The power is in our Vulnerability

This arises from my last entry and from my being hit by a WOW! moment when reflecting on Sunday's gospel reading from Mark 9.  It is the well known scene of Jesus taking the child and telling his disciples to accept one as these into their midst.  It is in this child that we see who is the greatest.  The introduction to this was the disciples' discussion on who was the greatest and how does Jesus respond?  By an action of taking a child and saying here is your answer.  Jesus was doing more than just including the excluded into the inner circle.  He was actually giving the power to the excluded, to the most fragile, to the most unlikely.  For me, he was saying that our power is in our most vulnerable; that our power lies in our very vulnerability. 

Where we are most vulnerable, there lies our power. 

This is WOW!  I am still not sure exactly what it means.  It will take me time to digest and theologise. 

Maybe I can best illustrate this by an example in my working life.  In reaching out to the urban refugees in Bangkok, the big institutions have enough protection through their institutions, backing and resources to think that they know it all and have all the answers.  Meanwhile these poor people continue to linger and suffer.  Then in comes the under-resourced, community players.  They want to help but how as they lack the same level of institutional backing and resources.  Without something to fall back on, they sit vulnerable in their attempts to help.  So what do they do?  They have to take risks and be creative and look to new and needed ways for acting in response to a need.  They then lead the way because of their known vulnerability.