Rev. Stephen E.
Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican
Church
2nd Sunday after Easter 2016
April 10, 2016
1 Peter 2:20: “For
what glory is it, if, when ye be
buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well,
and suffer for it, ye take it
patiently, this is acceptable with
God.”
Is God the ultimate Sadist? Does He take pleasure in our pain and
suffering? Looking at Peter’s statement, perhaps… It almost seems as if God
takes pleasure in our patient suffering.
While this is what it looks like on the surface, we know that surface
reflections can be deceiving.
Two clarifications need to be made. First, one cannot ascribe to God Almighty the
concept of “feelings” or even emotion.
We mortals ascribe to God human feelings and emotions, when His Serenity
is so perfect as to above such things. Still, we do it, we suppose, to keep
some connection to a Being that we cannot approach or understand, except
through Christ.
The Bible does speak of the wrath of God. God’s Holiness
was offended by the various sins of Israel, most of all their apostasy. He reacted by sending various armies,
captivities and afflictions upon them.
Yet, one cannot make the mistake of thinking that God, who sees all
eternity as one continuous scene, became suddenly angry with His People and
decided to punish them. Once again, this
limits the limitless nature of God and His complete, serene Holiness.
Note
two things. First, this is an area of deep
mystery. Secondly, God works all things
to His Purpose and Design, to His own mysterious and wonderful Glory. This is
unfathomable to us, except that we participate with all faithful Creation to
give glory and praise to the Holy and Blessed Trinity. In this sense, we can both understand and
participate in the ultimate reality of God.
That
may be as far as it goes, however.
Recalling how God spoke to Job, asking him who has the mind of God, that
he may instruct Him? The answer is
rhetorical. Thus, we wonder why God would find it acceptable that Christians
accept punishment patiently when it is not merited.
The
example of Christ gives us an answer. The reason for God’s “acceptance”, if you
will, of our patient suffering is perfectly modeled in Christ. Peter reminds us that Christians are called
to suffer as Christ suffered for us. Christ did not revile, He did not threaten,
and he did not complain. He led the only sinless life ever and was crucified… Quoting 1 Peter 2:21: “For you
have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving
you an example for you to follow in His steps,” These are the words that Peter tells us and with them, perhaps God’s
purpose for our endurance of unjust suffering becomes clear. In short, it is this: if Christ our Lord and
Savior suffered, the just for the unjust, what is our calling? Not that we choose suffering or that God
delights in it, but rather if it occurs, our Christ-like reaction to it is
crucial. If we, like Jesus, endure
and accept suffering for righteousness’ sake, this is pleasing to God. If we
take it patiently, without murmuring against God, this is acceptable to Him; if
only for the reason that we are modeling His Son’s behavior. When we do it
well, we are actually offering God the sincerest praise we can, simply because
we are imitating Jesus.
There is a connection between
suffering and holiness. Suffering can
draw one closer to God and it often does. One may cry out to God in the midst
of their suffering for comfort, for help, or just for something to lean
on. This is wonderful and blessed, for
even in the midst of our suffering, we know God hears us.
Yet, it is difficult. As one
experiences hardship and pain, it may cause an opposite reaction to God. Some may blame God for their troubles and
loss, running from Him rather than running to Him. This is a common reaction and is
understandable, if unpalatable to the mature Christian.
Why? Simply because the mature
Christian knows that suffering and grace go together. There is suffering in life, there is
hardship, but thanks be to God, there is grace as well.
While the Christian may understand
the reaction of the one running from God because of hardship, he rejects the
idea that God takes some random pleasure in it, or that there is not some
purpose in it. The latter is the most difficult, as in the loss of a loved one
or the visitation of a grave disease.
One person’s faith will say, “Why, God?” while another’s will say, “I do
not understand, but thy will be done.”
In these two cases, which of the two, the questioner or the accepter,
will receive more grace? Perhaps both,
but the odds are greatly in favor of the one who accepts God’s Will and prays
to see the sense in it. He may be given that answer, but very likely he will
not. He will have to content himself
with the thought, “Glory be to thee, O Lord, thy will be done.” This very
acceptance brings grace and peace, even in very difficult circumstances.
One’s reaction may be according to
the faith that one is given. While we are unable to probe the mysterious and
unlimited Mind of God, except as it is revealed to us in Word and Sacrament, we
do know that God calls people to Himself. Each call is different, in that God
calls each individual soul, yet there is one determinant that God reserves to
each man: his own free will. In this
instance, some use their free will to cling to God during times of
trouble. Others use their free will to
question, complain and ultimately flee from God. After all, He brought all this
upon them, right? Another uses his free will to embrace the will of God and
thus receives grace in times of suffering, trouble and pain.
Perhaps one of the most profound and
difficult concepts for the Christian to accept is the use of suffering by
God to shape and mold the Christian’s character. God knows our spiritual disposition and often
put us in situations to teach us. If we
accept that fact that suffering is not
meaningless, as one with an existential bent
might say, we know that a lesson lies in it somewhere. That lesson may be simply the availability of
grace. That is, Love is the force behind
it, as difficult the path to it may lie. It may also be the most troubling
lesson for the mature Christian, in that somber time when God withdraws Himself
from a soul in order that it may learn its utter dependence on Him. The old
adage says that with absence, the heart grows fonder. Nothing could be truer, especially when the
needy soul is gasping for the presence of God.
The atheist and agnostic will no
doubt turn up their noses at this, saying “it simply proves the superstition of
religion, or worse yet, the need of a “bloodthirsty” God who demanded that His
only Son be sacrificed for His satisfaction.
How barbaric, how savage, how primitive, they may think. People today are simply too civilized to
accept such a messy, transactional scheme of salvation. This Christianity stuff is simply a myth
cooked up by those who need a celestial father figure. After all, I’m OK. I don’t need a Savior.”
“Not so fast”, says the
Christian. To the atheist and the
agnostic he says, “Your view is too simplistic. You simply do not understand
the gravity of your situation, nor do you understand the spiritual wasteland
inside you. Your soul, despite all
temporal efforts to satisfy it, is still empty. Only one thing can fill it and
that one thing cannot be obtained by you. You must look to something, or
someone else. Finally, you must suspend your questions and your arrogance in
your need to bring God to your level.
Acknowledge God for whom He is: Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent. More importantly, recognize Him as the One
who has what you need and yet, gave everything that you could have it.”
“Moreover”, says the Christian to the
questioner, “Suffering may have been the gate to lead you to this point. Perhaps your need for God has finally grown
to a point where you can surrender your pride so that Grace may enter in.”
Perhaps now you can see the seriousness of your sin and extreme nature of it,
so much so that “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross that you might
die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”[1]
Your sins and my sins put Christ on
the Cross, but it was the Love of God that took Him off. That is, having declared his triumph, he
showed it openly, forever defeating sin, death and the grave.
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