Vulnerability

Christmastide (Thursday, 3 January 2019)

1 John 2:29-36. Psalm 98:1, 3-6. John 1:29-34. (Please click the following link for the above readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010319.cfm.)

“Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”

It's amazing to know that Christianity is the only religion that dares to call God a lamb. And nevertheless we've spent two thousand years avoiding vulnerability. Paul says straight out, “When I am weak, I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). But we're afraid of discovering this sort of strength. We haven't ever been there, and so we doubt it is really strength. And yet it's the only kind of power that the Gospel offers us.

As we commemorate in Christmas, Jesus shows up in this world as a naked, vulnerable one—as a defenseless baby. God becomes weak and vulnerable for us. The Christian God's power comes through his powerlessness and humility. Our God is much more properly called all-vulnerable than almighty, which we should have understood by the constant metaphor of Lamb of God found throughout the New Testament. But if we listen to our liturgical prayers we seem to be happy with calling God all-powerful and almighty, and remember him as a lamb only rarely especially when we want Him to carry the burden of our sins and sinfulness. We use the above-quoted words of St John the Baptist for this purpose, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Vulnerability means I'm going to let you influence me; I'm going to allow you to change me. As long as I am present to you authentically, you are able to influence and change me. I even take the risk of you injuring or wounding me. It is a risky position to live undefended, in a kind of constant openness to the other—because it would mean others could sometimes actually wound you. The very word vulnerability is from the Latin "vulnus" meaning "wound."

Only if we choose to take the risk of being weak and vulnerable do we also allow the exact opposite possibility of wounding us: that is, the other might also gift you, free you, and even love you. In fact, any true relationship demands vulnerability. When we don't give other people any power in our life, when we block them, then we are spiritually dead. And not far from evil. To be present to something or someone is to allow the moment, the person, the idea, or the situation to influence us and even change us. This is vulnerability.

But did we ever imagine that what we call "vulnerability" might just be the key to ongoing growth? Healthily vulnerable people use every occasion to expand, change, and grow. Growth is a risky business. It involves allowing pain at times. Those whose hearts are opened to human pain will see Jesus everywhere, and he will seduce them from that vulnerable place. This is God's hiding place, so only the humble will find them! Only the vulnerable will be able to experience Him, taste Him!