ISAIAH 52:13-53:12
PSALM 22:1-21
PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11
MATTHEW 26:36-27:66
Sermon – 3/24/02
Life
hurts.
That
may be the most obvious thing I have ever said in my nearly twenty-one years as
a preacher.
Nevertheless,
I say it, because it is notable and important how many people – including me –
have ever had moments – or years – when we act as though this obvious truth is
not true. Who among us has never asked,
“Why me?” and not wanted to face the obvious answer, “Why not?” Who among us has never exclaimed at some
time with anger or surprise or both, “Life is unfair!” Yeah?
Hurt
is not a rarity. That is to say,
suffering is not unusual in life.
People may grow up with a sense of entitlement, that they are
“not supposed to suffer”, or assume that there’s no pain that a pill or a
credit card can’t take away, but that’s not true. Those who lived before pills and credit cards knew this. We, today, sometimes have the luxury to
pretend otherwise.
Life
hurts. Heaven is bliss; life is
bliss only occasionally. Suffering is a
normal part of life. People can blame
themselves, or God, or “luck” or whatever, but suffering is not some weird
anomaly suddenly erupting in your life or my life or the life of someone down
the street. Suffering – physical,
mental, emotional, spiritual or all four – will almost inevitably bite
us all sometime; the key is not to let suffering consume us.
Life
hurts.
So
what’s to be done? People take
different approaches, at one time or another, often using several of the ones
which follow.
There’s
the “ostrich” approach: DENIAL. “What, me suffer? Can’t happen,” the denier says.
Therefore, the denier assumes no responsibility for preventing
his or her own suffering or that of others.
On the “micro” scale, denial is people who don’t have physical exams, or
write wills or look both ways before crossing the street because they think
nothing can happen to them. On the
“macro” scale, denial is Neville Chamberlain returning from meeting with Hitler
in 1938 announcing “peace in our time.”
Denial
doesn’t work. Suffering comes, and when
it comes it seems a surprise, a shock, and unfairness to the denier, who may
have failed by inaction to prevent avoidable suffering.
Second,
there’s the “it only matters if it happens to me” approach: SELFISHNESS. Simon and Garfunkel wrote “I am a rock, I am
an island,” for “a rock never cries.”
But cutting oneself off from meaningful relationships with others –
meaning fewer people, if any, will “be there” for the selfish person when that
person inevitably suffers, and suffers more because of his or her aloneness.
Third,
there’s the “just take away the pain” approach: ANESTHESIA, usually be using
alcohol and/or other drugs to dull life’s pain. This causes more problems and more suffering (for
the drinker or “druggy” and for others) than existed before this
“answer” was tried, but that hasn’t stopped the popularity or the option.
FATALISM,
the fourth option, is masochism or depression which masquerades as spirituality. Fatalism tries to make a virtue of being
paralyzed in the face of suffering by announcing that suffering is “God’s
will.” There is little evidence for
this, and lots – especially in the ministry of Jesus – against it, but
nonetheless some devout Christians embrace this.
Fifth,
there is the “eye for an eye” approach: SADISM. Some people who suffer respond by making sure other people join
them in suffering. Some people who had
tyrannical bosses advance and become tyrannical bosses themselves; some abused
children grow up and abuse others.
Tragedies are piled on tragedies.
“An eye for an eye” leaves everyone “blind”, but for the bitterest
seekers of revenge, this would satisfy them by spreading the misery
around. Sadism’s answer to the problem
of suffering is to multiply it so as to make sure that everyone within reach
has more.
God knew (and
knows) how much suffering there was (and is) in the world. God knows how much suffering is caused by
people sinning against others (via selfishness or sadism) or against themselves
(by failing to do self-care due to denial) or by behaviors which hurt both
those who do them and others (like alcohol or drug abuse, or paralyzing
fatalism). God also knows how much
suffering there is “naturally” in the world from disease, disasters and
accidents.
So God knew that
the only ultimate solution to human suffering was to take away sin and the
power of sin and liberate people to live new lives and ultimately
to heal the creation itself and end the inevitability of death.
God’s solution
was to become incarnate as a human being, Jesus of Nazareth, to become
physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally vulnerable and to suffer
himself voluntarily on behalf of all people, meeting sin with redemptive love.
Having done
that, Christ broke the power of death by rising from the dead on Easter,
giving us a sign that the stranglehold of death on us has also
been broken.
Christ suffered physical
pain. Have you ever or do you now
suffer physical pain? Christ can relate
to you – empathize, not just sympathize.
Christ suffered emotional
pain. Ever been betrayed by someone you
trusted? Ever been abandoned by friends
when you needed them most? Christ can
relate to you.
Christ suffered mental
pain. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he
asked The Father if there was some other way to “get it done” besides being
crucified. “Was this the only way – and
would anyone care?” perhaps also tortured his mind. Ever wondered if your hardest decision was necessary, or if your
life’s work had meaning? Christ can
relate to you.
Christ suffered spiritual
pain. The only words from the cross
Matthew or Mark record are the anguished quotation by Jesus of Psalm 22:1: “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
That his entering into the human condition might be complete, Jesus also
suffered the fullness of spiritual loneliness.
The mutual indwelling and strengthening between the persons of The Holy
Trinity which had gone on literally since before time existed was cut off at
the very hour God the Son was in his greatest agony.
Ever felt
abandoned by God? Yes, Christ can even
relate personally to that, too.
God in Christ
triumphed over suffering by entering fully into receiving it in all its
dimensions without causing any. God in
Christ triumphed over suffering by taking on it all while deserving none. God in Christ triumphed over suffering by suffering himself on behalf of others,
on behalf of all people in all times and every place. God in Christ triumphed over suffering by
receiving all the wounds of sin-based suffering and meeting them with love.
No denial. No selfishness. No anesthesia. No
fatalism. No sadism. Simply courage and love.
In the great
words from the Book of Isaiah “He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed
for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his
bruises we are healed.”
Having done
this, Christ comes to us in Henri Nouwen’s phrase, as “The Wounded Healer”, who
can empathize with love’s hurts, liberate us from dysfunctional ways of dealing
with them, and empower us to become wounded healers ourselves.
We will reflect
on that awesome opportunity during Easter season. For now, let us contemplate, in awe and wonder, the person of our
liberation, Jesus Christ, and the manner of our liberation God in Christ
walking right into the depths of human suffering and dying for us, that we
might live.
Let us pray.
(The collect on the top of p. 99 in the BCP.)
(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard