WHERE IS GOD WHEN WE HURT?

Transcription

1 Mark 1:21-28 February 1, 2015 WHERE IS GOD WHEN WE HURT? The reading from Mark s Gospel is a very simple story, really. Jesus and his disciples went to a place called Capernaum, and one of the things they did during their time there was go to church. It s always wonderful to have visitors in church. As a pastor, I m delighted and grateful whenever tourists and other guests in the Scarborough area take time from their vacation or whatever brings them here to come to our church and worship with us. Realistically, they could be spending time at Prout s Neck or Two Lights State Park or any of the other beautiful coastal attractions that can be found nearby; but instead they choose to spend at least a portion of their time with us! I think that s great, and I genuinely appreciate the fact that they do so. So I say, God bless those who visit local churches like ours when they re in town! But how many visitors to a church would choose to lead the congregation in a Bible Study? Jesus did. And the people in the pews, instead of being put out and irritated by a total stranger pulling out a Bible and saying, If you would turn now to the prophet Isaiah... ; instead of thinking that this unknown visitor was arrogant and out of line to initiate a study of the Scriptures, they were actually quite impressed. Hey, this guy teaches with authority! His lectures are powerful. He really seems to know what he s talking about. But Jesus wasn t the only visitor there in that synagogue. Also among the congregation, according to Mark s Gospel, was a man with an unclean spirit. A disruptive, frightening, evil, I m-against-god kind of demon. In God s own holy, blessed house. Who da thought that could ever happen? Demons don t go to church, do they? Well, it seems that they can, and occasionally they do. Because here was one, in some poor, possessed fellow. These days, few of us take demons very seriously. As enlightened, educated people, we re so over believing in the devil and unclean spirits. The people that the Bible describes as being demon possessed were actually suffering from epilepsy or mental illness or some other rationally

2 explainable problem. That s the consensus of our modern and sophisticated world. Well, whatever you believe about the existence or non-existence of unclean spirits like the one we read about this morning in Mark s Gospel, there s something we can all take away from this story that I believe is very significant. And what we can take away is that Jesus Christ is present in the midst of human misery and torment. The man in the synagogue, whether he was possessed by a demon or not, was undoubtedly suffering. He was greatly distressed. He was in anguish. And the story makes it clear that Jesus was there for him. Notice that Jesus didn t try to explain away the man s pain; rather, he simply acted to heal and restore the man to wellness. Jesus was there for the man in his hurt. In this world where pain and suffering abound, that s something we can genuinely rejoice about. There s a very powerful, true story about the preacher and author William Sloane Coffin. Coffin s son Alex died when his car plummeted into Boston Harbor. Soon after that tragic event, Coffin preached what many consider to be his most memorable sermon. In it he said, When a person dies, there are a lot of things that can be said, and at least one thing that should never be said. The night after Alex died, a woman came by carrying quiches. She shook her head and said sadly, I just don t understand the will of God. Instantly I swarmed all over her. I ll say you don t, lady! Do you think it was the will of God that Alex never fixed that lousy windshield wiper, or that he was probably driving too fast in a storm? Do you think it is God s will that there are no streetlights along that stretch of road? Coffin went on to say, Nothing so infuriates me as the incapacity of intelligent people to get it through their heads that God doesn t go around with his finger on triggers, his fist around knives, his hands on steering wheels. God is dead set against all unnatural deaths. The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, It is the will of God. My own consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex died; that when the waves closed over his sinking car, God s heart was the first of all our hearts to break. Here s a pretty scary question. If it wasn t the will of God for Alex to die tragically, then where was God? Where was God when Alex drowned? For that matter, where was God during 9/11, or during the terrorist attack in France a few weeks ago? Where was God when yet another school shooting occurred and more innocent children, teachers and administrators got murdered in cold-blood? Where was God when one of our loved ones got 2

3 terminal cancer and left behind a family that loved them dearly? Where is God when we hurt? It s a question we frequently ask when trouble knocks on our door or on the door of someone we care deeply about, and it s our turn to experience suffering and anguish. Sometimes we might ask, Why is this happening? But I find it quite interesting that we seem to more often ask Where? Where were you, God, when the accident happened, or my infant child died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome? Or, if the trouble is currently going on, we look up toward heaven and ask, Where are you, God? I can t see you anywhere. Behind the Where is God when we hurt? question is the horrible thought that, wherever God is, he s far removed from us. We human beings are down here, going through troubles and miseries and pain and sorrow which for some people are unrelenting and meanwhile, God is up there in heaven somewhere, doing God knows what and not being any help at all as far as we can determine. We heard William Sloane Coffin s answer to the question, Where is God when we hurt? When the waves closed over Alex s sinking car, God s heart was the first of all our hearts to break. But is God s broken heart consolation enough? It seems to have been for Coffin; but what about for us? Yes, God is love, we know that. But that loving God allows a significant amount of pain and suffering to occur. Doesn t a loving God have some kind of responsibility, not just to love us and feel sorry for us, but to also help us, rescue us, save us. An important and necessary part of love is its presence, its intimate connection to the one who is loved. Which means our loving God should help out the people God loves who are hurting and in need. But does that happen? Does God do that? Where is God when we hurt? Here s what I believe. God is here. With us. Especially in our times of misery and pain. We know this because of Gospel stories like the one we read this morning, where Jesus injected himself into a suffering person s life when he showed up at a synagogue one day, a place where people commonly bring their burdens and cares and confusion. Traditional Christianity teaches that, through Jesus, we can know God s heart. Last spring, you may or may not remember that we read the story of the death of Jesus beloved friend, Lazarus. Jesus learned about Lazarus s death, and when he arrived at the scene he saw Lazarus s grieving family and friends, all of whom were devastated by his death. And what did Jesus do? He began to weep. Then he brought new life to that situation. 3

4 He brought resurrection. to it Jesus also wept over a doomed Jerusalem, and pitied his denying disciple Peter and even the man who sentenced him to death, Pontius Pilate. Also, instead of lashing out at those who were crucifying him, Jesus heart broke for them: Father, forgive them, for they don t know what they re doing. In the midst of pain and sorrow and evil intentions, that s who God is: a God of caring and compassion. And, smack dab in the midst of our pain and sorrow and destructive evil intentions, God is there. The Christian faith proclaims that in Christ, God took evil and suffering upon God s own self, there on the cross of Jesus. Suffering in the world is real. And it happens to everyone. But God doesn t cause suffering. God experiences our suffering with us. And God also carries us in our suffering, and will keep on doing so until God s resurrection victory is finally won, every tear of sadness is wiped away, and God finally gets what God wants for all of God s beloved. Shalom. Peace. When all suffering, sorrow, and even death itself, have passed away. Where is God when we hurt? Well, on the cross Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Notice that during Jesus time of intense suffering, he began reciting the 22 nd Psalm, a psalm that calls called God my God. And a God who is mine isn t distant and secluded, hiding somewhere up there in the hour of our suffering. No, my God, our God, is deeply involved in our lives and is here for us. I want you to also know and this is very important that near the end of this 22 nd Psalm which Jesus quoted on the cross, the psalmist proclaimed his trust that God would indeed hear his cry and save him. From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me. I will tell of your name to my brothers and sister; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you;... for God did not despise or abhor the suffering of the afflicted. God did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him. Yes, ours is a personal God, who is near to us and cares about us, and who dares to wade headfirst into our pain, respond to our cries of anguish and despair, and embrace us with love in our time of greatest need. God doesn t prevent pain and suffering from ever touching us; that would be unrealistic because of our free will and the fact that this is a broken, sinfilled world. But God does give us the courage and strength we need to make it through that pain and suffering. Today s Gospel reading teaches that God does more than simply care; God does more than idly stand by during the darkness of our despair. Rather, God reaches out to us to rebuke the demonic evil that has thrown 4

5 us into this horrible situation, and helps lift us up from it. Sometimes God lifts us up in ways that are beyond human understanding. We can sense a spiritual presence stirring within us, and we know without a doubt that God is there with us and will help see us through. That s a sign of God s love at work. And at other times, God provides us with caring family members and friends and even total strangers who show up in our lives when we need them most, sometimes out of the blue, to speak words of comfort to us, to reach out in compassion and help us as best they can, and to lift us up in ways we couldn t lift ourselves. That, too, is a sign of God s love at work. Some people are turned off by the Christian faith because it is lived out in such close proximity to human suffering and sorrow. But others are drawn to such a faith, and embrace it because of how it relates to suffering and sorrow. An example of the later is actress Sara Miles, who wrote this about why she ultimately became a Christian. The Christianity that called to me, through the stories I read in the Bible, scattered the proud and rebuked the powerful. It was a religion in which divinity was revealed by scars on flesh. It was an upside-down world in which blessings could be found in the darkness; in which the hungry were filled with good things and the rich were sent away empty; in which new life was manifested through a humiliated, hungry woman and an empty, tortured man. You know, when we suffer, most of us want to get out of it and get away from it as soon as we can. No surprise there. But Jesus indicated that God is different from us in that God seeks out suffering. God willingly enters into the pain and despair of others and suffers with them. And that is good news, because it means that when we suffer, we actually draw closer to the suffering God. When we cry out in agony, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? that s the moment when God is closest to us. We re just beginning to get into the Gospel of Mark, but let me tell you how this Gospel ends. SPOILER ALERT! The God of Jesus shows up at the end of Mark s story, most clearly and powerfully, not in some lovely forest glade where Jesus is relaxing and enjoying time together with his good friends. Rather, the God of Jesus is present up on the cross, with all of the blood and anguish and death it causes. And that s the answer to one of the deepest and most puzzling questions we Christians ask ourselves and others. Where is God when we hurt? Very simply, wherever there are crosses, there is God. Where there is sickness and suffering and pain, there is God. Where there is death and 5

6 grief, there is God. In Jesus Christ, God entered the world to be present in, confront, and square off against the most profound suffering, the worst evil and the darkest powers the world could dish out. God did that for us then. And God will do it with us now. That is the wonder and awesomeness of our faith. That is our hope and our strength in times of despair. God is right here with us when we hurt. Thanks and praise be to the Lord. Amen. 6