“Blood, Sweat & Tears”
Sermon Presented May 30,
2010
Trinity Sunday
Romans 5:1-5
In 1967, the rock jazz band Blood, Sweat and Tears made its début on the American music scene with such hits as “Spinning Wheel” and “You Make Me So Very Happy”. I tried to discover what prompted the name of the group, but could not. When I read our text last week, the name of that group came to mind. All three elements mentioned in the title seem to be negative at first glance, but on further examination, they can also be positive. In fact, they are necessary, even life-giving.
Paul, in his letter to the Christians in Rome, wrote about suffering – and yet he addressed it as a positive attribute. This letter is addressed to Gentile and Jewish Christians during a time of uneasy co-existence between the two groups. Jews had been expelled from Rome under the Emperor Claudius in 54, but were allowed to return when Nero came to power. Because Rome was positioned against the Jews, people believed that God must also be against the Jews and in favor of the Gentiles. According to their way of thinking, good things happen to those who please God and bad things happen to those God disfavors. (New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. X, p. 406)
However, Paul writes that God’s power for salvation came first to the Jews, and then to the Greeks. Even though Paul was considered an apostle to the Gentiles, he was loyal to his own people – the Jews. (ibid p. 407) The first four chapters of Romans deal with justification to God through faith. Chapter five deals with what comes next – after justification. Our text begins this new section: Romans 5:1-5.
Today is Trinity Sunday, so my guess is that this text was chosen because all three persons of the Trinity – God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit – are mentioned in it. It’s a text that I have never before used for a sermon – and when I began my preparation, I could understand why I avoided it all these years. It’s a text that deals with suffering as a positive.
Last Monday, I was in the women’s restroom downstairs, and noticed a photo I had taken as I returned home from vacation about 15 years ago. I took the picture in Home City, KS – about six miles east of Marysville. It is the photo of a storm approaching from the west. Multiple flashes of lightning were streaking the sky and dark clouds were growing at an ominous rate. The photo doesn’t show the lightning – I couldn’t capture it – but it does show darkness streaked across the top of the photo.
By the time I reached Marysville, it was dark as night and pouring rain. Tornado sirens were blaring. My garage was detached from the parsonage, so I left my things in the car and ran for the basement, where I waited out the storm. In about an hour, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. Because I lived in Missouri and Kansas most of my life, I am familiar with and respect tornadoes. Storms cause untold suffering – suffering that is unavoidable.
Paul isn’t writing about suffering caused by natural disasters, or even suffering that is the result of health crises, problems with our children or grandchildren, financial crises, death of a loved one, or relationship problems. He’s referring to suffering that comes because of their faith in Jesus. He wants the sufferers to understand that good can come from their suffering, and that suffering is just a part of life. Paul suffered beatings and imprisonment because of his faith.
Few of us have suffered because of our faith in Jesus. But I believe this text has a message for all who suffer, even though our suffering is in a different context. I believe that the same progression of strengthening takes place in us spiritually and emotionally when we allow God to bring us through our suffering – no matter what the cause – to victory. In order to be victorious, it’s important that we not suffer in isolation. We gain hope through the support of others. When we share our suffering, God becomes present through the love of those supporting us. Shared pain helps to make our broken places stronger and our joys sweeter. (Michael Lindvall, Christian Century, June 1, 2004, p. 18) Paul doesn’t say to keep a stiff upper lip or rely on our own resources. He says that our suffering will produce endurance – then character – and then hope. Suffering can be a path to victory.
When Paul speaks of “boasting in our suffering” he doesn’t mean that we assume the status of a martyr and talk about how much we are suffering to anyone who will listen. We need to share our suffering with trusted individuals who can give us support. When we come through trials, then we can offer hope to others. Cancer survivors help those diagnosed with cancer. Recovering addicts help those who struggle with addictions. Shared suffering is a means to receive help and to give help. That’s the proper way to boast in our sufferings.
But there’s something more here. In the worldview of the Jewish community, one would never boast of sufferings, because suffering was believed to be a sign of God’s displeasure. In the story of Job, Job’s friends assumed he suffered because of his sins, and they accused him of displeasing God. Paul says that our suffering isn’t shameful but an opportunity to grow as a Christian and as a person. (Feasting on the Word Year C Vol. 3, Margaret P. Aymer, p. 41)
In our text, Paul doesn’t provide us with a general rule – something that is inevitable. He doesn’t say that we will ultimately heal and come back stronger than we were before being broken. That’s simply not true. Some Christians who suffer are broken for good and they don’t heal. Paul isn’t talking about simple-minded optimism here. (Feasting on the Word Year C Vol. 3, Michael Jinkins, p. 42)
What Paul does promise the Roman church is that their suffering doesn’t need to be wasted. Because Christians belong to God through Christ, and because God has poured love into our hearts, what we suffer can produce patient endurance. Hope in God won’t disappoint because God is more faithful that we can imagine. (ibid)
Verse 5 as translated in the New Revised Standard Version reads “hope doesn’t disappoint us.” Many commentators believe that a more accurate translation is “hope doesn’t disgrace or shame us.” The New Testament culture was governed by honor and shame, and public shame was particularly onerous. Paul is referring to the real possibility that the Roman church will not be publicly shamed because of its suffering. (Aymer, p. 39)
Paul not only reframes the social dishonor the church is experiencing, he also reframes the church’s response to their suffering. Paul isn’t so much intent on pressing ahead in adversity as simply staying put without dismay. Sometimes standing is the best we can do under the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Out of patience, grows “character”. Rather than being deterred or humiliated by its afflictions and oppressions, the Roman church is to stand and to boast in them. Its afflictions aren’t signs of God’s displeasure, but of the faithfulness of God’s people. Hope in God doesn’t shame, but brings us to patience and good character. (ibid, p. 43)
Peter Steinke wrote: “We waste suffering if we gloss over, deny, avoid or neglect its message…. If, however, we can learn from pain it is not wasted but a source of life and of health.” Paul’s letter to Rome, written near the end of his life and ministry, can be viewed as a summary of what he learned of faith, hope and love through his own suffering. Paul suffered much, and would suffer more before his death, but this formula for hope describes what he learned from his pain. He isn’t saying that suffering is to be pursued, or to be wished on anyone, but that when pain comes, and it will, denial and avoidance are a waste of time and energy. Life, health, and hope can come, even in the midst of suffering, as we learn to endure. (Feasting of the Word Year C Vol. 3, Richard L. Sheffield, p. 41)
Some people not only find hope, but give it in the midst of pain and suffering. One such person was Mother Teresa. A former president of India, Varahagiri Giri, said of her: “In our present-day troubled world, incessantly plagued by conflict and hatred, the life that is lived and the work that is carried out by people like Mother Teresa bring new hope for the future of mankind.” To live such a life and do such a work demands endurance and character learned by living with pain and suffering, our own or that of others. (ibid)
That kind of hope isn’t a result of wishful thinking or “being hopeful,” or the degree of our suffering. Hope happens because – as Paul wrote further on in this letter: “we know that all things work together for good for those who love God” (8:28), even suffering and pain. Hope isn’t something we work out, but something we take in. And hope doesn’t disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Our faith and God’s love, freely given, are the substance of hope. (ibid p. 43)
Blood, sweat and tears are part of life and elements of suffering. But they are also life-giving, and Paul says that God will not only sustain us in our suffering, but will help us to grow so that we are strengthened to help others in their suffering. This is a great insight! So when you suffer, keep your minds and hearts open to what God has for you. That insight may change your life!
05/31/2010
