There's a certain phrase
I've heard used a lot recently. It's mostly used when someone is
grieving or going through hard times, and it's a phrase I have some
trouble with. I know the good intentions behind it, but cannot
support its assumptions. It's a short phrase and it goes like this:
“Everything happens for a reason.”
This phrase is used
mostly as a comfort to those who mourn or suffer. It's used as a
reminder that God is in control and that he uses all things to serve
his purpose. But, its message has an ugly implication underneath. It
assumes that God is the cause of our suffering. Saying everything
happens for a reason is saying that God intends suffering. This
phrase comes about through an unwillingness to accept the
meaninglessness of suffering. We ourselves, at Trinity, have a
friend, a sister and mother to all of us at this school, who is
currently in the midst of suffering.
Martha is suffering from
leukemia and it's thrown this place into some shock. But, what amazes
me, and what shows the true Gospel in the midst of all of this, is
that even as we suffer together with her, we also share in her joy.
I've seen evidence of many visits to her on social media, and they
all have the same sentiment of love about them. Prayers are raised
not only for healing, but for her ministry at the hospital where she
is being treated. I've gained insight into how much Martha touches
the lives of those around her. And what amazes me most is to see her
still offering prayers and encouragement to others with selfless
vigor.
I don't believe
everything happens for a reason, because I don't want to blame God
for our suffering. But I can say that everything that happens can
serve a purpose. God might not have caused the brothers of Joseph to
sell him into slavery, but he used that act to save those very
brothers from famine. When “his disciples ask him, 'Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus
answered, 'It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that
the works of God might be displayed in him.”
The sufferings of
individuals are not easy for us to reconcile. But, our job isn't to
give a reason for suffering. We are called to take part in suffering
and share in the pain of those around us. Our calling is to point to
suffering and agree, “yes, this is wrong. This is not good.” We
can't justify evil with a “but God says...” or “but, you
should...” Evil is bad. It's also real. And that's something we
need to recognize, and not try to sweep it under the rug of phrases
like “everything happens for a reason” to make us feel better
about it. The only way you can combat suffering is by stepping into
it and taking on the full force of it's wicked affliction.
The Philippian church
could receive Paul's exhortation to rejoice because while he was in
Philippi, they saw the joy he had in the midst of suffering. They
knew that while he was in prison, he sang songs to God. They trusted
him because of his suffering on their behalf. Paul's own example of
this was in Jesus, and he wrote about it to the Philippians in his
epistle, that “though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing,
taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
Jesus didn't need to suffer, but he stepped down from his place in
the heavenly courts to take part in our suffering. The love of God
was shown in that he chose to lower himself to the utmost in order to
be with us. The most incomprehensible truth of the Gospel is the fact
that “the Word [who was with God and who was God] became flesh and
dwelt among us.” This is what draws us closer to him: the fact that
he came to us. “We love because he first loved us.” And not only
this, but knowing that we could not bear our suffering, he took our
suffering upon himself, lifted up on the Cross and dying, very God of
very God, as punishment for our sins.
This is the God we serve
and worship. Over the centuries we've cried out to him, begging for
an answer as to why we suffer the way we do. He didn't give a reason
to make our suffering more bearable. He didn't justify who he is with
our suffering, or even command us to stop complaining. He chose
instead to join us in our suffering. He came down, he walked among
us, and he died on a Cross.
In our passage, he says,
“We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night
is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am
the light of the world.” When Jesus rose again from the dead, he
accomplished the work of God. He also assured us that the light was
still in the world and not defeated by the darkness. There is no
night, because the light of the world is risen. We need to trust that
the light is among us, and we can still do his work as long as we
have the light.
Our community at this
school has been attacked by darkness. Martha is still in the hospital
and still going through treatments, but the darkness cannot overcome
the light. The light defies understanding, because light in the
darkness is joy in the midst of suffering. The light is continued
encouragement and prayers for others in the midst of personal need.
The light is the Gospel. It's the truth that we serve a God who did
not reason away our suffering, but came down and joined us in the
midst of it. He took the punishment for sin upon himself when it
wasn't required of him. Others reason that this couldn't have
happened. It was Judas on the Cross because no prophet could demean
himself so much. Or Jesus was clearly just a man because the God of
the universe wouldn't stoop so low as to make himself like us. But
for those whom the light has cured of blindness, we see his suffering
and we worship him. We worship him because he didn't tell us that our
suffering is alright. He didn't tell us that it was all part of his
plan. He didn't tell us to deal with it and stop complaining. He
didn't do any of these things, but he came to us, he wrapped us in
his love, and he says to us continually, “Abide in my love.”
This sermon was preached at Prince of Peace on the weekend of December 14-15, 2013.
Expectation
is part of our everyday lives. We have expectations in our
relationships. We have expectations in our jobs. We have expectations
of ourselves. And if you've noticed, we have a lot of expectations
that are never met. Sometimes we put a financial investment in
something that promises return. We expect to be healed of loneliness
by beginning a romantic relationship. We expect the government to
change things because we voted for a certain politician. Over and
over, we find our expectations unmet. We lose our financial
investment because the project failed. We find that the people we've
expected to heal our loneliness are just as broken as us, and just as
in need of healing. And of course, we find out that no matter the
promises, no governor has the power to change the world in a single
term. We have a history of unmet expectations. How can we trust the
promise of expectation when time and again, our expectations are left
unfulfilled?
This
Advent season is all about expectation. We are in expectation of the
coming Messiah. This expectation is represented by the Christmas day
miracle: God made flesh as Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy
Spirit from the virgin Mary. This was the long expected Messiah of
Israel. He is the one to redeem the whole of creation. But, as we
continue waiting through this Advent season, even after Christmas day
comes and passes by, we are still waiting. We are waiting expectantly
for the coming again of Jesus Christ. The season of Advent only lasts
about three and a half weeks, but we have been in the true Advent
from the day Jesus ascended into heaven. We wait for him to return.
We expect him to return.
John
the Baptist is not much different from us. He began his ministry as
one calling out from the wilderness. He baptized people in the Jordan
river for the forgiveness of sins. He called people to repent and be
ready for the one coming after him. He knew Jesus was coming. This is
what drove his ministry. He called people to repentance because the
one who judges the sins of the world was near.
But
what happened to him? After he baptized Jesus and Jesus took over the
ministry, he slowly faded from the gospel picture. We find out that
he was arrested by Herod and put in prison. Things had taken a bad
turn in the life of John the Baptist. And that is where we come in on
our passage for today,
“Now
when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word
by his disciplesand
said to him, 'Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for
another?'”
John
the Baptist, who preached the coming Messiah, and recognized Jesus as
that Messiah was now questioning everything that had happened. This
doesn't mean that John doubted Jesus, but perhaps he doubted his
method. John probably wasn't expecting to be waiting for death in a
prison cell once Jesus came around. Shouldn't the messiah be
overthrowing the Roman authorities and re-establishing the nation of
Israel as God's chosen people? Jesus was supposed to bring
redemption, but instead John found himself at the mercy of sinful
Gentiles.
Roughly
thirty years after this moment, Paul is writing to the church in Rome
about this same kind of experience.
“For
we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the
pains of childbirth until now.And
not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of
the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons,
the redemption of our bodies.”
And
this is still our experience today. The expectation in the last days
is like labor pains that come before childbirth. We look around us
and we see that things are not right. We are in a world that is not
right. We see famine and destruction. People killing each other with
no remorse. There are some of us who are having trouble making ends
meet. Jobs are hard to come by. Families are being torn apart. Drug
abuse is destroying lives. Wars are taking even more. And we inwardly
groan with all of creation in these last days. We eagerly wait for
our adoption into God's household because it's hard going day-by-day
in a fallen world. Jesus came with the promise of salvation, but when
we look around, we don't see it. So we ask, “Is this
the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
And
how does Jesus respond? Our passage reads,
“And
Jesus answered them, 'Go and tell John what you hear and see:the
blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and
the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good
news preached to them.And
blessed is the one who is not offended by me.'”
When we feel like our Advent
expectations aren't being met, the problem is not with Jesus. The
problem isn't that Jesus is forsaking us. The problem isn't that
Jesus was unable to fulfill his promises. The problem is that we
aren't seeing Jesus with the right eyes. We have a wrong perspective
of what Jesus is doing in the world. John the Baptist, trapped in a
prison cell, couldn't see past his own experience. He heard about
these miraculous things that Jesus was doing in the world. If I were
in John's place, I know my first reaction to hearing this news would
be to ask, “but what about me?” In the dark confines of his
prison cell, John was unable to see the light that was shining
throughout the world. We cannot be prisoners to the darkness around
us. We cannot be blinded by the walls of sin and death that surround
us. Jesus is doing wonderful things in this world. His good news is
spreading throughout all nations.
Our
perspective needs to shift. We need to not look at the darkness, but
into the light. We need to realize that the darkness isn't so dark
because the light of the world has come. Death is temporary for those
who have the good news of Jesus Christ. By his love, the works of God
are being performed by people throughout the world. “The
blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and
the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good
news preached to them.” Our
expectations are being fulfilled in these things; our expectations of
the reign of God on earth. The pains will come because the world is
in the pains of childbirth. This world as it is won't meet our
expectations, because we are called to heavenly expectation. As we
grow in our understanding of Christ, we see how fallen the world is
around us. And we see why the reign of God needs to come into the
world.
It's
not about overthrowing the powers that be, but lifting up the lowly.
It's about sharing in the suffering of sin and death. Jesus Christ
did not only come to abolish death, but to join in its misery. His
cry on the cross was not only “It
is finished,”
but,
“my
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus took part in the suffering of the world. He took on the flesh
of a man and the very nature of a human person. He lowered himself
from his heavenly place and took part in our suffering. And he did
not leave us alone, but gave us the promise of his return through the
Holy Spirit.
We
groan inwardly, awaiting our adoption into God's household. Paul
writes that “in
this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who
hopes for what he sees?But
if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
We need to be assured that our hope is not in this life. Our hope is
not in jobs, money, or relationships. Our hope is in Christ. And we
can be assured that our hope will be fulfilled because he rose again
from the grave as our promise. Until then, we need to wait patiently.
We must stay ready for when that time comes.
As
I said earlier, Christ came into the world to suffer along with us
and to bring us peace in that suffering. We
as Christians must join with Christ in sharing the suffering of the
world around us. We aren't called to rule over others, but to serve
them. In the world we move forward by moving up. We become successful
by stepping over the people below us. Money and power are our gains.
But in the kingdom of God, moving deeper into God is lowering
ourselves. It's taking the lowest place and valuing others as greater
than ourselves. Our belongings are not our own, and so we are called
to give and serve. Jesus used
John the Baptist as the example,
“What
did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?What
then did you go out to see? A mandressed
in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings'
houses.What
then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than
a prophet.This
is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold,
I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way
before you.’”
Jesus
uses John the Baptist to show what a citizen of the Kingdom looks
like. Not someone dressed in fine clothing. Not someone shaken by the
wind of the social climate. John was a prophet of God who stood firm
in his proclamation. But even though, “there
has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” Jesus
teaches that
“the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
We
need to join in this heavenly call by changing our perspectives to
heavenly values. In expectation of our Lord's return, we take part in
his work here on earth. Jesus asks, “Who
then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over
his household, to give them their food at the proper time?Blessed
is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.”
There
is work to be finished here on earth and Jesus has set his servants
to care for it. The brokenness of the world is not a sign that Jesus
hasn't done his job. It is a sign that Jesus' mission continues.
“As
I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”
As
we wait for the Lord in expectation, it means we have the opportunity
to share in his work. Jesus says that the signs of his kingdom are
that “the
blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and
the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good
news preached to them.”
Let's be bringers of the kingdom in this way. Let's take part in his
mission to the world. Let's take care of the poor and the oppressed
around us. Instead of ignoring the homeless, let's sit and eat with
them. Instead of blaming addicts for their problems, let's stand by
them and pray with them. And instead of scoffing at those who do not
know Christ, let's share the good news and welcome them into the
family of God.
This
can only happen by faith in the power of the Gospel. We should expect
Jesus to work in mighty ways. Even through our poor and broken
selves, the glory of God can shine. We need to expect Jesus. It's
easy to grow impatient when we are surrounded by darkness. But,
darkness has no power over light. And Jesus, the light of the world,
will keep his promise to return. We need to stay in expectation of
his return. This means we need to remain in daily prayer. We need to
meditate on the word he has given us in the Scriptures. We need to
fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to
commune by the Spirit at the Lord's table. And we need to love those
whom Christ loves; the last and the least. Because these are the ones
who will make up his kingdom.
It's
easy to be distracted by the world, but we cannot let that take us
away from our hope. Our hope isn't in investing in the right business
ventures. It isn't in romances. It isn't in political powers. Our
hope is in the one true God who reigns for ever and ever.
We
need change our perspective. John the Baptist had trouble looking
past his jail cell. We have trouble looking past the problems of this
life. Our problems could be finances, relationships, or just staying
stable. But you can be sure that the problems of this world will pass
away. Jesus Christ has overcome the world.
We
need to look to our heavenly promise. Our God is everlasting and he
will bring full redemption to all of creation. Our situations may
seem hopeless, but so long as God lives, there is always hope. Trust
in that. Trust that with God, even the impossible can be done. Even
the most hardened sinner can turn to repentance. Even the deepest
mourning can turn to joy. There will come a day when he will wipe
away every tear. Stay ready for that day. Stay ready by prayer. Stay
ready by Scripture meditation. Stay ready by doing the work of the
kingdom; serving the poor and sharing the good news. Stay ready by
remembering that your expectation is not based on human works, but on
the work of God: that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again
from the grave. Our expectation is that he will come again and make
all things new. But until that day comes, let's share in the work he
has given us to do.
