of Cnrist may TS . upon mé. For the cake «f Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, ree de) ; persecutions and calamities; for when I 24 feak, then I am strong." (ch. 12, vs. 9 + a a AT baa] qr ‘$ iA pe ‘ :