This week, our summer road trip brings us to Nazareth in Galilee, the hometown of Jesus. Jesus returns to his hometown with his disciples. And he goes into the synagogue to preach. And the people there are shocked as they listen to him. They say to each other, “‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 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?’ And they took offense at him,” the text says. Have you ever gone away from home for a while? Maybe you moved away and then came back. Or maybe you just went on a long and life-changing trip. Did you find that you were treated differently when you returned?

When I was in high school, I went on a mission trip to Kentucky with the youth group at a local church. At the time, I did not really consider myself religious at all, but I had been going to this youth group with some friends. The trip was about a week long and while we were there our primary task was to do some manual labor for some people in that community who were in need. Near the end of the trip, we sat around a campfire one night and some of the other teens on the trip with us (though not from my youth group) shared with the group about their lives and about how they came to believe in Jesus. A lot of tears were shed in the telling of those stories and by the end I had made up my mind to become a follower of Jesus as well. When I returned home from that trip, I felt good and excited about my new faith. But my girlfriend at the time, who had not come on the trip, saw things a bit differently. She saw me as a different person than the one who’d left and she broke up with me. I was heartbroken. But in retrospect, I can see now how much I truly had changed…even in that short amount of time. And I can at least to an extent understand this story from Mark 6 a little better.

Jesus had changed since he’d last been in Nazareth. He’d been baptized by John, spent 40 days in the desert being tempted by Satan, he’d performed numerous miracles, he’d gathered a group of disciples, and had begun to teach in parables at times. This would have been a very unusual transformation in that day. Boys, when they grew up in that culture, typically would follow in their father’s footsteps. And in order to become a rabbi instead, you would typically be selected by a rabbi and train under them. Then when they felt you were ready, they would pass the mantle to you. Jesus, as far as we can tell, didn’t follow those steps. Yet here he is, the teacher of many. The people of Nazareth were understandably a bit surprised. And they wonder how this could possibly be. If you’ve ever been to a high school reunion, or been added by a childhood friend on Facebook after years without contact, you probably can relate to the crowd a little bit. “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?”

And the Scripture goes on to say that Jesus “could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.” I find this interesting. Yet Jesus did not let it deter him. He continued to travel to the villages and teach them. He also sent out his disciples in pairs and gave them authority. And the text says that they “cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” Jesus could not do the miracles, but it seems with his authority his disciples could. God’s strength found a way, even through what seemed like a weakness.

And that is where we come to the Scripture from 2 Corinthians 12. Paul writes about his own weaknesses and ends with saying this, “Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” God’s strength often shines most clearly in our weaknesses.

An old shoemaker’s awl is on prominent display in the French Academy of Science. That awl fell from the shoemaker’s table one day and put out the eye of his 9-year-old son. Soon, the child became blind in both eyes and had to attend a school for the blind. At this school, the child learned to read by handling large, carved, wooden blocks.

When the shoemaker’s son grew up, he thought of a new way for the blind to read. It involved punching tiny dots onto paper, and Louis Braille devised this new method using the same awl that had blinded him in his youth.

Not all of our stories turn out this way. Not every calamity turns into a weakness that God’s strength shines forth from. But it is quite often in those challenging moments, those times of desperate weakness, that God’s strength and love pour into and out of us. We may not see the truth of that until well after the fact. It may be that, like Louis Braille, we may need to live in the struggle for many years before God’s strength is made evident in us.

So, two important things emerge for me from these passages that I want to share with you this morning. First, don’t dwell on your weaknesses. We all have them. You are no weaker than anyone else. You just have different weaknesses. Joni Eareckson Tada, a Christian speaker who is in a wheelchair after breaking her neck as a child, tells this story: “When I was in Germany speaking at a church, a blind woman named Elizabeth served as my interpreter. You can imagine the two of us on stage—me with my wheelchair and Elizabeth with her white cane. During a break, someone placed an English language magazine on my lap. It looked like a good read, but with my quadriplegia, I couldn’t hold the periodical or turn its pages. ‘Elizabeth,’ I said, ‘how ’bout if you hold the magazine and turn the pages, and I will read out loud. That way we can both enjoy it.’

And that’s just what we did. I needed her; she needed me; and together we accomplished something that blessed both of us. That is how the body of Christ should work! Our combined weaknesses become delightful strengths.”

Don’t dwell on your weaknesses. God understands them and God can still use us.

And second, trust in God’s strength. Proverbs says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.” That is not always easy. We often want to do things for ourselves. And when we can’t do something, we feel inadequate and even sometimes angry with ourselves. But God does not call us to do everything for everyone. God calls us simply to be the best US we can be. As Oscar Wilde wrote, “Always be yourself, because everyone else is already taken.” And my favorite one, “Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman, then always be Batman.” God works through our inadequacies, our failures, our hurts, our misunderstandings. All of our weaknesses are an opportunity for God’s strength to be revealed. So don’t hide your weaknesses or try to cover them over. But do as Paul says, “on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.” For when we are weak, then we are strong, for God’s strength is made evident in our weaknesses.

On this day, when we celebrate the might and victory of the Revolutionary forces against the British and the freedom that was gained in that fight, may we not get too caught up in our own strengths, but let us remember God’s strength that is made perfect in weakness. In fact, God’s greatest feat of strength was displayed through the ultimate symbol of weakness, Jesus being crucified on the cross and dying. Yet in submitting himself to weakness, Jesus saved us and God’s strength was poured into our hearts. May God be glorified in all we do and may God’s strength shine brightly in our weakness. For it was in our weakness that God saves us. Thanks be to God! Amen!!