A Thorn In The Flesh?

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

“A thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.” – 2 Corinthians 12:7

In this Sunday’s second reading, Paul presents us with this well-known image of the “thorn in the flesh”. Anyone who has handled roses or similar plants can get a feel for the image. A thorn in one’s skin is painful and not always easy to dislodge. It is an unwelcome nuisance. At times, people use the image of a “thorn in the flesh” to refer to someone they find difficult to deal with or tolerate; someone who offers them a severe test of their patience. Is this what Paul means when he writes this to the Corinthians, though? 

Paul describes this “thorn” as so difficult to endure that he begged the Lord repeatedly that it be taken away from him. To put that in perspective, read what Paul says about his life a few verses before this in this very same letter to the Corinthians:

Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fasting, through cold and exposure. (2 Corinthians 11:24-27)

Now, would someone who describes such experiences as an ongoing part of his life feel overwhelmed by a mere thorn?

The Greek word that Paul uses here – skolops – can mean “thorn”. But it had another meaning in Paul’s time:

“According to certain texts, the term refers to sharpened wooden stakes (1) that form a palisade for defensive purposes, (2) that are placed in a pit or depression on the hopes that opposing soldiers might fall upon them to their great distress, or (3) that are used to impale an enemy as a means of torture.” (New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 11, p. 165)

Paul knows himself to be an apostle called by Christ and sent as a missionary to the Gentiles. He also knows that the Lord has already achieved many great things through him. Paul, who at times portrays Satan and his angels in military terms, knows that Satan is aware of this success and doubtless wants to stop it. So, this “thorn in the flesh” is actually some trap or palisade thrown in Paul’s way by Satan in an attempt to trap Paul and stop his ministry – a trap that feels, to Paul, very much like having a wooden stake thrust through his body. This trap, then, seems like a danger not only to his ministry but to his very life. No wonder he begs the Lord that it might be removed.

Paul never says what this “thorn” or “stake” is. He is writing to the community at Corinth, a community he founded and knows well – and they know him well. Paul assumes that they know what he is talking about. Many scholars have put forward various guesses as to what Paul meant. The fact is that we will never know for certain. It is quite clear, though, that Paul experiences it as more dangerous than any other suffering he has had to endure – and that is saying a lot!

Paul begs the Lord, again and again, that this stake be removed. The Lord refuses. It is not removed. Why? The Lord does not give so much an explanation but a twofold assurance: The Lord’s grace is sufficient, and the Lord’s power is perfected in human weakness.

The sufficiency of the Lord’s grace is a major theme in Paul’s letters. The letter to the Romans, in particular, is shot through with it. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more (5:20). Grace will have the last word in the end (5:21). Moreover, it is Paul’s conviction that nothing, no matter how severe, can happen for which God does not also provide some way out, a “new exodus” (1 Cor 10:13). Accordingly, though Paul does not claim that God causes all things to happen as they do, he does say that God works in all things to bring about good for all who love him (Rom 8:28). So, although God did not cause the stake to happen to Paul (it was Satan’s trap), God can work through it to keep Paul from getting too elated over the extraordinary revelations he was given (2 Cor 12:7). God can make what was an evil thing into a means of blessing.

The conviction that the Lord’s power is perfected or brought to its fullness in human weakness is also a basic Pauline conviction. The very beginnings of faith are a prime example of this (Rom 5:6). Human beings, no matter what abilities they may have, cannot save themselves or free themselves from sin. What we cannot achieve  is given to us by the Lord – an act of grace. Earlier in 2 Corinthians, Paul uses the image of human beings as earthen vessels into which God pours such treasure (2 Cor 4:7) “to show that the overwhelming power is from God and not from us”.

Nowhere is any of this better illustrated than by focusing our attention on the Cross of Christ. It would not be hard to portray the Cross as a “stake” that Satan uses against Christ in an attempt to trap Him and stop His ministry – a stake which is transformed by the Lord into the ultimate act of love and the ultimate source of salvation. The Cross is also a sign of human weakness through which the power of the Lord is perfected. It is no surprise, then, that Paul is resolved to preach nothing but Christ, and Christ crucified (1 Cor 2:2). When Paul tells the Galatians, “Let no one make troubles for me, for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body” (Gal 6:17), he is very likely referring to this same “stake” or “thorn”, which he sees as literally his sharing in the Cross of Christ and which he can embrace and even boast about. To die with Christ also means to rise with Him and to live with Him. This, for Paul, does not happen only after his physical death. It begins now, as he dies to his “old” self so that the Lord is free to do many gracious things through him.

And what about us? Even if the challenges of our lives may not appear – at least to onlookers- to be on the same level as Paul’s, how are they for us? What is our own “stake” or “thorn”? Is there a “skolops” in your life, or mine?  Something that feels like a very dangerous trap, like a wooden stake through our body, from which we cannot escape?

My guess is that most, if not, all of us have such a “skolops” in each of our lives – or we soon will, if we don’t just yet.  A trap that feels fiendishly designed just for you or me, exploiting our most vulnerable weaknesses and deepest anxieties. A trap that seeks to stop us from the mission the Lord has given us. A trap from which we might also beg to be freed, again and again – but that release does not come.

What then?  Has God abandoned us to the trap? “By no means!”, Paul would say. God is already several steps ahead of that trap (at least!). Where sin abounds, grace all the more abounds. Look, Paul would tell us, for signs of this grace. Might God be transforming that trap, that seemingly evil thing, into a means of grace for you? Might that grace be not only for you but for others? Might this not become your own sharing in the seeming weakness of the Cross, so that the power of Christ might be at work in you and through you?

Paul would insist that this is no mere rationalization, no sugar-coating of a bad situation. The Lord is faithful and will provide us with a way out. God will work through this trap, this evil thing, this overwhelming reality, and transform it ultimately into a means of love.

Whenever you find yourself severely tested by whatever trap you find yourself in, let me recommend this. Take it to prayer before the Lord. Begin with Psalm 22 and read it through. It gives voice at first to the fear that God has forsaken us, and expresses in very vivid language the sufferings we can face, but then moves to a renewal of faith in the Lord and what the Lord does for those who are committed to Him. Likewise, the last Song of the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52-53) that we read on Good Friday. Then, for the coup de grace, turn to Romans 8:18-39 and let Paul point the way to the Lord’s grace and lift your spirits on high.  What once seemed like certain death will suddenly feel like new life. God does not disappoint!