Half
way through chapter 8 of Romans, Paul turns to what he calls the sufferings
of this present time… a phrase that probably
rings a bell... although, people in
Syria, in Yemen or the Sudan, in many places, might smile at what we here call
suffering. But suffering is not solely a
matter of the intensity of the pain… suffering is also, for whatever reason,
having to be afraid, fear of having to move on, fear of income petering out,
fear of the future, of disease, of extreme weather… fear all the time of helplessness,
uncertainty and instability, and that our resources of nervous strength may not
be up to it. Fear of dementia is now a
major prevalence for many… and many are living in fear of Corona Virus and the
time ahead.
But
1st century Paul sees the hope of a better life coming… He is so
keen on this, I wonder if he seemed to the Roman Christians to belittle their
sufferings… I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed…[1] It will all be alright, one day soon. And we needn’t scoff… this is a piety, a naiveté that has sustained Afro-American people, and plenty
of others, Catholic and Protestant, from slavery until now… Swing low, sweet
chariot, comin’ for to carry me home… my home is over Jordan… Lovely,
wistful, longing songs about heaven... when
I get to heaven gonna put on ma shoes, gonna walk all over God’s heaven… Paul however means more than that – he sees
the whole of creation being made new. The
world is groaning in labour pains[2]
for the new world to be born, writes Paul, and our suffering is a sharing in
that labour. He writes about the
created world being in bondage to decay… and how it will obtain the freedom
of the glory of the children of God.
These grand themes have been taken up by various Christian writers in
our times, some of them very movingly.
God is making all things new. Creation
and history are moving towards their focal point, their Omega Point, of
redemption in Christ, God’s eternal loving purpose as Creator.
Well… it may be so… but that information is not a lot of use to a poor old codger I encountered in hospital ward… for whom the sufferings of this present time included no visitors allowed, not even his loved next-of-kin… his catheter’s playing up and he has lost all dignity, he knows he’s not getting better, and there is no way he can be comfortable… and I am wondering about Jesus saying: In the world you will have troubles and sorrow, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.[3] Be of good cheer…? I am back there where Jesus simply assumes we will bear pain and loss… we are drawn to him by love, he says we are to live his way, with him, in a world of both beauty and suffering, both love and pain. We are to leave self behind, he says, we are to relinquish any lingering notion that we control life and events, or that we should be in control, and the even more pernicious notion that we have some entitlement, privileged shielding from pain or adversity that other people don’t have. We are to love one another, said Jesus…
Perhaps Paul’s best wisdom
in this passage is where he says: hope
that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we
wait for it with patience… The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not
know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too
deep for words. And God, who searches
the heart, knows…[4] Well, that is the prayer we pray… too deep
for words, says Paul… It is Jesus’s prayer in us, here in our real world, through
adversity… his stream of love, flowing in us once we are still and silent and
receptive.
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