July 7 | Pentecost 7, Year B
2 Sam. 5:1-5, 9-10 or Ezek. 2:1-5
Ps. 48 or Ps. 123
2 Cor. 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13
God works through the election of mortal human beings: the weak, the frail, the forgotten, the lost. God calls Ezekiel to the vocation of a prophet, filling him with a supernatural indwelling Spirit, and yet the prophet is sent to “a nation of rebels,” a people “impudent and stubborn” (Ezek. 2:3-4). Moreover, Ezekiel confronts not only the resistance of the people to whom he is sent but also his internal weakness.
Twice in a short passage, the Spirit addresses Ezekiel as “mortal,” signifying the prophet’s frailty. The prophet, then, must rely in the deepest possible way not upon human strength but the strength of God, who raises him to his feet, addresses him, and fills him with the Spirit. Although the prophet is weak, in the power of the Spirit, he is strong!
St. Paul, although speaking about himself, partly veils the fact by speaking of “a person in Christ.” “Such a person,” he explains, “was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weakness” (2 Cor. 12:3-5). Paul’s profound mystical experience carried with it the incipient risk of pride. “Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated” (2 Cor. 12:7).
Although Paul prays three times to be healed, he receives not a healing but a promise. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:8-9). Finally, St. Paul almost revels in his weakness and his corresponding absolute reliance on the grace of God. “So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12: 9-10). Human weakness is the raw material of divine power. The promise here is that human frailty does not and cannot thwart the design and power of God.
Jesus equips the saints for the work of ministry by stripping them down to a condition of naked need. “He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics” (Mark 6:7-9). Consigning the disciples to a vow of poverty, Jesus enriches them with divine power to cast out demons and heal the sick.
In the presence of Almighty God, we see ourselves as we are — weak, vulnerable, mortal, afraid. We see also who God is, the One who “raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap” (Ps. 113:7). St. Paul puts it this way: “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:27-29). In truth, we are all foolish and weak. Thus, we may all be fools for Christ, living by a power not our own.
Look It Up: Psalm 123:3
Think About It: Look to the Lord your God!