NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

The Rev. J.D. McQueen, II - All Saints’ Episcopal Church, San Diego, CA

October 4th, 2015

The world is not the way God created it to be and so our lives are filled with moments that are less than ideal.

v Treated in ways that are contrary to the life of love God intends for us; some minor, some major

v In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus is presented with something major: divorce

v What makes this such a major source of pain and suffering is clear in Jesus’ response: when the man and woman are joined in Holy Matrimony, “the two shall become one flesh.” They are losing a part of their own self.

Having said that, I want to take a step back from marriage and divorce because there are a lot of other things that bring us pain and the way we receive them makes all the difference in how we come to know God. Even though Jesus is responding directly to a specific question, the way he does should offer some consolation to all of us, no matter what we’re suffering.

You see, there are two ways to approach suffering. We see this explicitly when Jesus predicts his passion, death, and resurrection. Peter begins to rebuke Jesus, who replies, “Get behind me Satan, you are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” So what’s the difference?

v Satan wants to remove any purpose or meaning from our pain.

o He wants to use it to turn us inward so that all we can think about is how much it hurts and how we can get it to stop.

o If he can get us to blame God for it so that we fear and resent him, all the better.

v On the other hand, God wants us to see that the only reason he allows suffering into the world and our lives is far the sake of knowing a far greater love.

o It can reveal something harmful in our life and motivate us to remove it, like a rock in our shoe.

o It can lead us to draw closer to God for comfort, in the same way that a chill in the house is what makes the heat turn on.

o It can be like the pain of exercise or rehabilitation, which strengthens and heals.

Whenever we suffer, no matter what it is, we have a choice in how to receive it:

v We can reject it and do everything in our power to numb the pain we have and avoid the pain we don’t.

v Or we can accept it and view it as an opportunity to love as a choice, rather than a response; to offer ourselves not because of what we get out of it, but only for the sake of love

Now we need to be sensitive here because the painful places in our lives are holy ground. But that’s also why I think we have to listen deeply to what Jesus is saying here, because I imagine a lot of people read this and think that it’s the Pharisees that are being reasonable.

v How is it merciful to point us back to God’s original intention for our lives, before sin had even entered creation, at a time when we’re intensely aware of how broken the world is?

v How is it encouraging and uplifting to tell us that we have to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, like in his sermon on the mount, when we’re struggling with our own imperfections and those of others?

v Is Jesus just setting us up for failure? No, of course not, and his seemingly impossible standard gives us two important things to keep in mind:

The first is that Jesus isn’t just referring back to a sinless creation, he’s also pointing us forward to its redemption.

v The Pharisees have done what they could do, but Jesus is pointing to a deeper healing of the heart; the power to know and live according God’s own Divine Love in a way we never could have otherwise.

v If we can choose to trust God out of love, there is nothing that cannot be healed and renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

v Through his cross and resurrection, Jesus proves that no suffering is a dead-end, not even the grave.

The second is more pastoral because, after all, pain is pain. And while seeking God’s greatest glory can make our suffering heroic, that doesn’t make it easy.

v That’s why when we’re hurting, tired, frustrated, or whatever, we have to keep in mind how much our heavenly Father delights in us, even when we struggle.

v God knows even better than we do how heroic it is to seek him and how much help we need.

v Just think of the joy it gives him when we trust him enough to try and live lives that demand more than we could do on our own?

v Imagine how the Father’s heart swells when we endure suffering and take on the suffering of others for no reason other than to love, and be just like him?

While it’s not always easy, the love and joy of the Father has for us is what we have to try and keep in mind in our most difficult times.

v Take a moment now and throughout this week to think about the things for which you’re most thankful and least thankful, and ask God for the grace to rejoice in both.

Let us pray.

Gracious Father, I praise you for all of the blessings and mercies you pour into our lives, and also for our struggles, failures and disappointments. I offer them all up to you with thanksgiving and ask that you make your love known to us in all of them. Give us the grace to open our hearts wide to receive them so that you can arrange them in our lives so that we might find their purpose in you. Finally, Lord, hold us when we hurt and lift us when we fall, so that we might find our way directly into your heart and give you the greatest possible glory.