• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sermo Humilis

Humble Speech

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Who we Are Instead / Weakness is the Way

Weakness is the Way

January 30, 2019 By David Trounce Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Nobody wants to be called weak, at least, not by the world’s definition. The world despises the weak and has a habit of crushing them. There is a weakness that can get you crushed. But it is a weakness that’s worth having.

When God visited His people on the mountain at Horeb, He did it with peels of thunder, fire from Heaven and a terrifying voice. The people panicked and asked God to come up with another way of communicating. So He did.

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers; it is to him you shall listen; just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’

And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. (Deuteronomy 18:15-18)

The people didn’t want thunder from heaven. They wanted someone like themselves.

So, God sent them a man they could relate to. But to their dismay, this man said pretty much the same things that had been thundered from the mountain.

But he also walked the streets healing the sick, talking to fishermen, eating with sinners, weeping over the death of friends and blessing the little children. And they didn’t like that.

When Weakness is the Way - Luger - sermo humilis

That was Jesus. He came in the weakness of an ordinary man willing to surrender Himself for the sake of others. He was tender and they didn’t like that at all.

God had warned them that when He came, they must be careful to listen to Him. They didn’t. They wanted someone who would thunder at Rome – not Jerusalem. But Jesus wouldn’t.

People usually don’t admire weakness. Women hate it in men and men hate it in each other. We admire power. We admire glory.

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2)

And so, the people didn’t listen and they didn’t like Him. By this world’s measure, Jesus was a weak man.


On the move?
This article can also be seen and heard on Youtube

The God at Horeb they could hear but not bear. God en-fleshed in meekness and lowliness they would neither hear nor bear. “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

They found the kindness and patience of Jesus intolerable. They found His apparent weakness and gentleness an insult.

Weakness is the Way - sermo humilis

Jesus didn’t call down fire from Heaven – He healed with his hands. He didn’t slay the wicked or the adulterer – He lifted them out of the pit. He didn’t fight Rome but surrendered Himself to Rome’s cruelty.

Jesus knew what whips were for but chose to take the lashing. He surrendered to the taunts and the torture in weakness. And when He was done, He rose from the dead.

Many Christians are bothered by this kind of power. The kind of power exercised through weakness.

You can see this in the many church services and concert halls that attempt to imitate the God of Horeb with strobe lighting and a smoke machine.

For many modern Christians, the power is not in the blood, it’s in the beat.

James and John were hoping He would call down a little fire from the sky. But He didn’t. Jesus could call on a legion of angels and Peter might have been delighted.

But Jesus didn’t. Jesus was crucified in weakness (2 Cor 13:4) so that He might live forever by the Power of God.

This is the power we are called to share in. Power clothed in weakness.

Note

I borrowed the text for my image from J. I Packer’s book of the same name. It’s a good book and worth the read. You can find it on Amazon.

Related...

That the World May See
Our Finest Dungarees
The Lord of History
Not a Tame Man

Filed Under: Who we Are Instead Tagged With: Death, Jesus, Weakness

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Sermo Humilis

For the love of all things true, beautiful and good.


Welcome to Sermo Humilis, a digital home for biblical discipleship and cultural Christianity. A few new thoughts every week.

Please remember to like, subscribe and share. It really helps me out.

Subscribe for Weekly Updates

As per our Privacy Policy, we will never hand your information to a third party.

please check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Categories

  • Life in Christendom
  • Just a Thought
  • Who we Are Instead

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Medium
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Series

Sidebar - Jesus Through all of Life Series Sidebar Series - The Life and Times of Jesus Sidebar Series - Proverbs - Let the Lady Speak Sidebar - Marriage Preparation Series

The Most Popular Guff

Jesus, From Feast to Fury

In order to really get your head around what Jesus accomplished in

Escape to the Creche

We were created to move forward. To move toward maturity. This is

Never Failed Me Yet

God can be found, unsurprisingly, in the most surprising places. Take

When the Laughter Dies

The joy of the Lord is our strength; and laughter, as the wise man

Grace. A Risky Proposition

Man, being made in the image of God, cannot live without a mediator.

In Pursuit of Harmony

Culture is religion externalised. It's what you get when you practise

Our Rootless Rebellion

One of the basic temptations people have when talking about cultural

See and Hear

On the move? Weekly content can also be seen and heard via Youtube.

Topics

Beauty Children Comfort Covenant Creation Death Earth Eternity Evangelism Faith Fear Fellowship Food Forgiveness Gospel Grace Grief Guilt Heaven Holiness Jesus Joy Judgement Kingdom Law Life Love Marriage Mercy Money Prayer Redemption Rest Resurrection Sabbath Sacrifice Salvation Service Sheep Sin Slavery Truth Victory Weakness Wisdom

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe to Sermo Humilis

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Copyright © 2021 · Sermo Humilis

John Piper - A Hallway of Mirrors