◆ SpookStack

o 4 aot SE CY REACHED IN GRACE CATHEDRAL, RANCTSCO . toe February 21, 1960 . ‘ ty The Very Rev. C. Julian Bartlett, Dean tee 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, 'Hy grace is sufficient for you, for my Power is made perfect in weakness.! I will all the more gledly 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 cz ities; for when I am week, then I am strong. . . In the world of men, it has been said that "the best defense is 2 ¢ exiom is very widely accepted, we all know. We apply it to football teams, to contract bridge, to the trying of cases in courts of lew, to our ndlitary prepare o ood offense." This Prog to Ey almost ell 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 Corint s, from which our Epistle of the Day and our texts ere taken, St. Pan) 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: lst, to protect the Corinthians from the u ion of authority by those false apostles; and, end, to preserve among them the pure trine he had taught. With regard to the latter, we are reminded of our Lord's Parable of the Sower 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 Corinthiens for letting false doctrine deceive them -and displace or uproot the teaching he gave them. But it is p ally of the former goal I would have us think today: i.¢., the manner in which the Apostle defends himself. infer easily from the letter that the false apostles had boasted of their accompli Ls, their prowess, as "proofs" of their author- ity. St. Peul first meets them on their own terms. He declares: (vs. 21& ff) "... But whatever enyone deres to boast of--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Isrzelites? So amI.... and etc." He goes on to recapitulate all his credentials 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 teke a ek seat" with no one. His credentials and his performance are and have been 211 that anyone could demand. He is willing to mztch measure for ré with any t, I say, was his "worldl nse." It was 2 good offence, really, for ers to match his cre and his performance. Up to this point, his argument reminds us of ou selves, it seems to me, How de we re- act to challenges which threaten us? Nest of us, I think, mobilize ourselves to meet the threat measure for measure--by argument, by aggressive action, by "worldly proofs" of one kind or another. The truth, of course, is that seldom are such offensive tactics reelly effectual. We do not really and thoroughly defeat the threat end we are left with either anger or frusiration--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 argument 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 boestful con- fidence; since many boast of worldly things, I too will boast." (ch. 11, vs. 17) But event- ually, he sweeps all that kind of boasting aside and reveals the secret of life whi had found: "If I must boast, I will boast of the things which show my weskn greatest weakness (te which he repeatedly referred as his “thorn in the flesh that he preyed three times to the Lord to te relieved. When those prayers did not r its removal, he saw in this the challenge to throw himself in dependence upon Christ's grace. he reads Jesus’ mind and will as saying to him: "My grace is suSficient for you, for RY Rowe er is made perfect in weakness." He goes on, therefore, to affirm a great Christi Fe a dox: "I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Crrist rest upor, mé. For the cake «f Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, net de)’ persecutions end calamities; for when I 24. feak, then I am strong." (ch. 12, vs. 9 ee a ae a ee 2 - i