Tomorrow at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine (LC-MS), the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, “Blessed By a Messenger of Satan” (2nd Corinthians 12:7-9a)

Dear Christians,

The Word of God turns the wisdom of men on its head. How could something coming from the devil against us, ever be a good thing? 2nd Corinthians 12:7-10 is profound:

“So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger o Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

For this blog, I can’t write anything better than what Luther wrote, so I defer to him:

“You should tell the devil: Just by telling me that I am a miserable, great sinner you are placing a sword into my hand with which I can decisively overcome you; yea, with your own weapon I can kill and floor you. For if you can tell me that I am a poor sinner, I, on the other hand, can tell you that Christ died for sinners and is their Intercessor…You remind me of the boundless, great faithfulness and benefaction of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The burden of my sins and all the trouble and misery that were to oppress me eternally He very gladly took upon His shoulders and suffered the bitter death on the cross for them. To Him I direct you. You may accuse and condemn Him. Let me rest in peace; for on His shoulders, not on mine, lie all my sins and the sins of all the world.” (Pless, What Luther Says, 403)

This commentary is applicable to our text in that Luther is making the basic point that when the devil attacks, we are given the occasion to turn to Christ and to see our refuge in the LORD. St. Paul was trained to view his tremendous suffering in the same way. He was permitted a “thorn.” A sharply pointed sliver! The kind that gets in you and won’t come out! This produces a sharp, piercing pain as it is driven deeply into the flesh…which piercing pain may also stand as a metaphor for a great psychological and/or spiritual struggle (even while possibly including a physical ailment and/or social persecution).  And there is no doubt about the purpose of this messenger of Satan (as the NASB translates it): it is sent to “torment.” This is a unique word standing for powerful blows.

In all of this we feel a basic confusion: how can our LORD of love and mercy permit this to happen to us? The answer is given in 2nd Corinthians 12. Paul was being kept “from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations…(verse 7a).”

St. Augustine identified our greatest sin: our pride, the sin that led the devil to try to take God’s place; the sin that drove our first parents from paradise. This too is our sin, so while we do not go looking for thorns and crosses — nor do we treat them as Medieval badges of penance — we must know that the LORD may choose for us a “thorn” of our own. In every case, however, it is to lead us in the way that it led St. Paul: namely back to Jesus! And when this occurs, hear the sweet words that do more than sustain us:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (verse 9).”

But of course it is! Because it was when our Savior took upon Himself the “thorns” in the form of 5-7 inch-long spikes driven through His hands and feet that His power was perfected in weakness. It was when He took the tormenting blows of the wrath of God for ALL of our sin, for ALL of our pride that His power was perfected in weakness. In His own weakness — even to the point of death — His power was perfected, since on the cross He proclaimed the kind of “perfection” St. Paul wrote about in 2nd Corinthians 12; that is, Jesus said, “It is finished (John 19:30).” Finished is the threat of your sin and pride; finished is the power of Satan in your life; and finished is all fear from the struggles that mark our path towards heaven!

Let us thank God that in Christ even the messengers of Satan are used for our good!

 

In Your Service and To Your Glory,

 

Dr. Espinosa

 

 

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