March 17, 2015

Gray Southern

I Corinthians 10:6-13

Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.  Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.”  We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.  We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.  And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.  These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.  So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.  No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

My aunt and my uncle lived out an interesting life-long theological debate.  Every time something bad happened he would say, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”  She would counter that audacious claim with the response, “But stronger is not better; I’d just as soon stay as I am.”

Lots of people quote the latter part of I Corinthians 10:13:  “You aren’t going to be tested beyond your strength.”  The most honest reply most of us can make to that promise is that while it may be true we won’t be crushed; it does often feel like we about to be overwhelmed. 

During the time my family and I were blessed to worship at Mt. Sylvan we heard lots of stories of folks being overwhelmed.  And we heard about overwhelming circumstances around us in and around northern Durham and in the various friendship circles we heard folks discussing.  Life often does seem as if it is collapsing. 

The witness of Jesus, however, is neither a glib assurance that we’re not going to be pushed beyond our strength nor a surrender to the pain around us.  Jesus offers us the life that goes through pain, at times endures suffering, and then receives an Easter joy.  That is the point of our reflection this Lent for many of us:  we do not always know the fullness of life as we wish it were and lots of us mourn for what isn’t that should be and what is that shouldn’t.   But, we have the gift of Jesus who showed us that life’s joy and pain can be surrendered to the love of God who makes us “more than a conqueror” when it comes to life’s sorrows.

My uncle was right in his partial repetition of the Apostle Paul’s reminder that we are not destroyed by life’s pain.  My aunt was right in her partial reply that life, however, often feels out of control and dangerously scary.  But Jesus, who knit together human pain and hope, shows us by his dying and rising that it is hope and life that will triumph.  Thanks be to God.