Well-Wishers for the Weak?

“Blessed is he who has regard for the weak…” Psalm 41:1.
The motif of weakness is so important in biblical theology. It is out of the weak that Your strength O God is manifested. The weak are so helpless, vulnerable, and often hopeless. For some reason this has come to be an important concept associated with the Christmas season. It may be because of the birth of Jesus in a manger. Little babies are weak and helpless. They are totally dependent on the loving care of parents.

When I think of weak, it will go along with the three-fold commitment in my own heart for next year: compassion, gratitude and encouragement. I think of how Jesus extended compassion toward the weak. The weak were the lepers, the lame, beggars, the poor, the suffering, the outcast, and even children. The fringes of society, the marginalized and disenfranchised, became the center of his concern.

Weak is precious. Strong is horrible. Weak makes one ready and open to the gracious acts of a compassionate God working through loving people. Strength needs no one and is self-sufficient. Strength dominates and defines. The problem is that strength is strong until another stronger strength comes along. Then, because of a lifetime of self-sufficiency, it does not know how to ask for help. This helplessness can lead to a radical and new weakness, preparing the dawn for renewal. Or, it can lead to despair and total destruction.

I need to check on the Hebrew word here for “weak” and see how it fits into the Psalmist’s theology and economy of a theodicy and even a theocracy. One thing I have noticed in the past is that the weak do not blame God for their plight; rather, they lean on God for sustenance and life support.

Today we will be visiting the sick and shut-ins and singing Christmas carols and delivering baskets of goodies. It is that expression of good-will which attempts to show with compassion our love and concern for the weak. We all fear weakness, and perhaps caroling at the nursing home is our way of facing our fears, and realizing that with divine strength we can face our ultimate weakness—dying in a hospital, hooked up to life-sustaining machinery.

Trembling hands place the poorly wrapped gifts under the tree. There is the hope that the strong family members will come home and bring memories and love. The weak are often lonely, and cling to hope daily that someone will notice their existence and affirm that their lives were not lived in vain.

Weak is wonderful. Only in our weakness is our strength through God and Christ revealed. It is the kind of strength which has learned to lean on God. This makes me ask this morning if there are not blessings I have missed because I have not had enough regard for the weak. The drug addict, the quadriplegic veteran, the alcoholic, the runaway, the divorced, the abused, the terminal patient…I could continue the litany of loss, but I only prolong the moment of my own connection. Which specific person will God put in my path today who is weak? How do I respond? Do I offer the heart and hands of Jesus? Is my own weakness revealed in that of another? If I could remember that the Christmas season is because of and primarily for the weak, our society and culture and world would be different. This entails much more than being a well-wisher for the weak! I have to have personal regard, investment of time and a compassionate heart.

In Christian love, Curtis