2 Corinthians 12-13 “Living with Thorns”

READ: 2 Corinthians 12-13

Verses chosen for meditation: 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

⁷ So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

REFLECT

Paul had many major threats in his ministry, from Jewish and Roman establishments. This, he expects. But when opposition comes from fellow Christians, it bothers him much more. Jealous competitors had infiltrated the Corinthian church, undermining Paul’s work, spreading rumours to tarnish his reputation.

Paul confessed a reluctance to defend himself, but their criticisms have gotten out of hand. There were all sorts of charges. Not fully Jewish? Paul is as Jewish as his critics. Not deserving of the title “apostle”? True, he was not one of the twelve disciples, but he met the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus and was later granted a special revelation. Exploiter for money? He supported himself financially to avoid burdening the local church.

Paul then begins to boast, since everyone is boasting. It’s a social convention that people boast without embarrassment. Soldiers and people try to outdo one another in military and political achievements. This was common among the Jews too as they boasted about their religious achievements. But Paul’s boasting was quite different. He took their culture of boasting and inverted it, boasting in his folly, weaknesses and defeats.

Paul’s opponents boasted of being ‘super-apostles’. One question they posed was what revelations and visions Paul could claim as credentials to his ministry. Paul’s reply in 2 Corinthians 12:2-5 was curious, as if unwilling to identify himself as the man who had great revelations. Paul had visions and revelations, but he refused to use that as the basis of his apostleship. He boasted of his weaknesses because it was in them that God’s glory is shown.

Revelations lead to elation, skin-tingling religious experiences that can easily inflate egos. In order not to make Paul conceited from the surpassing greatness of revelations (v7), he was given a ‘thorn’. This pinned him close to God, so that he does not think himself a spiritual superman.  

Three times Paul asked God to remove his painful thorn (v8). Scholars speculated much over the nature of this thorn. Physical ailment? Spiritual temptation? Failures in ministry? Whatever it was, God refused to remove it, to teach Paul humility, grace and dependence.

RELATE

Paul never seemed to get over the wonder that God chose him, a former enemy, to bear the good news. He has since stopped asking God to remove his thorn and accepted living with it, even being thankful for it. He’s humbled and honoured that even his weaknesses, especially his weaknesses, could be used to advance the kingdom.

This is one of the paradoxes of life. A painful thorn bringing good? How can a weakness in me, or a painful circumstance bring me delight? It seemed like a nice, churchy idea that may not survive outside doors of worship halls.

A friend found the truth of this principle after becoming an alcoholic (dabbled with some drugs too). He lost his job, destroyed relationships with his family, and finally ended up on the streets. He shared that the closest he had been to the truth that is Jesus Christ were the nights spent freezing in the streets, being a hopeless derelict. Many can testify to similar experiences, which point out that we rarely learn to meaningfully depend on God when our lives are comfortable.  

Each of us struggles with our own personal thorn. We can shut God out and continue to fail, or allow God’s power to fill our wounds from within. In so doing, God engages us in a profoundly loving relationship. Then delight becomes possible. The wound will still hurt, yet if it takes a thorn to draw me closer to my saviour, then perhaps I can learn to live with, and even appreciate the thorn.

REST

Father, help us not be conceited in the power that brings elation from religious experiences, as that is the power of the flesh, not the power of Christ. Help us see that the power of Christ is power-in-weakness, that it is only in the awareness of our weaknesses that we can apprehend the grace of Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Chris Chong