Some people
who like to thump their Bibles
haven’t read them.
Bible
thumpers think the Bible is a rulebook.
But it’s
actually a storybook and the lessons
are a lot more complicated than
“Do this. Don’t do that.”
The Bible is
an all too human story.
Take King
David.
He struggled
with all the complexity of family life
multiplied by having several wives
and children by each of them.
The
backstory of today’s lesson is this:
David’s son, Amnon, raped his half-sister, Tamar.
Tamar’s full brother Absalom was coldly
furious.
After biding
his time until he got his chance,
Absalom murdered
Amnon.
For this
murder, Absalom was banished for a while.
Eventually,
David relented and let Absalom come home.
But Absalom
never forgave his father for banishing him.
His
grievance fuelled his ambition.
Absalom
spent years telling political lies to undermine David
and to build a coalition of all the
disaffected people in Israel.
He was as
handsome and charming
as David had been in his youth;
so he was
successful in turning people to his side.
David did
nothing to stop his son because he loved him.
Eventually,
Absalom organized an army to depose his father.
When they
marched on Jerusalem,
David and the loyalist part of the army
fled.
But Absalom
wanted a complete victory,
so he had his army pursued David
across the Kidron Valley,
across the River Jordan,
all the way to the Forest of Ephraim,
before David finally stopped and took
his stand.
As David
sent his men into battle,
he didn’t give one of those battle speeches
the hero always gives before the decisive battle.
He did not
say “Win a might victory for God and country.”
David said,
“Deal gently with the young man Absalom.
Don’t hurt my son.”
But the army
did win a mighty victory.
When the
messenger came to tell David they had won
and the kingdom was saved,
David asked “Is Absalom safe?”
Hearing the
fatal news
old David buried his face in his hands
and said,
“O Absalom, my son, my son. Absalom!
Would that I had died instead of you.
O Absalom, my son, my son.”
The discord
and even violence in David’s family
did not end that day.
It went on
until his death and after his death.
To keep this
story in perspective,
we need to remember that this was
the Golden Age of Israel
–
and
right to the day of Jesus,
people were hoping for a messiah to restore the Kingdom,
to get things
back they were in David’s time.
So what’s
the moral of this story?
There isn’t
one.
No, David is
not being punished for his sin
with Bathsheba and Uriah.
That has
already been dealt with and forgiven.
Was he too
cruel in banishing Absalom
or too lenient in letting him get away
with the sedition?
Maybe, but
mostly Absalom just seems to have been
a proud rebellious young upstart who
wanted Daddy’s throne.
David wasn’t
out of favor with God.
God never
loved anybody as much as he loved David.
But all this
happened anyway.
The point of
this true story is say this is how it is.
This
happens.
When you see
your child going off the rails, it is hell.
When someone
you love too much hates you,
it is hell.
When you
lose a child, it is hell.
Does the
turmoil of David’s life still happen?
Just this
week I spoke with a priest who had been
at a court sentencing with her
parishioners.
One son had
injured their daughter.
Then another
son killed the first son.
He got life
in prison. It happens.
That moment
in the Ephraim Forest where David cries,
“O Absalom my son, would that I had
died
instead of you”
-- that is part of the human
experience.
The Bible
does not shrink from that.
It doesn’t
say suffering is an illusion.
It doesn’t
say suffering is optional
– if you just get your mind right
and think happy thoughts,
everything will go fine.
The Bible
doesn’t claim there is an infallible spiritual technology
for a family harmony, business
prosperity,
and good digestion.
The Bible
tells the truth.
Life is
beautiful and wonderful and glorious
but it also hurts.
The Bible
says a lot of different things about human pain.
One writer
says such and such about one kind of suffering.
Another
writer says something else about another kind of suffering.
But the
bottom line is the Bible doesn’t explain suffering.
It
acknowledges that suffering is real
and it answers suffering with hope.
Paul says to
the Thessalonians,
“We do not suffer as those who have no
hope.”
1st
Peter assures us that our personal heartaches
share in the suffering of Christ,
but we shall also share in the
resurrection joy of Christ.
The Bible’s
answer to suffering isn’t an explanation
or a prescription on how to avoid it.
The Bible’s
answer is the love of God
which is powerful enough to heal our
hearts
and redeem our lives from any
of the pits
into which we fall.
Sometimes
that redemption happens here in this life
at unforeseen times and in unforeseen
ways.
Grace almost
always comes as a surprise out of left field.
But our
ultimate hope does not lie in this life.
Our ultimate
hope is in eternity.
The Bible
answers suffering in the Book of Revelation, Ch. 21:
“He will wipe away ever tear from their
eyes,
and death will be no more,
neither shall there be mourning nor crying
nor pain anymore,
for the old order of things has passed
away.”
The Bible
promises us a glory and a joy
in union with God that is great enough
to swallow up even the
memories of old pains.
It promises
us a destiny that makes our worst ordeals worth it.
St. Paul was
no stranger to hardship himself.
He knew as
much about the human predicament as anybody.
Paul wrote
to the Romans,
“The sufferings of the present time are
not worth comparing
to the glory that is to be
revealed.”
That’s what
we mean by faith.
With faith
we don’t suffer any less,
but our suffering is wrapped in hope,
and never despair.
