Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18, Luke 18:9-14
How many of us, over the course of our lives, have been asked to describe our strengths and our weaknesses? Just about all of us I suspect, perhaps in a college application, or in a job application, or in some sort of small group. And, I assume we all know various ways to answer such a question. We can elaborate on our strengths, and simply choose to ignore our weaknesses, not even answering that part of the question. Or, we can try the clever approach of trying to present our weaknesses in such a way that they might be viewed as strengths. I know in the past I might have tried this one: “I work too hard.” Or, perhaps this one: “I care too much.” My account of my weakness is my coy attempt to dress up a weakness, to urge the reader to see the positive in a requested negative. I coyly answer the question, not really admitting to any genuine weakness. I found an interesting response on the internet to the question, “What are your weaknesses?” A resume advice company recommends this answer: “I prioritize continual growth and improvement. An area on which I would like to focus is managing others who have different expectations from me. What needs to be done in order to complete responsibilities is intuitive for me, so I am learning how to give better direction to others who are not self-motivated.” I think somewhere in that answer is the interviewees obscure acknowledgement that he or she is controlling and doesn’t trust others to get the job done. But, you do have to work hard to figure out the weakness and you do have to wonder if we talk ourselves out of our weaknesses when we answer the question with such embellishment.
Over the past two weeks, I have been perusing the website designed for the search process for the next Bishop of Chicago. If you haven’t checked out this website yet, you should take a look. The website is www.bishopforchicago.org. On this website, for each of the eight nominees, we are given biographical information, a greeting from the nominee, and the nominee’s answers to five essay questions. One of the questions presented to each of the nominees is this: What do you see as the promise in the work of being a bishop in our church today, and how does that relate to your sense of call to serve as Bishop of Chicago? Describe your strengths and limitations as they apply to this role. In essence, what are your strengths and weaknesses? As I read the answers to these questions for the eight nominees, I noted the various ways they go about answering this question. Some of the nominees simply do not address any weaknesses – others, at times, attempt to window dress a weakness. But, what really strikes me are those instances in which the nominees are extremely candid in putting forth a weakness. They speak of being impatient, of being a procrastinator, of avoiding conflict, of not giving time to the details. I’m not sure whether or not how these nominees answered this question will affect how I vote. However, I am struck when someone is candid about a weakness or fault in character.
In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus tells the parable of the two men who go to the temple to pray. A Pharisee is a highly respected individual, one who is disciplined in his faith. A tax collector is a despised individual, one who participates in a corrupt system. Yet, in the parable, the tax collector is the one who leaves from the temple justified in his faith. The Pharisee gives thanks for his upstanding moral behavior. The tax collector acknowledges his faults. “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” So, what does it mean to be humble? It does not mean humiliation – oh, woe is me, I am a sinner, I am worthless. I believe the lesson here is recognizing and acknowledging our humanity. And, here is the beauty of the gift of salvation. We can feel sincere regret and even deep remorse over our failings, but we do not need to be tormented and bound by our failings. We stand before God in our strengths and in our weaknesses. We desire forgiveness and we know a certain peace, recognizing and acknowledging all that we are. Indeed, recognizing the wholeness of our being is the first step in growing as a human being.
Wilkie Au, a Jesuit priest and Theology professor, shares these thoughts in The Westminster Collection of Christian Meditations. “The struggle with self-acceptance is complicated by the fact that it cannot be selective. It is futile to conduct an inventory of ourselves, claiming some parts as good and discarding others as undesirable. Psychologically speaking, healthy self-acceptance cannot be based on denial and projection. Maturity will elude us as long as we try to disown unattractive parts of ourselves and project them onto others. Only by embracing the totality of who we are as people uniquely fashioned by the Lord can we progress spiritually. Paradoxically, this self-acceptance, instead of leading to self-complacency, can be the beginning of growthful change. Acceptance allows the wall of self-defensiveness to crumble and permits the Pentecostal winds of conversion to blow freely throughout the self. Energies formerly wasted on battling the truth of who we are can be converted to peaceful reconstruction of the self under the guidance of God’s spirit. Factored into the reality of Christian self-acceptance is the humble acknowledgment that at every point in our lives we are called to conversion. The Lord’s creative power is continually at work in us, with stunning grace.” (p. 252)
Oh…but facing our self, understanding and recognizing and acknowledging our weaknesses is not easy. Somehow, the closer we get to the truth, the more self-righteous, or defiant or stubborn we get. We have to work harder to protect our distorted views, as the truth takes shape within us. We have known this aspect of human nature for a long time – this is the life of Saul who becomes Paul. Saul is a faithful man whose passion takes a dangerous turn as he nears the truth of his life. We hear about him “…ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women.” (Acts 8:3) Just before his conversion, we are told that “…Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:1-2) And, then, he meets God on that road to Damascus. He is compelled to take a hard look at himself, at the persecution, at the hatred. He finds himself, and his life begins anew. He is still that person that can hate. But, his life begins anew as he allows the Holy Spirit to help him navigate his strengths and weaknesses and grow in his service to Christ, grow in his relationship to God and to his fellow man.
Our Gospel lesson today is augmented by an Old Testament lesson from Jeremiah and a New Testament lesson from 2 Timothy both reminding us of God’s covenant, God’s promise to live with us always, through our strengths and through our weaknesses, through all that we are. In the Old Testament, we are assured of God’s covenant through the Israelite’s pattern of calling God to God’s covenant through confession and praise: “We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, the iniquity of our ancestors, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us. Can any idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for it is you who do all this.” In the New Testament, Paul assures us of God’s presence: “…the Lord stood by me and gave me strength.” We are who we are, in our nature, in our being. And, we have the potential to offer our strengths and to work through our weaknesses. Here is the wonder of God. I believe when we open our hearts to God, we come face to face with our self, our strengths and our weaknesses are laid out before us. This self-awareness is not about guilt. In self-awareness, we understand that God loves us unconditionally, through our strengths and through our weaknesses. We are given the opportunity to recognize and cope with our weaknesses. We do not need to fear our weaknesses, only to understand them that we might grow through them. In our hearts is our truest nature – there we know God and there we know peace.
