Sermon on God and Human Suffering
September 28th 2008
One day little Sara was helping her mother clean the house, which was odd in itself, because she never wanted to help do anything. Anyway, little Sara was dusting the tables, the chairs, the TV set, and just about everything that could be dusted. She was dusting the table when she saw a big Book. “Mama whose Big Book is this?” She asked.
“That’s God’s Book. It’s called the Bible,” said Mama.
“Well,” said the little Sara, “With all the dust it has on it, don’t you think maybe we should give back to God, cause we’re sure not using it.”
We teach that the Bible is the Inspired Word of God, and that Word is powerful. I’m not talking about church, or denominations, or even religion per say. I’m talking about the Bible. The Word of God changes lives, with demands that judge us, and at the same time engages us with promise, forgiveness, and hope—setting us free to love and serve. God’s Word informs us about the nature of earthly things and heavenly things. Therefore, it blows my little mind with so much on the line we allow it to gather dust.
We’ll this morning we are going to not only dust off that good book, but we are going to polish it up and examine an earthly and heavenly topic that has intrigued human kind since the beginning. God and Human Suffering! Maybe one of the most difficult combination of words in the Christian language, maybe even the entire English language—God and Human Suffering.
The question we sometimes ask is, “If God can, then why won’t God—simply put an end to all our suffering.”
What this Book will teach us is that human freedom and suffering are so tightly wound together, you cannot eliminate one (freedom) without eliminating the other (suffering). However, God’s Word also promises that suffering on this earth will not have the last word! So are you ready to travel to places many hesitate to go?
First of all, since I don’t have six hours or more to dissect all our readings today, I need to set up the story line, or plot. A slightly different version of the one we may have been taught, you know with the devil, the fall, kicked out of paradise version. Not that one, but a new version, still faithful to our nature and the nature of God.
For the most part we can all accept that someone, or something created, caused our existence. We call that Being—God. Now the Bible teaches that something special happen with the emergence of humans. They are given reason, freedom, able to ask questions, such as “Who am I? Who made me? What’s my purpose?”
Well, we are also taught that God gives to these/us questioning characters the good earth on a silver platter and only asks of two simple things. One—take care of my good creation and everything in it—including one another. And two—stay away from that single tree in the middle of the garden! Do not go after My knowledge. There are certain things you cannot handle. Trust that I will take care of you! Trust that I have your best interest at heart!
However, something/anything in God’s good creation is capable of tempting us away from that trust. In the story, it happens to be a talking snake, in real life it could be a talking friend, a deceitful bottle of Jack Daniels, or enticing 100 dollar bill. It don’t take much. And so we reach up seeking to be our own gods, and end up just like poor Adam and Eve—naked and ashamed.
We even see what happens when we get caught with our hand in the cookie jar—we normally do exactly what first humans did—We blame God, or others, or the famous one liner—“The devil made me do it!”
We learn in the story that Lindsey read there are consequences to our actions, our existance now becomes more difficult, we no longer have Dialogue God in garden. But interesting, we also see that our God does not abandon us. He takes care of our nakedness and shame and places us outside this garden—or better yet, in the real world. Yet some people try there entire life to return—The Garden of Eden—To that perfect place of Paradise.
But is that the case? If we do not allow 2000 years of interpretation to cloud our judgment—I think one might come to the understanding that the Garden of Eden was not a place of perfection, devoid of suffering, as some might teach.
I think we might come to learn that many of the elements of suffering are present in this so-call Paradise and seem to be built right into the fabric of creation itself. Not only that, but many of the so-called forms of struggle can actually lead us to fuller Christ-like life. Think I’m nuts? Maybe, but let’s reexamine a few things without blinders.
After this Being we call God creates us inquisitive creatures what one of the first thing that happens? Don’t everybody answer at once. God gives you and I responsibility. “Be Fruitful! Take care of Creation!” Don’t just lie around like my golden retriver Nebo, be fruitful, do something with this glorious life, make a difference, create something!
In the Garden of Eden we are given enormous responsibility and this responsibility can drive us nuts. It follows us all our lives.
Get an education, with good grades, work hard, raise a family, be an influence in the community. Responsibility can cause more heartache, stress, depression than many can handle, but it has been around a very long time—since the beginning of creation.
Another element of human suffering that seems to be inherent from the start is that of limits. Adam and Eve could not eat from that single tree in the middle of the garden—that tree of knowledge. There are limits to our existence, there are things we can’t do, you know all those thou shalt nots.
Then we aren’t old enough, were too old, we’re not strong enough, or smart enough. Top that off with we want so desperately to have God’s knowledge. What does my future hold? Will things ever get better? So yes, limits can lead us down the path to all kinds of frustration and despair, but limits also seem to part of God’s good creation.
Still another aspect of the garden that lead to untold forms of suffering is fairly clear—that of temptation. The good ole serpents tempts each of us every single day of our existence, causing us to turn from the ways of God and run toward the things that disrupt our lives. Temptations of money, sex, power, drugs, and on and on. So yes, we see ever so clearly that temptation seems to be part of the created order.
Yet another concept of human suffering that is found in Paradise that may be less obvious is Fear, most notably the Fear of Death. Eve has been told if she disobeys the commands of God and eats from the tree of knowledge she will die, and so in the story, we learn she exaggerates that command to include touching. Even if I touch it I’ll die. This fear of death leads many to countless forms of suffering, so much so, that as one can see in the story, we are even willing to exaggerate God’s Word.
Finally the last form of suffering found in the Garden of Eden that I will cover this morning is that of consequences. Built into the scheme of things is the law of physics. For ever action there is a reaction. For our actions there are consequences—good and bad. And folks when it turns wrong we don’t like it! In some weird sort of way, we don’t feel its fair that we should have to suffer so much for our mistakes. But here is, right in the very beginning of the Bible.
So you see, maybe I’m not nuts—even though my kids still that. Maybe someday for all the youth here today I’m do my comic routine on Creation—then you too will probably agree with my kids.
But seriously, not all of what we experience as suffering is totally absurd, a mistake, an oversight, or even a consequence of sin. There is definitely something about some of the suffering we pass through that belongs to very foundation of being human. Human beings created in the Image of God.
First, imagine a life without responsibilities. Maybe it sounds OK at first, but what in the world would you do all day? Responsibilities give us purpose, meaning, something beyond eating and drinking. You are not simply a creature of survival, but a complex individual, one made in the image of God with a job to do.
Second, imagine a life with no limits. You could do anything anytime. Your knowledge would be such that you would finish high school at the age of six, college by 10, and president of Microsoft at 12. Nothing would be inaccessible, nothing forbidden, nothing out of reach, no unfulfilled dreams or wishes. Once again, sound good? But then how in world could you experience wonder, surprise, gratitude, or a sense of accomplishment?
And what about a life with no temptation? What if you were simply programmed to be good, to the right thing, always, and for the right reasons? Wouldn’t you then be some type of robot? You would not need freedom. You would be nothing more that a puppet on a string with no choices or say in the matter. Is that really the kind of God one can fall in love with?
And we know what would happen if we lived in world where there were no consequences. We might think for us that would be ok, but the world would be total chaos.
And finally, maybe the most difficult forms of suffering built right into the fabric of creation, is the anxiety of death, and folks that cannot be eliminated. It belongs to existence itself and actually serves a valuable purpose to God’s good creation, namely the blossoming of life.
The most wondrous of all human capacities, the capacity to love is deeply qualified and affected by the reality of death. You know your loved ones will not always be around, and in God’s purposes you should take care of every opportunity to cherish and grow in the greatest gift of all—Love!
I told you we were going to polish this book off. If you have followed me thus far, what I am contending is that certain forms of what we call suffering belong to the created order, insofar as struggle is necessary. We must embrace the spiritual adventure of becoming truly human, moving through the many stage that lie between birth and death.
The five conditions that were in place in the garden of Eden—responsibility, limitations, temptation, consequences and death—in each instance what interested us the most was their potential for evoking experience that would otherwise remain unknown to us—accomplishment, joy, wonder, surprise, gratitude, freedom, meaning, and the capacity to Love!
However, and this is a BIG however, not all forms of what we call suffering are productive, good, or part of God’s creation. When these struggles cease to serve life they are simply wrong! When greed on Wall Street feeds the mouths of corporate executives who can make 17 million in 18 days for a failing company, while at the same time 30,000 children die each day because of hunger, that is suffering that should not be!
Cancer deaths of children and any young people who do not have the chance to become who they might become, because we have ignored the command to take care of creation by polluting the air and water, should not be! Senseless traffic deaths with drunk drivers, madness, suicide, drug addiction, child abuse, and relentless despair are not part of God’s created order and are simply wrong and should not be!
The sad part is so much of this senseless suffering stems from and grows out of our inability or unwillingness to accept that being part of God’s good creation means there will be struggle. Instead of embracing our call as humans to struggle and suffer for the good of creation, we will do about anything to avoid the difficult side of living, thus creating a form of suffering far greater, spreading out of control.
However, our Scripture bears witness to God who weeps over these tragedies on earth. Suffering that detracts us from living abundantly must not and will not have the last word according the Christian tradition. There is hope! That hope lies in what the Word of God can do to you and for you.
Part of your vocation, created in the Image of God is to make that distinction between the struggle which is necessary to becoming a better child of God, and the harmful suffering that takes away from life. To embrace certain struggles to becoming, and fight against the suffering that takes away. You have been called to the awesome responsibility of directing from within, the course that this creation will take.
Wow! You want to talk about responsibility and pressure! So how in the world does one accomplish this? How does one accomplish this? Jesus Christ needs to bear upon the situation! Any situation! All situations! His life and teachings, his death offering forgiveness, and his resurrection of hope must filter into the fabric of our being.
Folks with such a task and so much on the line—there are no other options. The problems and suffering we face will not be eliminated with better education, jobs, more money, or even the daggone government. Our only hope comes from the Word of God become flesh—Jesus Christ!
Think for a moment how the Word become Flesh—how Jesus came into the world—as a little bitty baby. Not through power and might yanking our freedom out from under us, but through participation and self-empting, revealing to us our true nature and vocation as human beings, or Christ-Like people.
Jesus—the Son of the Creator—the Word made Flesh had to deal with the same crap of living we all encounter. Sure he was the Christ, but he accomplished his task through God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. Jesus not only had the same responsibilities we go through, but he had the weight of the world upon his shoulders.
He was tempted at every corner, with the horrible limit of not making everyone believe.
He struggled with the anxiety of death by sweating drops of blood in garden and suffered more than we can imagine. He was beaten, spat upon, nails driven into his hands and feet, for your sake.
So yes, Jesus can relate to our struggles. To be human is to suffer, and God knows that. But the cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” can now be answered with the promise of God to never forsake you or leave you. The consequence of his life was the empty tomb—and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit—giving you and I the strength and power to continue his ministry, and forgiveness when we fail.
Sounds like a lot of work. It is! But who is going to do it? Seriously, who is going to do it? Scott and Janel are trying. They suffered the indescribable loss of daughter, yet through their suffering they have brought others to hear God’s life changing Word. We must embrace this life that God has so graciously been given to us. Yes, embrace certain aspects of struggle in order to become more Christ like, and begin to strive toward eliminating the forms of suffering that take away from life.
God have given all of us a vocation to attend to, and the tools—Be Fruitful! Through the Word of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and continuing presence of Jesus Christ, through community, we can work together toward abundant life for all, and in the end as the book of Revelation promises, God himself will be with you, 4he will wipe every tear from your eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, and the angel will show you the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb and on either side of the river is the tree of life.
Now that’s what I call a Word of Hope and Promise.
It’s your responsibility to keep the dust off it. Amen.
