Second Sunday after Pentecost: Epistle, 2 Corinthians 4:5-12                         

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Watch Paul. Watch all the writers of Holy Scripture and you find a theme creeping into their output. The theme is weakness. Their own. And yet in the admissions and inferences made there is no shame. Now, I’m not referring here to the moral weakness that we all experience. I’m referring to the weakness that all through whom the Word of the Lord is revealed deals with as they see the greatness of the God who reveals Himself. His works. His plan as far as they understand it. 

Paul writes, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor. 5:7). Two things. First, Paul recognizes what God is displaying through him is “treasure.” Lots could be said but the question is raised, “Do I see what God has given me in the Word as treasure?” It’s a question worth grappling with. And second, Paul sees his utter weakness and expendable nature. It’s as if Paul were saying, “This great God could set us all aside at any moment and move on.” But He doesn’t. He didn’t set Paul aside for his great weakness. And neither has He set You on the bench. No. You are still in “the game.” I am too.

All that to say that I believe what Paul is teaching us is the value of seeing and admitting our great flaws and inadequacies. We must own our weaknesses. Think of the dear Baptist at the Jordan speaking of his cousin/Savior, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). And why? Because John was weak. Paul, too and us. But oh the strength of the Lord that leaks in and through to the world if we will but admit the power is His. It’s all His. But He still keeps us near. Weakness in the Kingdom is not to be discarded. But transformed and used. In His strength.