Power made perfect in weakness

Ezekiel 2:1-7, 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, Mark 6:1-6

What was it about the people of Nazareth that caused them to reject one of their own? Had they not paid enough attention to Jesus as he was growing up among them to realize that he was going to be someone unique in the history of Israel? Had they been too busy with their own affairs to get involved in helping prepare him for his life's mission?

The answer to these questions is a resounding no.

The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus when he returned to his hometown not because they did not know him well enough, but because they knew him all too well. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?" Wherever, whatever, and however Jesus became what he was, the people of Nazareth had nothing to do with it and wanted nothing to do with him.

“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” In our day, “son of Mary” may be a term of endearment for Jesus. But it was nothing of the sort in Jesus' own day. To be called the son of one's mother, as opposed to the son of one's father, was a term of derision. It implied an illegitimate birth, the worst form of disgrace not only for the particular individual, but also for the entire family. The people of Nazareth “took offense at” Jesus. They knew him. They knew his family. They knew his trade. Who was he to come parading back into town, with his entourage of disciples, presuming to be their teacher and prophet?

“A prophet is not without honor,” Jesus says, “except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”

And, although Mark tells us that “he marveled because of their unbelief,” the rejection by the people of Nazareth would not have come as any surprise to Jesus. After all, the prophetic tradition in Israel was filled to overflowing with stories of obstinate rejection of God’s word by the people who were supposed to be called by his name.

And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. (Ezekiel 2:3-5)

Now, when God himself sends you to speak his word to a people he refers to as “nations of rebels,” “impudent and stubborn,” and “a rebellious house,” with the disclaimer, “whether they hear or refuse to hear. . .they will know that a prophet has been among them,” he is not telling you that you have a 50/50 chance of succeeding. He’s telling you that you and your message, which is the very word of God, are going to be rejected.

Ezekiel knew this, from the very start. The road ahead would be littered with “briers and thorns,” he would “sit on scorpions,” and have to endure the biting words and disdainful looks from an impudent and stubborn people. Nevertheless, God says, “Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”

Rebels will do what rebels will do. They will scorn you. They will insult you. They may even require of you the ultimate sacrifice. But “whether they hear or refuse to hear . . . they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

What matters in the end is not that the people accept or reject you, but that God acknowledges you as his own. Ezekiel was a shining light of obedience and faithfulness in the midst of a dark sea of rebellion and faithlessness; and throughout his prophetic ministry, God gave him the unique privilege of peering behind the curtain of the temporal realm and experiencing a foretaste of eternity.

The Apostle Paul was afforded a similar privilege and, with it, similar hardships.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. (2 Corinthians 12:2-7)

Heavenly visions and earthly hardships—you can’t have one without the other. Paul understood this, but that didn’t stop him from pleading for a little temporal relief . . .

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. (2 Corinthians 12:8)

But the Lord had in mind for Paul relief of a more lasting kind.

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. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

When you put them together, consider them side by side, the words God speaks to Ezekiel are essentially the same as the words he speaks to Paul.

And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 2:5-7)

You are the mouthpiece, God says to Ezekiel. You will speak my word and not be concerned about the outcome. That is in my hands. It is my task to judge these rebellious people, according to how they hear or refuse to hear. Your task, Ezekiel, is to fulfill your calling. Trust me and be not afraid.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a)

It’s not about you, Paul, the Lord says. It’s about me. Through your weakness, my power is made perfect. Your trials, your hardships, your persecutions and calamities draw you ever nearer to me—and the closer you are to me, the more of me the world will see in you. Trust me and be not afraid.

. . . and whether he was there pre-incarnate in the days of Ezekiel or risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father in the days of Paul, Christ himself stands at the very center of all these storms. No stranger to rejection, he found himself a prophet “without honor . . . in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household,” scorned and derided as “the carpenter, the son of Mary.”

Jesus knew the history of Israel. He knew they were “a rebellious house.” He knew that, just as they had rejected the Word spoken by Ezekiel, so they would, likewise, reject the Word made flesh. He knew, also, that hardship and calamity would befall those who followed after him, who would carry his Word of salvation and forgiveness to the ends of the earth.

But, just as his hometown’s lack of faith did not deter him from continuing his mission, going “about among the villages teaching,” so the obstinance and rebelliousness of Israel had not deterred Ezekiel before him and the thorn in the flesh did not deter Paul after him.

Jesus would experience the ultimate rejection, of course, at Calvary. Yet, he humbly submitted to the Father’s will, taking upon himself the briers and thorns and scorpions; the insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities that had befallen all who came before and all who would come after—putting them to death upon the cross.

The power of sin and death was rendered null and void. The power of God—the power to forgive, the power to heal, the power to make all things new— was made perfect in weakness.