“The Women at the Cross and Mother’s Day”

            It seems as though Mother’s Day sneaked up on us this year.  That’s completely understandable.  We are living through an extraordinary time; our lives have been literally turned upside down by the coronavirus and our routines are disrupted.  We are currently trying to cope with a “new normal.”  Nonetheless, this Sunday, May 10th, is Mother’s Day.  As I have been preparing to lead worship this Sunday, I have been searching for the right theme for this year’s Mother’s Day.

            Given that we are living in this extraordinary time, with its new normal, I was attracted to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the other women who gathered around the cross during the crucifixion.  Jesus’ crucifixion represented a horrible new normal for the women and all of Jesus’ followers.  All of them had devoted their lives to following Jesus and learning from his teaching.  They were convinced that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah—God’s own son—whom God had promised to send to the people of Israel. 

Suddenly, in the space of less than 24 hours, Jesus had been swiped from them by the authorities.  Suddenly, impossibly, they were confronted with a horrible new normal.  Jesus was being taken away from them.  Now, they found themselves at the foot of the cross.  All hope that he was the long-awaited Messiah came to a stunning halt. 

It has often been said that one can gain insight into another person’s true character by observing how they act in a crisis.  I think this is true of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  According to the Gospel of John, Mary and several other women were present, with Jesus, at the Crucifixion:

“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,^[a] here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

Normally, when we read this passage, our attention is drawn to the latter part, where Jesus, who would be gasping for breath during the crucifixion, asks John, his disciple, to care for his mother as though she was John’s mother, as well.  This is indicative of Jesus’ deep love for his mother.  Yet, when we focus on the first part of this passage; when we focus on the fact that Mary had come to be with Jesus during this horrible ordeal, we also see the deep love which Mary had for Jesus.  Without unduly reading too much into the text, it seems to me that we can identify in Mary four important qualities of being a good, loving mother:

1.      Mary was willing to make sacrifices and take risks for her son.  As the mother of Jesus, Mary would have taken some great risks to be at the foot of the cross for Jesus’ crucifixion.  Roman executions were public events.  All four Gospels agree that Jesus’ crucifixion attracted a large crowd.  Some in the crowd were simply curious onlookers, who came out to gawk at and ridicule those being crucified.  But, many others were Jewish officials, who were personally scandalized by the teachings of Jesus.  Mary risked being ridiculed and threaten by the largely hostile crowd.  Yet, she went because she needed to be with Jesus through his ordeal.

2.      Mary went to provide love and support for her son.  In addition to the jeers and mocking from the bystanders, Jesus also had to endure the slow, excruciatingly painful crucifixion.  For anyone, there would be moments of loneliness and weakness.  Even Jesus, at one point on the cross, cried out:  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34)  Mary came to the crucifixion to love and support her son through his ordeal.

3.      Mary went to suffer in solidarity with her son.  We know that all good parents suffer when their children suffer—sometimes, more than their children suffer.  Mary had to be at the Crucifixion because, in her own way, she suffered in solidarity with her son.

4.      Mary prayed for her son during his ordeal.  We can well imagine that during Jesus’ three-hour ordeal on the cross, Mary and the other women prayed for him.  Although perhaps not openly or verbally, we can be sure that they would have prayed silently in their hearts for God’s deliverance.

We noted earlier that, when we read these two verses, there is a tendency to read past the first part about Mary and to focus instead Jesus’ efforts to provide future care for his mothers.  Why is that?  Why do we tend to read past the verse which explains that Mary was there, at the foot of the cross, for Jesus?  Could it be that we read past Mary’s presence at the crucifixion because we just take for granted that all good mothers would be there for their children undergoing such an ordeal?  Could it be that we just naturally have assumed all along that Mary was a good mother?  So, it is unsurprising that Mary was there.

For me, Mary exemplifies four of the core attributes of a good mother.  But, there’s one more thing about this passage.  Note that Mary was not alone.  Several other women were also there with her; women who loved and followed Jesus.  The qualities which make a mother good are not necessarily confined to mothers.  It turns out that all of us can cultivate these four virtues and manifest them in our lives.  All of us can take risks and make sacrifices for others; love and support others; be in solidarity with others; and pray for others.  That is to say, all of us can be like a mother to others, especially those who are suffering.

The coronavirus is the greatest global crisis that any of us have ever witnessed.  There are people all around us who are afraid, anxious, grieving, sick, lonely, depressed, to whom we can be like a mother.  We can begin asking ourselves, what are ways in which we can:

1.      Take risks or make sacrifices for others who are suffering through this pandemic

2.      Provide love and support for others who are suffering through this pandemic

3.      Suffer in solidarity with others who are suffering through this pandemic

4.      Pray for others who are suffering through this pandemic

As a community of faith, we also should be asking ourselves if there are ways in which we can respond collective to these four questions.

Everyone is always welcome and accepted at Christ United Methodist Church because God loves us all.  During the coronavirus, I invite you to join us virtually for our Facebook Livestream worship service each Sunday at 11 am.  Our Facebook address is:  https://www.facebook.com/christumclinc/.  Alternatively, you can see the service later on our Facebook page or by going to our webpage at:  https://www.christumclinc.org/.

"A New Normal"

            This Sunday, April 12th, is Easter Sunday and our celebration of the Resurrection of Christ.  During our live-streaming service at Christ United Methodist Church, we will read the account of that first Easter morning, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew:

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’  ~ Matthew 28:1-10

            I’ve often wondered what the women were thinking, as they made their way to the tomb on that first Easter morning.  These were women who had completely devoted their lives to following Jesus and his teachings.  They were there, when Jesus healed the sick. They were there, when Jesus laughed—and, when he cried.  They were in the Upper Room, and they were probably at the Garden of Gethsemane, when Judas betray Jesus with a kiss.  Unlike most of the disciples, they were there, at the foot of the Cross, when Jesus suffered and died.

            The recent events had certainly turned their world upside down.  Their hopes and dreams for a better world had all been crucified with Jesus on Friday.  It was as though a New Normal had been established with the death of Jesus on Good Friday.  As they trudged towards the tomb, I suspect that they were confused, dismayed, depressed, defeated, afraid.

            As we celebrate Easter this year, perhaps we have some new insights into how the women felt, as they plodded along the path to the tomb.  This year, our world has been turned upside down by the coronavirus.  Just as the women in the story, we are confused, dismayed, depressed, defeated, afraid.  We know what it is like to live with an overwhelming fear and anxiety about the future.  We know what it is like to live day after day under an ominous cloud of gloom—even when the sun is shining outside.  This year, we have a new appreciation for what the women were feeling that morning.  It is certainly a different normal.

           

Yet, everything changed when the women reached the tomb. An angel had rolled away the large stone, sealing the tomb shut.  The angel proclaimed the amazing, completely unexpected, news that Jesus had been resurrected and left the tomb.  Then, the angel beckoned the women to come and see the empty tomb.  Finally, the angel told them to go quickly and tell Jesus disciples that, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.”

So, the women left the tomb quickly.  They were filled with two conflicting emotions of “fear and great joy.”  They began to run towards the house where the disciples were staying.  As they ran along, suddenly up in front of them stood someone. 

Who was it?

It looked like….could it be…it looked like Jesus.

Could it be?  Was it possible?

It was…it was…it was, Jesus.

When they reached the spot where Jesus was standing, he said:  “Greetings!”  The women immediately knelt down, hugging Jesus’ feet and worshiping him—just as they had done so many times before.

            There was, indeed, a New Normal introduced that day.  But, it was not the New Normal of Good Friday; a New Normal defined by dread, fear, and anxiety which the women began with that morning.  No.  It was the New Normal of Easter, which continues even today.  It was the New Normal of God’s love—and, of transformation.  It was a New Normal of

Hope instead of dread

Faith instead of fear

Joy instead of anxiety

Life instead of death

Christ’s Resurrection marks a cosmic tipping point.  It marks the beginning of God’s Reign here on earth.  Of course, God’s Reign is not yet fully established.  But, it has begun and God will ultimately bring it to fulfillment in God’s own time.  Christ invites his disciples to join in the work of building God’s Reign through seeking the divine, acting inclusively, serving others, working for justice, and caring for Creation.  That is to say, Christ invites his disciples to Transformation. 

            Currently, we are shrouded in the overwhelming gloom of COVID-19.  While it may be difficult to see much light at the end of the tunnel, one day we will get through this global crisis.  One day, we will emerge from “sheltering in place” to begin anew.  One day, things will get back to normal, except it will be a New Normal.  The question is, what kind of New Normal?  Will it be the New Normal of Good Friday?  Or, will it be the New Normal of Easter morning?

            The coronavirus has exposed significant cracks and fissures in our society, as well as throughout the world.  After the virus has passed, we will have opportunities to address these cracks and fissures, thereby transforming society and creating a New Normal.

            For instance, the coronavirus has exposed the dangers of inadequate healthcare to all of us.  In American society, where many people do not have access to healthcare, we have learned that, if a disease is especially contagious and virulent, then everyone is at mortal risk—both the uninsured and insured.  When the pandemic has passed, will we transform our healthcare system, creating a New Normal where everyone has adequate healthcare?  Will we choose the New Normal of life, or continue the old normal of death through inadequate healthcare for some?

            As another example, the coronavirus has exposed problems with our understanding of individual liberty.  Over the past 40 years, our notion of liberty has devolved into a concept where each of us is free to do whatever we want and, further, we seek to limit civic duty and mutual obligation.  Yet, with genuine liberty comes a responsibility for the common good.  As we have learned from the coronavirus, “we’re all in this together.”  We can never be truly free, if huge segments of society are struggling to survive and flourish.  When the pandemic has passed, will we transform our attitudes, creating a New Normal where we responsibly balance individual liberty and the common good?

Everyone is always welcome and accepted at Christ United Methodist Church because God loves us all.  During the coronavirus, I invite you to join us virtually for our Facebook Livestream worship service this Easter Sunday, April 12th, at 11 am.  Our Facebook address is:  https://www.facebook.com/christumclinc/.  Alternatively, you can see the service later on our Facebook page or by going to our webpage at:  https://www.christumclinc.org/.

“The Journey of Remembrance Begins Again—But Differently”

            This Sunday, April 5th, is Palm Sunday in Protestant and Catholic Christianity.  (Our Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters observe Palm Sunday a week later, on April 12th.)  Palm Sunday is an important celebration in the Church each year because on this day we commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event recorded in all four of the Gospels.

            The story begins with Jesus sending two of his disciples to a nearby village, where they are to find a young donkey, with a colt.  Jesus instructs his disciples to untie them and bring them back to him.  Before they leave on their errand, Jesus advises his disciples, “If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” (Matthew 21:3)

            In his Gospel, Matthew explains that this was done to fulfill a prophecy, which said:

Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
   humble, and mounted on a donkey,
     and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  (Matthew 21:6)

When the two disciples return with the donkey, Jesus mounts it and begins his entry into Jerusalem.  As he rides, Jesus’ followers begin spreading their cloaks on the road in front of the young donkey.  When they run out of clothes, the people begin cutting nearby branches off of palm trees and spreading these branches on the road—hence, the name, “Palm Sunday.”  People began joyfully shouting,

Hosanna to the Son of David!
   Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!  (Matthew 21:9)

As Jesus rides, more and more people begin to come out of their shops and homes.  They join in the shouting and singing.  Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem becomes a huge, triumphal parade.

            Every year, Christian communities of faith gather to re-read and reflect upon the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  Palm Sunday marks the beginning of a seven-day journey of remembrance during Holy Week.  From the triumphal Palm Sunday, the journey of remembrance moves to Jesus’ righteous indignation, when he enters the Temple and turns over the tables of the money-changers and other businesses. 

This journey of remembrance winds its way downward to Maundy Thursday, when we remember Jesus’ Last Supper with the disciples in the Upper Room, followed by his betrayal by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane.  On Good Friday, the journey of remembrance continues its downward trajectory, as we commemorate the Crucifixion of Jesus on the Cross.  So far, this journey of remembrance has traced a deep downward trajectory, from Palm Sunday and Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  But, for its last stage, the journey of remembrance suddenly zooms upward, as we re-read the story of the Empty Tomb and Jesus’ Resurrection.

Each faith community—each congregation—has its own, unique way of re-telling this journey of remembrance.  Many churches re-create Palm Sunday by giving everyone palms to wave in the air, sometimes led by a parade of small children, winding their way through the Sanctuary to begin the service—as we do at Christ UMC.  Other congregations have “services of foot washing,” following Jesus’ example in John 13:3-15.  Finally, many congregations—including my church, Christ UMC—will have special services on Good Friday, commemorating the Crucifixion of Christ on the Cross.

Christian faith communities practice all of these customs of remembering, as well as many others, during their journeys from Palm Sunday to the Cross on Friday and finally to the empty tomb on Easter morning.  All of these customs of remembering are important, not only because they help us grow spiritually but also because they help us maintain and grow our faith communities. 

Participating in these rituals and customs helps to increase the bonds of relationship within our faith communities.  That’s why Easter Sunday is the most heavily attended worship service of the year.  People want to participate in remembering who Christ was and his Resurrection.

But, Palm Sunday this year will be like none other, for any of us.  The coronavirus pandemic has turned everything upside down in 2020.  There will be no live service, filled with outstanding music and a children’s palm waving processional to begin the service.  Instead, we will live stream a service online, using as few people as possible as we practice safe social distancing.  Yet, sadly, we need these rituals and customs even more this year than ever.

The coronavirus is taking its toll, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally.  In a recent article for The New York Times, David Brooks described it this way, “There’s an invisible current of dread running through the world.  It messes with your attention span.  I don’t know about you, but I’m mentally exhausted by 5 pm every day, and I think part of the cause is the unconscious stress flowing through us.”  Later in the article, he observes, “The pandemic spreads an existential feeling of unsafety, …changing the way you see and perceive threat.”[i]

Although we can’t practice the same customs and rituals of remembrance that we normally do during Holy Week, we can be innovative and creative in developing modified customs and rituals for this year of the pandemic.  For instance, instead of waving actual Palm branches this Sunday, my church is encouraging everyone to print or draw their own palm branch.  Then, we’re asking everyone to display their paper palm in a prominent place in their homes, such as the refrigerator or a bedroom door, as a way of beginning their journey of remembrance for Holy Week this year.

Everyone is always welcome and accepted at Christ United Methodist Church because God loves us all.  During the coronavirus, I invite you to join us virtually for our Facebook Livestream worship service this Palm Sunday, April 5th, at 11 am.  Our Facebook address is:  https://www.facebook.com/christumclinc/.  Alternatively, you can see the service later on our Facebook page or by going to our webpage at:  https://www.christumclinc.org/.

            Our Good Friday service will also be Facebook Livestreamed on Friday, April 10th, at 7 pm.  You are welcome to join us at that service, as well.

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[i] David Brooks, “Mental Health in the Age of the Coronavirus,” in The New York Times, 2 April 2020.  Accessed on telephone app, 3 April 2020.

“Faith, Anxiety, and the Coronavirus”

            Originally, I was not scheduled to preach this Sunday, March 15th, because it was to be “United Methodist Women Sunday.”  However, the special speaker invited by the United Methodist Women cancelled due to concerns about the coronavirus.  And, as the church leadership and I learned more about the coronavirus threat, we decided that the responsible and prudent course of action would be to cancel all live worship services and to stream a worship service on Facebook Live at 11 am on Sunday morning.  (We will also record the streaming service and post it on our church websites for those unable to watch at 11 am on Sunday.)

            During the liturgical season of Lent this year, our worship services are focused around the theme of “suffering.”  One of the core components of Lenten observances is to remember the suffering of Jesus, especially in his crucifixion on the cross.  Suffering is also an experience which we all share as part of the human condition—although some persons suffer more in life than others.  We have also observed that there are different types of suffering, including physical suffering, emotional suffering, and existential suffering.

            Two weeks ago, we examined physical suffering, drawing from the Book of Job in the Bible.  In that book from the Hebrew scriptures, we learned about a good and devout man, Job, whom God causes to suffer in extraordinary ways.  Although Job’s friends believe that his suffering must be the result of some terrible sins he has committed, Job swears that he is innocent.  On the contrary, Job claims to be a righteous and devout person.

            Job demands a hearing, and an accounting before God.  Job wants God to explain why he has been made to suffer is such extraordinary ways.  It is not until the end of the Book that God appears and speaks to Job.  God’s response is definitely not what Job expected.  Ultimately, God does not respond to Job’s charges and questions.  Essentially what we learn from the Book of Job is that when we ask why God has caused—or, allowed—us to suffer, we are asking an illegitimate question.  The question puts us in the center of the world, and at the center of God’s focus and activity.  But, we are not always at the center, even though God loves us deeply. 

            By its very nature, this question, why does God cause or allow us to suffer, puts the believer in the position of trying to defend God because we assume that we must be at the center of God’s focus.  I t may be that God has not caused or allowed our suffering.  Sometimes, we suffer because it is part of the human condition—something all humans must endure.

Yet, even though there may be no explanation for our suffering, our Christian faith does not leave us bereft of hope and comfort in the face of suffering.  Fundamental to Christian faith is the conviction that God’s love for us is awesome and literally beyond our human comprehension.  Yet, even with our limited insight, Christians know that eternal and transcendent God loves us so much that God chose to empty God’s self and become incarnated (literally, enfleshed) as the human person, Jesus of Nazareth.  One of the reasons for God to become incarnated was so that God could experience the human condition with us.

While we may not understand why we suffer, we do know that God has shared with us in human suffering in a most profound way, through the excruciating suffering of Jesus on the cross.  God is in solidarity with us and in our own physical suffering, even if God does not always answer our questions about why we are suffering.  These reflections on God, Jesus, and suffering have informed my thinking about the looming coronavirus pandemic that we face in our society.

It seems pretty obvious that the world is currently suffering emotionally as a result of the coronavirus. All of us suffer fear, anxiety, and apprehension, while those of us who have lost a friend or loved one to the virus also suffer grief and loss.  The scripture which will ground my reflections during this March 15th streaming service comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, where he addresses the emotional suffering that comes from fear and anxiety:

“‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’”

            In this part of his sermon, Jesus encourages his listeners to avoid allowing fear, worry, and anxiety to dominate their lives.  He uses two seeming minor forms of life, birds and wildflowers, and points out that they flourish without fear, worry, or anxiety.  Then, he asks, if God cares for the birds and wildflowers so well, then shouldn’t we humans, who are created in God’s image, be more confident that God will take care of us.  Finally, he encourages his listeners to make striving for the “kingdom of God” and serving God as their first priority.  When they do that, then everything else will work out.

            The whole world is currently faced with a crisis, which we have never had to contend with before.  There is so much that is still unknown, even though we have already begun to get glimpses of the scope of this crisis from the experiences in China and Italy.  Given how much is unknown and the scope of what lies before us, it is only natural to be filled with fear, worry, and anxiety.  However, in this scripture passage, Jesus counsels us to prevent that fear, worry, and anxiety from dominating our lives.

Instead, Jesus calls upon us to have confidence that we are not alone.  God is still with us, even in the midst of a pandemic.  All of us suffer emotionally from fear, worry, and anxiety, while some of us will suffer physically from the coronavirus and, perhaps, even death.  Through his life and death, Jesus has already experienced human suffering.  Jesus shares in our suffering now and is in solidarity with us, even in this moment.  Jesus reminds us that ultimately God is in charge and that God will prevail.  

But there is more.  In addition to controlling our fear, worry, and anxiety, Jesus reminds us that as his disciples we are called to serve God.  This service will take different forms for each of us during the coronavirus pandemic.  For some, it may be donating blood or calling to check in on neighbor or to run errands for someone especially vulnerable to the virus.  Whatever our particular task or opportunity, during this pandemic we are called to serve God by serving in whatever safe and appropriate way that we can.

Everyone is always welcome and accepted at Christ United Methodist Church because God loves us all.  During the coronavirus, I invite you to join us virtually for our Facebook Livestream worship service on Sunday, March 15th, at 11 am.  Our Facebook address is:  https://www.facebook.com/christumclinc/.  Alternatively, you can see the service later on our Facebook page or by going to our webpage at:  https://www.christumclinc.org/.

“Why Does God Allow Physical Suffering?”

            This past Wednesday, February 26th, was “Ash Wednesday” on the church liturgical calendar.  Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of “Lent,” that 40-day of preparation leading up to Easter Sunday and celebration of the Resurrection. 

As preparation during the season of Lent, Christians are encouraged to enter into a time of reflection, confession, penitence, and penance for our sins and shortcomings.  It is frequently a time of self-sacrifice, when we give up something which we enjoy as we commemorate Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice of his life on the cross.  Along with penitence and penance, Lent can also be a time to reflect upon our own mortality and eventual death. 

During Lent this year, Christ United Methodist Church, where I serve as Senior pastor, will focus on the theme of suffering.  Of course, suffering is a very appropriate Lenten theme because we know that Jesus suffered excruciating pain, as he gasped for breath, during the crucifixion.   Yet, suffering is also an integral part of the human condition.  All of us experience suffering at some points in our lives.  There are various types of suffering, as well.  Physical suffering is the most obvious.  However, we may also suffer in other ways, such as emotional suffering.

We began this series on Ash Wednesday with a reflection on “existential suffering.”  By existential suffering, we meant the human ability to contemplate our own death and the ever-present knowledge that, ultimately, some time in the future we will die.  As far as we know, we are the only sentient species capable of contemplating our own death.  As the title of this blog suggests, this Sunday, March 1st, our focus will be on physical suffering.  In subsequent Sunday’s, we will examine emotional suffering, anxiety, the temptation to go for the quick—yet, false—fix for suffering.  Finally, on Good Friday, our service will focus on the suffering of Christ.

Our scriptural passage for this week’s focus on physical suffering is comes from the Book of Job, in the Hebrew scriptures.  As the Book opens, the main character is introduced:

“There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.” (Job 1:1-2)

The first chapter continues by describing how wealthy Job is, and it characterizes him as “the greatest of all people of the east.”  The chapter also describes Job as a very devout man, truly faithful to God.

            Up in heaven, God boasts about Job’s goodness and faithfulness.  However, the satan[1] (or, accuser) is not impressed.  Of course Job is good and faithful, he retorts, “Look at how well you have rewarded him!”  Then, the satan proposes a wager:  Strip Job of all that he has and see if, then, he will not curse God to God’s face.  God accepts the wager and allows the satan to take away all that Job owns, including the death of his children and most of his servants.  Despite this horrific loss, Job’s faithfulness and love for God remains unshaken.  The satan has lost the bet.

            In Job 2, when God boasts of Job’s faithfulness, the satan  proposes a second wage:

“Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.’

So, Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.

Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.”  (Job 2:4-13)

This passage from Job is very rich, with many different angles and  nuances to explore.  Unfortunately, in my proclamation, time will restrict me to just the main question of theodicy—that is, “Why does God allow good people to suffer physically?”  Within the Abrahamic traditions, we have generally viewed God as omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all- knowing), and all-loving.  So, to re-state the question, “Why would an all-power, all-knowing, and all-loving God allow physical suffering?”

            In his book, On Job, Gustavo Gutierrez, the Latin American Liberation Theologian, observes:  “To put the matter quite concretely, the wager [between God and the satan] has to do with speaking of God in light of the unjust suffering that seems, in human experience, to deny love on God’s part.”[2]  In other words, why would a truly loving God enter into such a cruel wager with the devil?

            “Why would an all-power, all-knowing, and all-loving God allow physical suffering?”  Historically, Christians have proposed two different answers to this question:

1.      A small minority of Christians – most recently process theologians – have opted to redefine God’s power so that God is no longer omnipotent and therefore not responsible for everything that happens in the world.  

2.      A far greater number of Christians have taken the opposite approach and tried to redefine God’s benevolence by finding some deeper good in the physical suffering.  For these Christians, chronic pain may appear on the surface to be bad, but a deeper, more thoughtful analysis reveals that it is actually a good gift from a benevolent, omnipotent God.   As an illustration, the physician Harold Koenig reported on a patient with chronic back pain who interpreted his pain as a means to glorify God.  The patient told Dr. Koenig, “…it’s like the Lord is telling me, ‘This is a burden that you’re going to have to carry.  I carried the cross and your sin, and you’ve got to carry this.’  If there’s a reason for it, if it’s to glorify Him, then I’ll carry it until the day I die.”[3] 

More recently, some Christian theologians have proposed a third answer to the question of theodicy.  This third approach advocates for simply accepting physical pain and suffering as part of the human condition, rather than trying to find some explanation of why God allowed this suffering to occur.  For instance, pastoral theologian Peggy Way, who has struggled with polio in her own life, asserts that the theodicy problem appears to put Christians into the uncomfortable position of having to defend God.[4]  Rather than trying to defend God, she proposes that humans embrace their finitude, including their suffering, and live joyfully in the moment.

Similar to the conclusion by Peggy Way, the Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas asserts that the way to address the theodicy problem is not by trying to defend God in terms of omnipotence or omniscience or love.  Rather, he suggests, “if Christian convictions have any guidance to give…it is by helping us discover that our lives are located in God’s narrative—the God who has not abandoned us even when we or someone we care deeply about is ill.”[5] 

Actually, this newer, third answer to the question of physical suffering is closer to the way in which the Book of Job resolved the problem of theodicy.  Throughout the Book, the character Job demands, again and again, a hearing before God.  This hearing would be in the form of a court trial.  In a sense, Job seeks to sue God for “deity malfeasance.”  At the end of the Book, God appears, to answer Job and his accusations:

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
   I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
   Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
   Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
   or who laid its cornerstone”  (Job 38:1-6)

God’s line of questioning of Job goes on and on and on, from chapter 38-41.  Finally, it is Job’s turn to respond:

Then Job answered the Lord:
‘I know that you can do all things,
   and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
“Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?”
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
   things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
“Hear, and I will speak;
   I will question you, and you declare to me.”
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
   but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
   and repent in dust and ashes.’  (Job 42:1-6)

Inherent within the impulse to answer the question of theodicy is the assumption that we humans are central to God and God’s plans.  We are not.  We are, however, deeply, deeply loved by God and that brings us back to Lent and our spiritual preparation, leading up to Easter Sunday and the celebration of the crucifixion.

Fundamental to Christian belief is the profound love which God has for each of us; a love which is literally beyond our comprehension.  Yet, even with our limited insight, Christians believed that the omnipotent, omniscient, transcendent God chose to empty God’s self and become incarnated (literally, enfleshed) as the human person, Jesus of Nazareth.  One of the reasons for God to become incarnated was so that God could experience the human condition.

“Why would an all-power, all-knowing, and all-loving God allow physical suffering?”  We do not know the answer to that question.  But, we do know that God has shared with us in human suffering in a most profound way, through the excruciating suffering of Jesus on the cross.  God is in solidarity with us and in our own physical suffering.

If you live in the Lincoln, Nebraska area and do not have a place of worship, then I invite you to join us at Christ United Methodist Church this Sunday, March 1, as we begin our reflections on suffering, as part of our Lenten preparation for Easter Sunday in April. 

Christ UMC is located at 4530 “A” Street.  We have three worship services on Sunday mornings at 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00.  The 8:30 and 11:00 services feature a traditional worship format and the services are held in our Sanctuary.  “The Gathering” at 9:45 is held in our Family Life Center (gym), and it is more informal and interactive.   

Come, join us.  Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

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[1] Although the notion of Satan as an evil, fallen angel eventually develops in the Hebrew scriptures, at the time when the Book of Job was written he was conceived more as an accuser who alerted God of humans who were being sinful.  See the “Excursus:  The Role of Satan in the Old Testament,” by Carol A. Newsom in “Commentary on the Book of Job” in the New Interpreter’s Bible,  vol. 4, (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 2002), CD-ROM Edition.

[2] Gustavo Gutierrez, On Job, God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent, translated by Matthew J. O’Connell (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press, 1987), 5.

[3] Harold Koenig, Chronic Pain:  Biomedical and Spiritual Approaches (New York:  Haworth Pastoral Press, 2003), 46.

[4] Peggy Way, Created by God, Pastoral Care for All God’s People (St. Louis:  Chalice Press, 2005).

[5] Stanley Hauerwas, God, Medicine, and Suffering (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), 67.