2 Corinthians 6:11 - 13

¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. ¹²We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. ¹³As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

                One of the things we learn early is how to protect ourselves. We figure out shoes can keep our feet from burning on the sidewalk. We learn that sunscreen can protect our vulnerable skin from sunburn. We learn that seatbelts can protect our vulnerable bodies from greater harm in a car accident, as do helmets in sports and bike rides.

                We protect ourselves behind locks and alarms that detect break-ins, smoke, fire… We seek to know weather patterns so to prepare ourselves for bad weather.

                We protect ourselves in so many ways. Why? Because we feel and are vulnerable.

                Vulnerability means we are able to be harmed physically or emotionally. The word comes from the Latin “to wound”.

                We learn to protect ourselves, but sometimes we go too far.

                Out of fear of being hurt we limit love, or openness to others. Out of fear of being wounded we wall ourselves off from those who seem different from us – people we do not understand.

                Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians asks them to open their hearts wide to him and his message. This also reflects how we close ourselves off from the message God has for us because it would make us feel vulnerable. Vulnerability is required to love another. Vulnerability is required to submit to God’s will. Vulnerability makes us available to enter into someone else’s shoes, pains, fear, and life and allows others to enter into ours.

                To grow in Christ we must open wide our hearts to God. That means we must stop protecting ourselves from the work God wants to do in and through us.

                What fear keeps you from opening wide your heart? A closed heart keeps God from loving us fully and keeps us from loving fully. A closed heart makes us lonely and afraid.

                While we must protect ourselves from some things…we must not close ourselves off from God’s will and work simply because we feel vulnerable.

                The reality is that in our vulnerability we might be wounded. That is reality. If we love we will be hurt sometimes. But is that not the message of the Cross?

                He who made himself vulnerable for us to the point of death calls us to take up our cross and follow him.