NOTES for Jo1 2:7-17

“I have written to you, young men, because you are strong...” Let us listen today to these words of the apostle. For we very often like to quote the words the Lord spoke to the apostle Paul: My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9). This somehow comforts us in our own weakness; we feel better at the thought that even a man such as Paul was weak, so what can be said about us? We use this to excuse ourselves and say that if we leave something unfinished, it is because of our weakness; the Lord simply did not wish His power to be manifested in us on that occasion. But are we right to think this way? Are we always right in such a situation? It seems that we are not always right. “I have written to you, young men, because you are strong...” We must not merely rely on God’s power; we must also train the strength within ourselves. In this connection we recall a poem by Nikolay Gumilev, or more precisely a fragment from it (“Vision,” 1916):
He lay exhausted on a bed of sickness
(What is more bitter, more grievous than a bed of sickness?),
And suddenly his weary eyes caught fire;
He sees, he hears in sacred rapture—
Emerging from the gloom, emerging from the night,
Saint Panteleimon and George the warrior.
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And following his friend comes George
(Like trumpets of victory, George proclaims):
“Renouncing battles, you thirsted for salvation,
But the tears of the strong are not right before God,
And God did not hear your renunciation;
Tomorrow you will rise, and rise for glory.”
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In fact, even on a bed of serious illness we can be strong enough not to renounce God by acknowledging our weakness.