In our Weakness, Christ is Strong
by Rev. Dr. Amy Chilton on 03/23/23
As we are nearing Holy Week, I am struck by the vulnerability of Jesus in a season we generally celebrate as triumphant. Certainly Easter is triumphant! Up from the grave he arose! The first Easter showed us that God can even overcome that which awaits each of us: sure and certain death. One of my favorite church historians, Justo González, describes the days between Good Friday and Easter as the time Jesus handed the devil a gift-wrapped box. When the box was opened, it was a bomb that blew the gates off of hell, freeing everyone trapped within. That is powerful! But we aren’t at Easter yet. We are still on this side of Palm Sunday, yet another story of power. Jesus is still walking around that Judean dusty desert in a fragile human body, subject to the same nutrition, social, water, and shelter needs we all have. He was still encountering the hard parts of life - such as when his friend Lazarus died and Jesus wept (John 11:35). Jesus was powerful, yes, and Jesus was also vulnerable. Jesus blew the gates off of hell, but Jesus also died in a publicly shameful manner. Jesus is the power of God, but the power of God was also born as a human infant, became thirsty, and wept when his friends died. This seems like a paradox, doesn’t it? But, if we examine our lives can’t we also say that we live in this same tension between vulnerability and power? We walk through dark valleys, but we also sit with courage feasting in front of those who would ruin us (Psalm 23). We will die, but we will also live forever. We are human. We are vulnerable. We are created in God’s image. “Vulnerability is not a weakness, a passing indisposition, or something we can arrange to do without. Vulnerability is not a choice. Vulnerability is the underlying, ever-present and abiding undercurrent of our natural state. To run from vulnerability is to run from the essence of our nature; the attempt to be invulnerable is the vain attempt to become something we are not.” (David Whyte, Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words, 261). We are created to be vulnerable, and we cut off part of who we were created to be when we pretend otherwise. Remember this – Christ was vulnerable. Vulnerable to the point of death. But, vulnerability doesn’t mean weakness. It means that when we live into the power of vulnerability we hold on tight to the promise that one day these bones will rise again. Jesus kept that promise for us. Let me encourage you to find a way to be vulnerable to the world this week - to weep with it, to laugh with it, and to share your life with it. Blessings, Pastor Amy
