In weakness, strength

The world around seems at times to be super-charged with encouragement to show the world that we are strong. Whether it's a matter of national defense or simply the face we show in public, in many cultures, weakness is just not tolerated.

Not so (at least not always so) in the eyes of God. The scriptures often speak of the importance of paying attention to the weak; they even encourage us to learn from the less fortunate. What lessons are ours to be learned from these? It would seem that in the face of structures which encourage shows of bravado, our faith calls us to be compassionate. When the visible world encourages us to seek individual interests, God's word counsels that we should not judge, lest we ourselves be judged.

There's also an interesting image which appeared in the Office of Readings for today. The Book of Exodus (17:1-16) recounts the battle between Joshua and Amilek at Rephidim. This took place while Moses himself was witnessing all that took place, and it would seem that this was also a test of divine power because whenever Moses held his hands up (as in an orans posture), Joshua was victorious, but when he let his hands fall because of fatigue, Amilek began to show signs of victory. As it turns out, Moses was not alone though. Aaron and Hur were able to come to his assistance, by helping to prop his arms up, and therefore to bring about victory.

The world around us, while urging us to show bravado also encourages individualism, but this is often detrimental in the long run because it leads to competition instead of cooperation. The irony is that strength based on individual merit often finds itself cut down when the slightest weakness in the outer armor is detected, whereas strength which comes from within is only possible if we begin with an admission of absolute weakness. This kind of weakness does not reflect a physical incapacity, but rather a necessity to discern a Divine Will and to cooperate with its urgings because when all is said and done, no human power is able to resist it.

Strength of this nature is able to withstand all wounds, for it is often discovered only through the wounds that are inflicted, suffered, endured and learned from.