When I am weak, then I am strong.

Let me share the homily I gave this Sunday for the 14^th Sunday in Ordinary time...

My Dad and I used to wrestle ever since I was little. Unlike David and Goliath, I was no match. However, when I was a sophomore in high school, I was about as tall as Dad since I had just gone through a growth spurt, but I was as thin as a rail, about 105 pounds. I had been wrestling with friends and had developed a mean headlock. I thought I may actually have a chance.

As we were fighting, I think my dad realized that I was stronger than before. He played along for a little bit. But eventually he leaned all his weight on me – an extra 100 pounds – and I wound up on the floor barely able to breathe. He had won again.

I had underestimated my dad. And I had overestimated my strength. And I had lost….again.

I find this similar to what happened in the Gospel today. Jesus returns to his hometown. And the people underestimate him. And they overestimate their troubles. These are people that had known him probably his whole life. They should have known him best. And they wonder how this familiar Jesus, the carpenter’s son and son of Mary, could do all the miraculous things they had heard about him. At this point in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus was already well known for his preaching and for healing many people. But the people of his town, with a few exceptions underestimated Jesus. They would not have faith in him. And therefore, they wouldn’t allow Him to heal them.

Doesn’t this sound like our faith lives sometimes? We see how BIG our troubles are. Our sickness…our sins…our misery…and we wonder how can this carpenter’s son and son of Mary do anything to help ME? When we fail to have faith in Jesus and don’t place our trust in him…we don’t allow him to heal us.

A better attitude to bring to Jesus is what St. Paul talks about in the second reading today. “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” See, St. Paul was complaining about a “thorn in the flesh” he was given. Something that distracted and pained him badly. “Why wouldn’t the Lord take this from me,” he wondered. From this, St. Paul learned that we must acknowledge our weakness to allow the Lord to fill us with HIS strength. We must acknowledge our brokenness to be repaired by Christ.

St. Paul says, “for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Because it is never OUR strength that will accomplish the great things God has in store for us. It is only by accepting our weakness, and allowing Christ to fill us with His power, that we are made truly strong.

If we approach Christ in humility and place our trust in him, we can cry out,  “I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength!” (Phil 4:13)