MCC St. Louis - Check Us Out!
Get your own, Free Homepage"DON'T PUT LIMITS ON THE LIGHT"
I initially kidded with a few folks that perhaps God wanted to prepare me to preach on this morning's scheduled topic, "suffering." But I don't really believe God does things like that. At least, I certainly hope not. You see, next Sunday's topic is supposed to be "death."
Nah! I choose not to believe that God pushed me down the stairs last week and will push me in front of a bus this week...all for the sake of authenticity in preaching! But when things like this happen in life, we do tend to wonder, "Why?"
Now we, as human beings, tend to ask "why" and "how" and "when" about a lot of things. For example, why do they sterilize needles for lethal injection? Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets? Why is there an expiration date on a container of sour cream? If olive oil comes from olives and corn oil comes from corn, where does baby oil come from? How did a fool and his money get together in the first place? How do you know when it's time to tune your bagpipes? And - my personal favorite - what's another word for thesaurus?
Don't we have inquiring minds about the mysteries of life? Especially when it comes to today's topic. This is part 4 in our on-going Lenten series, "Spicy Gumbo for the Soul: Hot Topics That Can Be Hard to Swallow." Our topic this morning: suffering.
When it comes to suffering, don't we always ask, "Why?" Jesus' disciples did. In our Gospel reading this morning, as they encounter a man who has been blind since birth, the first thing the disciples do is start pondenng the cause of this man's suffering. They ask Jesus, "Rabbi, who sinned, this person or the parents, that the child was born blind?"
The disciples were limited by their culture's interpretation of such events. Traditional teaching held that sickness and suffering were always the direct result of someone's wrongdoing. Jesus, however, is quick to refute that theory. He answered, "It was not that this person sinned, or the parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest."
Now hear me clearly: God didn't push me down the stairs in my apartment building to prove some point and neither was the man born blind just so that God could use him to prove something. That's not what Jesus is saying. Jesus doesn't actually offer any explanation for why people suffer or why "bad things happen to good people" or whether such occurances were preordained or just accidents in a world that is off kilter and subject to sickness and injury. What Jesus does say is that the works of God can be seen through the lives of people who suffer in some way. Any life...any set of circumstances. ..provides an opportunity for God's power to be seen at work.
Joni Eareckson's story is well known to many of us both through her books and the movie about her paralysis as a teenager and her amazing fight back to a useful and productive life of ministry through her artistic talents. From the preface of her book, Joni, Eareckson writes:
"What happened on July 30, 1967, was the beginning of an incredible adventure which I feel compelled to share because of what I learned. In the Psalms, we're told that God does not deal with us according to our sins and iniquities. My accident was not a punishment for my wrongdoing.... Only God knows why I was paralyzed.... I have found that God knows my needs infinitely better than I know them. And God is utterly dependable, no matter which direction our circumstances take us."
The fact is...everyone suffers to some degree. We live in a flawed world...where sickness and accidents are a part ofthe mix. "Stuff" happens. Joni Eareckson also wrote, "Every person alive fits somewhere onto a scale of suffering that ranges from little to much. However much suffering we have to endure, there are always those below us who suffer less, and those above us who suffer more. The problem is, we usually like to compare ourselves only with those who suffer less. That way we can pity ourselves and pretend we're at the top of the scale. But when we face reality and stand beside those who suffer more, our purple hearts don't shine so brightly."
As I sat, for the fifth morning in a row on Friday, watching the "Today" show - feeling uncomfortabie and annoyed with my circumstances, Joni's words came to haunt me a little. Katie Couric was interviewing two survivors from the Jewish holocaust ofWorld War II. They were discussing a new documentary film called "The Last Days." Couric asked the woman to recount a story that she shares in the film about her time in Auschwitz and some beloved diamonds.
It seems that, as a little girl in Hungary, this woman had been taken prisoner, along with so many others, and sent to the infamous Nazi prison camp. The only thing of value she had was some diamonds that her mother had given her before their arrest; she had hidden them in the hem of her dress for safe-keeping.
Upon arrival at Auschwitz, she heard the order to remove all clothing and shoes and place them in the bins up ahead. Hurriedly, she removed the diamonds from the hem of her dress and held them in her hand. But as she approached the point of inspection, she realized she would have to open her hand so she slipped the diamonds into her mouth. Soon, though, she realized that the Nazi's were inspecting people's mouths and removing any gold or silver fillings they found, so, in the panic of the moment, not knowing what else to do, she swallowed the diamonds.
The woman says, though, that as soon as she had done that, she felt a great peace that these things she most valued were now safe inside of her and that she could do the same thing over and over for as long as she was imprisoned.
And so she did. Time after time...as her body evacuated the diamonds, she would retrieve them and swallow them again. She continued to do this throughout her ordeal and time of suffering. And as she sat there being interviewed on the "Today" show, she showed the four diamonds, mounted and dangling from a necklace that will be passed down in her family for generations to come.
This woman's story impressed two things upon me: one is that no matter what we may think we know of suffering, there are always those who have suffered more than we could ever imagine. But the second thing is this: ifwe are willing to do whatever it takes to keep what we treasure most within us, then no amount of suffering can take that treasure away.
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." By that light, the man born blind was made to see...not just physically but spiritually. Next to the intensity of that Light, those who refused to acknowledge that Light became more and more blind. Spiritually, they would suffer for their blindness to the Light of Christ.
So, for all the things we don't know, these are the things we can know about suffering:
*" Suffering just is: it's a part of living and all the questions in the world won't provide us with the answer to "why?"
*But in every condition of suffering, there is the opportunity for God to be made known and to use our suffering to bring something good into the world.
*" Everyone suffers to some degree at some point. No one is exempt. There are many different kinds of suffering and many different kinds of healing: physical, spiritual, emotional.
* But in the midst of any suffering, if we can fight to keep within us what is most valuable to us, we will find that when the suffering is ended, we will still have that thing we value.
My invitation and challenge to us today is to make Jesus Christ - the Light of the World - the thing that we value most and that we fight to keep within us...no matter what our circumstances or suffering. Because when all else has ended, the Light of the World will shine on.
We are now 2/3s of the way through the season of Lent. In a few weeks, we will observe "Good Friday" - the time ofJesus' greatest suffering. Oftentimes, folks avoid "Good Friday." We want to skip over the time of suffering and go directly to Easter...just like we want to wish away the suffering in our world and know only the happy and pleasant things. We don't understand the presence or need for suffering. What we need to realize is that Jesus Christ -- the Light ofthe World - didn't come to do away with suffering...or to explain it. Jesus came to be fully present in the suffering that we know - to suffer with and for us in every way. To understand us fully and dwell within us.
Many years ago, a farmer who lived on the outskirts of town was relaxing on his front porch when a newsboy delivered the evening paper. The boy noticed a sign in the yard that said, "Puppies for Sale." He got off his bike and said to the farmer,''How much do you want for those puppies, mister? "Twenty-five dollars each, son."
The boy's face dropped. "Well, sir, could I at least see them anyway?" The farmer whistled, and in a moment the mother dog came bounding around the corner of the house followed by four of the cute puppies, wagging their tails and yipping happily. At last, another pup came straggling around the house, dragging one leg behind. "What's the matter with that puppy, mister?" the boy asked. "Well, Son, that puppy suffers from a rare disorder. The vet took an X-ray and told us that she doesn't have a hip joint; her leg will never be normal."
To the farmer's amazement, the boy reached into his collection bag and took out a fifty-cent piece. "Please, mister," the boy pleaded, "I want to buy that pup. I'll pay you fifty cents every week until the twenty- five dollars is paid. Honest I will!" The farmer replied, "But, Son, you don't seem to understand. That puppy will never, ever be able to run or jump. Why in the world would you want a dog like that?"
The boy paused for a moment, then reached down and pulled up his pant leg, exposing the all-too-familiar iron brace and leather knee-strap holding a withered, twisted leg. The boy answered, "Mister, that pup is going to need someone who understands her to help her in life!"
In this church, we say that our motto is, "From the Light ofthe World Comes a Rainbow of Possibilities." That means that Jesus Christ - the Light ofthe World - brings us all kinds ofpossibilities for healing and for enduring in the midst of suffering. Don't put limits on the Light! Don't assume that the absence of answers to hard questions means that God is absent in the midst of our questioning. Make that great Light the most valuable thing within you...and no suffering in your life or in the world can ever take away the limitless love and understanding ofJesus Christ! Amen.
Get your own, Free Homepage