Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, August 11, 2024
It’s a beautiful, balmy day. It feels like a gift. So ordinarily I wouldn’t be thinking about thorns – but I can’t help it because I’m looking at them. Big, sharp blackberry thorns.
Not just any blackberry thorns, but our very own backyard blackberry thorns. We do battle with most of our blackberry bushes every year, wearing long sleeves and heavy gloves, but I like to leave a few bushes in place so that we can enjoy the berries.
Having feasted on some of those berries just now, I’m ready to think about thorns. And since I have listened to and read the Bible from my earliest years, most of my thorn thoughts are Biblical.
I think of Paul, who said:
. . . in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7 NIV)
This thorny passage gives us so much to mull over! There is, to begin with, the mystery of the exact nature of Paul’s thorn. Some scholars think it might have been poor eyesight, or another physical affliction. This mystery falls into the “nice to know” rather than the “need to know” category.
More poignantly, we hear loud and strong the echoes of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, praying in deep anguish three times for His Father to take the cup of suffering away from Him.
He heard the same answer that Paul heard. God didn’t take the cup away, but Luke comforts me by saying that “an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.” (Luke 22:43 NIV)
While Paul had a thorn in the flesh, Jesus wore a crown of thorns:
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. (John 19:1-3 NIV)
I cannot read that without flinching. All that mockery, disrespect, and abuse.
There are many more thorns in the Bible, including Jesus telling, and then explaining, a parable that urges us not to be like thorny ground. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all share the story. Let’s listen to Luke:
[Jesus speaking:] This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God . . . . The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature. (Luke 8:11, 14 NIV)
In contrast, the seed that fell on good ground is described as soil that:
. . . stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. (Luke 8:15 NIV)
Words of encouragement for our brand-new week: We need to listen to God’s Word, store it away in our hearts and minds, and keep on keeping on! That’s the path to growing up, and growing more like Jesus.
And we remember, along with Paul, that when we are weak, we are strong, because God promises that His grace is sufficient for us, and that His power will shine through our weakness. This week, let your (His!) light shine!