5/2/24
Christians are sometimes accused of looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Everything is supposed to be joyful, positive, upbeat. Nothing ever goes wrong. Much of our current culture in the Western world says that Christians should deny any concerns - sickness, sadness, sorrow, suffering. It's all supposed to go away. After all, Christ has risen from the dead, redeemed us from the curse of sin and death, and presented us as his victorious people with an eternal hope.
It's true that our Christian theology recognizes an eternal hope. In one sense, the Christian is invulnerable. Nothing but our departure from the faith can present us with any threat in eternity. But what about threats today and tomorrow? We normally think of our physical death as the time when we actually realize our eternal inheritance as partakers of Christ's resurrection. But we don't give ourselves over to death immediately. We have a lot to live for in this world.
Many theologians have referred to our earthly life in terms of Psalm 84:6, which, in a traditional Latin version, speaks of the world as a "vallis lacrimarum." That means a valley of tears. Lots of people fall into archaic English usage by speaking of the "vale of tears." And, the more you think about it, the more you realize that our life in this world is like walking around from one difficult time to another. Even healthy people suffer pain and hurt. Even people with good and loving families find themselves dealing with conflict and misunderstanding. The best jobs still have their share of mundane and tedious challenges. In every area of life, we confront what, frankly, turns out to be the fruit of sin. It may be our sin, it may be someone else's, but most of the time, everyone involved contributed to the problem.
In historic Christian practice, church services often begin with an admission that we are sinful. It's normal for Christians to be confronted with their sin, their selfishness, their doubts, and their self-contradictory words and deeds. Life doesn't actually look very rosy.
How do we respond when we come face to face with our failure? Do we decide that God must not care for us since we are suffering? Do we take our failure to receive just the "right" promotion at work, or our failure to marry the "perfect" spouse, or the loss of value in our retirement account to be evidence that we're being punished in some way? Not at all! Rather, we recognize that Jesus, God the Son, is familiar with suffering. He endured hardship, being brought up in a society that was not technologically advanced, by an apparently low-income mother and stepfather, and having to relocate with his family several times. He was mocked. Even when he was popular with the crowds of people, they normally wanted something temporary from him, rather than something eternal. He was finally betrayed to death, convicted on trumped-up charges, and killed in an excruciating and humiliating manner. He knows all about suffering.
What's he doing with me when I suffer? In fact, I rarely know. There are so very many things he could be doing, I don't like to speculate. He may be teaching me endurance. He may be teaching me to love and sympathize with my neighbor. He may be guiding me out of some situation which is proving harmful. He may be using my troubles to help someone else learn and grow. I really don't know.
What I do know, though, is that I can readily be convicted of sin. In the Lutheran tradition, we normally talk about sins of "commission" (things we do) and sins of "omission" (things we neglected to do). At the forefront of those sins are our failure of the two great commands of Scripture. We fail to love God with all our heart. We fail to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Penitence, or sorrow for sin, is precisely the right response to our world. Did something bad happen to you? You should wonder if you would possibly be capable of creating the same situation. You should wonder how many people you are to love and support through similar troubles. You should realize that your reaction of loving and trusting God with all your heart is falling short of God's perfection.
Penitence is nothing more than being realistic about our own fallen nature. In the end, it's confessing that we are just the kind of sinful people Jesus died for. And he gave his life so as to create a perfect eternity for us. He will bring us along in his resurrection. Do we fail? Absolutely. That's why, as Christians, we confess we need a savior. We're real sinners in need of a real savior from real sin - that of our doing, that of our neglecting to do something, and that which influences us due to other people's doing or not doing something. We are in a vale of tears. So are all those people we love and serve. For this reason, we take a good look at ourselves in our world, and as we turn to our Lord for mercy, we ask others to join us. The Christian life is full of penitence and restoration.