Skip to main content

En [light] ed Suffering

The readings for the 4th Sunday in Lent, the morning Eucharist, were focussed on light and sight. From the Old Testament reading in 1 Samuel, we see the choosing of David as the next king to replace Saul, how 'man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart'.

The reading from St John's gospel account (ch 9) tells of the healing of the man born blind. The blind man receives his sight but he becomes enlightened over and above the ecclesiastical leaders of the day who are revealed as truly blind as to whom Jesus is. But, to be enlightened costs the once blind man his place in the synagogue. To be enlightened is not to enter a suffering-free zone but to enter into suffering with one's eyes open.

At Evensong, we hear the cries of pain of the Hebrews in Egypt as their burdens are increased because of the promise of deliverance! Later in Matthew 27 we watch the betrayed and abandoned Jesus arraigned before Pilate. Pilate's wife suffers in her dreams. Judas suffers for betraying innocent blood. Pilate washes his hands of 'the blood of this innocent man' and suffers the agony of knowing that he has condemned a righteous man to death. So much for Roman justice! Jesus suffers rejection, flogging and finally condemnation to the cross.

This strange juxtaposition of light and darkness, seeing and not seeing, deliverance and suffering, reveals the life we now live. A surd of joy and sorrow it has been called. Surds cannot be resolved 'rationally' they can only be accepted as part of existence. We can along with all sufferers sigh but we sigh knowing the outcome of all suffering ends in perpetual joy.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Proof of His Love-While We Were Still Enemies

I've just come across an excerpt from a wonderful book I have, The Divine Forbearance or The Dynamics of Forgiveness (2001) by Paul T. Harrison 1 . I want to focus on some points he makes from Rom 5.1-11 concerning the love of God. In Romans ch 4, the subject is faith: 'the means by which we are rightwised 2 to God' (Harrison, p. 52). But what, Harrison asks, arouses faith; what 'has Christ revealed about God that makes us able to trust Him?' Fire of God Ministries International Church-see http://fireofgodservants.blogspot.com.au And to that question he answers, God's forgiving love . God's love is so faithful and true that we may depend on it absolutely. Why is that so? That is explored in Rom 5.6-11. Our status before God as ungodly sinners (Rom 5.6, 8) in the past meant that we were the 'enemies of God' (Rom 5.10). Think of that! Being an enemy of God means to be subject to his wrath (Rom 5.9) and displeasure. People don't give their live...
3 comments
Read more

Reigning With Christ by F J Huegel

Reigning With Christ by F J Huegel (1963) is a book of only 88 pages yet it is filled with crucial truths of the Christian faith organised around the theme of the enthroned believer . It's fair to say that the theme he concisely addresses in this small book is much neglected today. For the press of technological life with its bustle and speed is such that we can forget that present life, so ' real' to us, is temporary (2 Cor 4.18) and as in the first century, 'the form [Greek, "schema"] of the world is passing away' (1Cor 7.31). It's easy to read this work and though it has 20 chapters, they are short and pithy. However, reading it requires a meditative attitude so as to allow the Spirit to work on our hearts.
Post a Comment
Read more

Christian Atheism!

" The great lesson that our blessed Lord inculcates here...is that God is in all things, and that we are to see the Creator in the glass [mirror] of every creature; that we should use and look upon nothing as separate from God, which indeed is a kind of practical atheism; but with a true magnificence of thought survey heaven and earth and all that is therein as contained by God in the hollow of his hand, who by his intimate presence holds them all in being, who pervades and activates the whole created frame, and is in a true sense the soul of the universe." These pungent words were given to me by an overseas correspondent and come from a sermon by John Wesley (1748) on the 'Sermon on the Mount'. Part of the context for his words apparently were that Wesley originally baulked at the idea of preaching in the open air until he realised that the Lord Jesus had preached outside! But, more especially for our edification is that Wesley fixed on the truth that nothing ...
2 comments
Read more