ROSE BUSHES HAVE THORNS
II Corinthians 12:1-10

A sermon given by the Rev. Richard H. Taylor
August 28, 2005 / 15th Sunday of Pentecost

When I was in Seminary my New Testament Professor was very interested in the passage I just read. I was taking a course on the life and writings of St. Paul, and this Professor thought that this was one of the key passages to understand Paul's life.

Since St. Paul wrote so much of the New Testament, more than anyone else, the sense was that much of western culture hung on Paul's every word. Augustine, Luther, Karl Barth, they all hung on Paul's words. But who was this Paul? Could we understand this Paul? If we could get a psychological analysis of Paul we might understand why he said what he said or did what he did. If we can make Paul look more human, take away some of his halo and religiosity, cut him down to size, we could clear our culture from the clutter of his ideas. We could put him in his place.

And this passage seemed like the passage to do it with. Paul, uncharacteristically, tells us about himself. He admits to his own inner weakness and confusions. He's so embarrassed to be talking about himself he begins in the third person, "I know someone…” He admits to having had profound religious experiences. He can't even tell if they were out of body experiences or just dreams. He felt he was in heaven. He had a mountain top experience. He was elated.

So that's one part of his personality. He was a mystic.

But then he says he got stuck with something to keep him from being too elated. He says, "a thorn was given me in the flesh.” It was so upsetting he calls it "a messenger of Satan.” Here is a fellow who wrote much of the Bible admitting that he carried within him a messenger of Satan. Think what a sinister exegete could do with that!

So my Seminary class asked: "what was Paul's thorn in the flesh?” What was so bad that he kept praying to God to get rid of, and God didn't! What do all these people who say God answers prayer do, when the find a writer of so much of the Bible saying "God said no.” What do the purveyors of joy think of a God who keeps people from "being too elated?”

So we began to analyze Paul's thorn under a microscope. What was it that brought out this other side in the Bible writer? All the commentators I read were sure it was some physical ailment, some disease. One commentator says it might have been epilepsy, eye trouble, even malaria. We joined the Professor in this sort of perverse pursuit to discover what had created the psychology of St. Paul.

I thought I had this passage down pat. I was intellectually on top of Paul's thorn in the flesh. I knew all there was to know about it.

Until I went to Church one Sunday. Preachers have ways to do things with texts that turn the exegetes on their ears. I was on a trip and had a Sunday morning lay over at a City bus terminal. So I went walking to find a church to worship in. I'd never been in that Church before, I didn't know anyone. And that Sunday morning changed me life.

It changed my life because the preacher preached on this text. But the preacher did not start where my Professor had started. The preacher started by asking, "is there anything in your life that you have been praying about again, and again, and again; one, two, three times; and nothing seems to happen? Let me ask you that this morning. Is there anything in your life that you have been praying about, one time, two times, three times and nothing seems to happen? It could be a disease. But it doesn't have to be. The way Paul used "flesh” it could be some sinful temptation you can't overcome; or it could be an embarrassment about your family; or it could be the way you look. Is there something in your life that you wished would be different? Is there something in your flesh, that you have prayed and prayed to change and it hasn't happened?

I sat there listening to this unknown preacher and said to myself, "you better believe it.” If Paul had only prayed three times, I had prayed a lot more than that. I had prayed again and again, I wish I wasn't gay. Why am I gay? I didn't chose to be gay. God why can't you change this? God, I said, I'm trying to be a minister. How can I be a minister if I am gay? Gay people are not acceptable in the Church.

And the preacher said, I don't care who you are this morning, but I am sure there is something in you life you have been praying about. There is something you have been praying about. It feels like a thorn. It hurts. Sometimes it bleeds. And its in your flesh, its in you, its something about you. I thought, "Preacher, I don't even know you, how do you know so much about my life?”

And the preacher said there is a message from God for you. Here is the message, "My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness.” My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. So you feel powerless and weak? So do most people. Get a hold of yourself. But my grace is sufficient for you.

It's like God is saying, I know all about it, go ahead, my grace is with you. Are you sure God? Can I really go ahead and you'll give me grace?

That sermon changed my life. Because I think it was the first sermon that really suggested to me that I might be acceptable to God just as I was. And if I was acceptable to God just as I was, I guess I could accept myself a little better.

Now I don't know what you have been praying about all these times. I don't claim to understand you in the way that I thought that preacher understood me.

But I suspect there is something.

In the first draft of this sermon I wrote a whole list of things you might be praying about; thorns you wanted to get rid of: everything from being a disaster at sports, to coming from a poor family. You may be praying about your looks, or over some great moral failure that you have never admitted to anyone. Or like the commentators thought of Paul, you may be praying about a disease, a physical ailment. My original list went on and on. Whatever, you may have a thorn in the flesh.

But you know, the last time I looked, rose bushes have thorns. Perhaps we need to stop thinking about the painful or embarrassing parts, and realize you are a rose. You are beautiful. God is with you.

My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness.

Amen.