Isaiah 66: 18-21; Hebrews 12: 5-7,11-13; Luke 13: 22-30
One of the greatest gifts I have received as a priest is the gift of people’s lives. People share with me their innermost thoughts, their innermost fears, their innermost hopes and dreams. It is a gift to be able to walk with people on their journeys of faith. One important thing I have come to learn is that everyone has a story. Our stories give our lives meaning. Our stories give our lives direction. Our stories give a sense of hope even when life seems hopeless.
As I have listened to these stories, I have been humbled by the perseverance with which many people live their faith. I am humbled because it seems as though the people who have had the greatest struggles are among the most faith-filled people I have ever met. As I have listened to people’s stories they have shared with me many pains and struggles:
- the agony of divorce
- the pain of the death of a family member
- the battle of overcoming alcoholism or addiction
- the long road to recovery from psychological, sexual, or physical abuse
In all of these stories I have wondered in awe that a person could still have faith in God after having experienced such hardships, and yet, I know and believe that through difficulties faith is made stronger. Theologians call this the “Paschal Mystery,” the death and resurrection which each of us experiences throughout our life. Pain and suffering is a part of our life here on this earth. We cannot avoid it. But, by the grace of God, we can and do survive and live beyond our personal difficulties.
In the letter to the Hebrews which we just heard, God tells us that we must “Endure our trials as discipline (for) God treats you as sons (and daughters)” (Heb 5:7).” Every parent knows that a child sometimes needs to be disciplined. It is through discipline that we learn the difference between good and bad, right and wrong. But this is not the discipline of which the author of Hebrews is speaking.
An athlete is disciplined in the art of exercise. A concert pianist is disciplined in practicing the piano. Discipline is a way in which we choose to live our own lives. We discipline ourselves when we choose not to overeat or drink excessively. We discipline ourselves when we exercise regularly. We discipline ourselves when we pray daily and attend church weekly. This is a discipline which is not negative but rather for our own good. How often have you parents said, “I am doing this for your own good?” The author of Hebrews is teaching us that we can order the trials and difficulties of life for the good of God.
Too often though we see trials and suffering as a form of punishment from God. When we say that God disciplines us we often think that we are being punished and so in the face of human suffering we will sometimes ask:
- Is God punishing me for something I did?
- If there really is a God why doesn’t God stop wars and crime?
- How can a loving God let children suffer and die?”
All people ask these questions so it is not unusual to think this way. It is difficult to have hope when we are in the midst of suffering. It is difficult to see the goodness of God when we are in the midst of the bad things which happen in this world and so we sometimes will blame God for life’s suffering.
Faith teaches us that God created the world and everything in it calling it good. But we also have been given total free will and can choose our own path of life. God has given us the power to choose good or evil. Unfortunately we sometimes choose the bad and when we do either we or someone else, is hurt.
Faith teaches us also that this world is only temporary and that a better place awaits all who believe. Because this world is temporary we will all die, and along the way we will all have pain and suffering in some form, but our hope is that there is a God who walks with us and supports us in our time of need. This was never proven more than in the incarnation, when God became human. God, in all his glory and majesty – God who cannot suffer – embraced our human form with all its limitations in the person of Jesus Christ.
And God proved to us, through Jesus, that we are not alone in our suffering. Rather, Christ took up the cross of suffering, making the cross the sign of redemption. This then has elevated our human suffering to a redemptive act. When we suffer, we can offer our pain and sorrow up to God for the temporal redemption of humanity, just as Christ offered up his body for our spiritual redemption.
We remember this great act of loving redemption every time we share this meal. We proclaim our belief in this great love when we sing, “Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.” We accept this great love when we come forward to take the body and blood of Christ into our hands. We profess this love when we say our “Amen” and make His body and blood a part of our bodies. By doing this we say, “Yes Lord, I believe.”
Offering our own suffering for the temporal redemption of sin brings with it then a new challenge. Just as Christ came to live with us, and suffer with us, He commands us, as His body on earth, to do the same for others. We, who are the body of Christ, are to be His hands that reach out to others to help them. We are to be His ears who listen to the cries of others, and His lips who speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. We are to be His heart reaching out to others in times of suffering and sorrow. We are to be His loving presence in our world. But we can only do this by first dealing with our own pain, hurts, sorrows and sufferings. This is the discipline that Christ asks of His disciples, to “love one another as He has loved us.”
And so my brothers and sisters, as we prepare to come to the altar and receive our Lord in this Eucharist, let us ask ourselves a few questions. If you are suffering can you accept the challenge to seek the help you need? If you have experienced spiritual healing in your life, can you accept the challenge to walk with others as they walk on their road to healing? Can you live the scripture message, “endure your trials as disciplines of God” . . . so that you might experience the healing joy and peace of the resurrection?
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