The Weakness of God... Advent Reflection (1)
The Weakness of God
… an Advent Reflection
Last Sunday was the first Sunday in Advent… the season that celebrates the coming of Jesus into the world. Over the next few weeks I want to reflect on the phrase, “The weakness of God.”
“Jesus entered the world born in a stable and left the world nailed to a cross.”
The Weakness of God
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “the weakness of God”? For me, that phrase is an oxymoron: “God” and “weakness” are two words that shouldn’t be linked together. The two words contradict each other.
I don’t like that phrase for the same reason I don’t like to talk about:
The weakness of my surgeon.
The weakness of the pilot.
The weakness of my lawyer.
I don’t want the word weakness associated with anyone in charge of my life and health.
How would you feel if you opened up the paper and read headlines that talked about…
The weakness of the army.
The weakness of the police department.
The weakness of your favorite sports team.
It’s like, la, la, la, la, la… You don’t want to hear about that!
The Strength of God
In the same way, no one wants to hear about the weakness of God. There’s just something wrong about that phrase. Doesn’t the Bible say that God is our Rock? Our Fortress? God is our Refuge? God is like a Mighty Warrior? Those are terms of encouragement. They help us to breathe easy knowing that when we are weak, God is strong. We want to hear about the strength of God!
How Can God Be Weak?
So where did I come up with the idea of the weakness of God? Well, the apostle Paul used the phrase in a letter that he wrote to a church in Greece. Paul wrote:
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
Paul was answering the critics of his message. When Paul preached about the Savior of the world dying on a cross his Greek audience ridiculed him. They mocked him. Greek gods were strong and powerful. Zeus was associated with lightening, a bull, and an eagle.
They said, Do you hear what you are saying Paul? Do you know how foolish you sound…talking about a crucified Savior? They accused Paul of preaching a message that was foolish and weak. It was embarrassing. And Paul’s answer was,
That may be true, compared to your gods our message may be weak and foolish.
But even in weakness our message is still better than yours.
Jesus Entered and Left the World in Weakness
Paul wasn’t really conceding that God was weak. He was just using this phrase, “weakness of God”, to prove his point. Even what appeared to be weakness (the Cross), in fact, proved to show God’s strength.
But still, having said that, we’ve got to admit …the Christian message does sound weak. I mean, God doesn’t have a very good Public Relations department. Jesus entered the world born in a stable and left the world nailed to a cross. His entrance and exit were at the lowest levels of the social strata.
That’s what I mean by the weakness of God. For some reason, there are times when God delights in revealing himself in weakness. He shuns a display of power and prefers to manifest himself in weakness, or maybe a better word, humility.
Advent is a Time to Reflect on Weakness
We can ignore this side of God, or we can embrace it and learn from it. So that’s what I want to do leading up to Christmas. I want to consider why God is willing to present himself to the world in weakness when the world values strength so much. I hope you’ll join me.
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