First reading: Ezekiel 2:2-5
Psalm: Ps 123:1-4
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Gospel: Mark 6:1-6

I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.
Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Weakness:

We need to acknowledge our weakness, to reconnect with it and recognize it. Of course we pretend at strength, at power and determination, but that is a faí§ade.

The years for gaining strength pass quickly. The years of weakness go on and on. As Christians we recognize our tendency toward sinfulness and the ultimate inability to overcome sinfulness on our own. Weakness.

Regardless of how we define weakness it is an ever present part of our lives, something inescapable, something that we may try to hide, but cannot deny.

Obviousness:

We also need to acknowledge our obviousness. We may pretend at forgetfulness when it comes to weakness, and we work hard at covering over mistake, error, and misdeed, but the ultimate victory starts in recognizing the reality of who we are.

What we do is obvious. We are held to account for our actions, our inaction, our mistakes, every nagging little thing we have ever done. We may try to escape our obviousness with statements like: —Time heals everything,— or —Out of sight, out of mind.—

Try as we may someone will show up, an acquaintance, a co-worker, a family member, God and say: —Do you remember when you…— Suddenly we are obvious, exposed in a way that is uncomfortable, that doesn’t conform with the mask we assume had covered our weakness. We are left obvious.

Nakedness:

Finally, in covering over our obviousness and in pretending at strength we are left with an inability to be naked.

Ok, I know what you’re probably thinking, the deacon wants to start a nudist colony.

What I really mean is that we try so hard at covering over our weaknesses, our obviousness, the parts of us that are not so glamorous that we end up loosing our humanity. We end up in a place where it is nearly impossible to be who God intended us to be. A place where we cannot stand and be known as Jim or Stan, or Mary, or Alice, or Frank, or Lilly; but instead are known as whatever ghost of that person we have manufactured.

Take a moment to think about marriage and the intimacy of marriage. We see everything of each other, the warts, the not so smooth skin, yet we love each other and want more of each other. That’s what God wants of us by example, to be able to be who we were created to be, His children, as we are.

That sort of sharing, that sort of nakedness, the ability to be who and what God wants us to be, is our goal. The mask, the disguise, the covering over of weakness, obviousness, and nakedness is merely a tribute to failure, sin and inhumanity.

Why it matters:

Weakness, obviousness, the inability to be who we were meant to be does matter. It matters when we recognize it and do what is necessary in reclaiming our humanity. When we do that we can claim, along with St. Paul, that in weakness we are made strong. Our weakness matters because in it we have the opportunity to connect with the awesome grace of humility. In that humility we start on a path that leads to God, that leads to finding ourselves as God meant us to be.

When we recognize the fact that we fall short of who we should be, when we claim along with St. Paul our inadequacy, we simultaneously recognize that we can’t be who we were meant to be on our own. We realize that we must rely on our Lord and Savior’s grace which will make us strong. In Romans 3:22-24 we read:

For there is no distinction;
since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus

Our recognition and repentance set a new path, a way toward acknowledgement that all of us, ourselves, our communities, our workplaces, and our country falls short. In that empty and humble place we have the opportunity to be filled with the grace of God, to say yes to God, to accept our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as our salvation.

The climb:

Now comes the climb. From that humility we begin the ascent to God. Jesus takes us by the hand to show the way. The Holy Spirit guides us, and the Holy Church instructs us. Along with Paul we pray that our weakness, obviousness, and masks be taken away. We place our reliance on God’s grace, on the word of the Holy Spirit who says to us, like to Paul:

“My grace is sufficient for you—

This is where the change occurs. We select God’s grace over the mask. We select God’s grace in the midst of our obviousness, because He wipes away all sin and frailty. We accept the fact that God will strp us down to who we were meant to be.

When we pray the Lamb of God we say, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world…

If we believe that, and as Christians we must, we acknowledge that God removes all human frailty, all sin, all shortcoming. God removes the masks and the coverings. We are no longer captives and choosers of the mask, we are on the road, entering into the fullness of God’s life.—¨

Why weakness doesn’t matter:

Weakness only counts as a starting point, a check point along the way to God. In the end weakness does not matter for it, itself, is not our end.

Weakness counts as our starting place, but it is not our finishing place.

God is telling us that nothing matters but His grace. Setting aside the mask, the pretending, the failure to deal with our obviousness frees us from captivity to those things. The mask is not our humanity, it is our inhumanity. Through God’s grace in our weakness the obviousness of sin is erased; the mask is taken away. In weakness we are made strong. In humility we win the victory.

Victory is ours:

In the end victory is ours.

The world, and most particularly our country doesn’t want a message that speaks of weakness as victory, humility as a grace, or of humanity found by removing masks of falsehood. Those who rely on the mask of terror, who live under the mask of murder called medical procedure, who revel in the false nakedness that is without love erode humanity. They claim a strength that fades. They were the people Christ encountered in His hometown, who could not see beyond the masks and faí§ades they had created to see the glory of God come among them.

St. Paul knew better and tells the Philippians (Philippians 4:11-13)

I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.
I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me.

Paul knew where his victory and strength was. It was in the humanity that God gives each and every person. It is in doing everything in Christ so that we may enter into the place of glory He has promised us. That is the victory that matters, the truth that makes us free. Amen.