But God has combined the members of the body and has
given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no
division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each
other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored,
every part rejoices with it. - 1 Corinthians 12:24–26
Yesterday I woke up to the news that a several churches,
while celebrating Palm Sunday, had been attacked in Egypt, as of this writing
at least 49 people had died… Lord, in
your mercy….
A member of the congregation I serve had a close family member,
only days after hearing a dire diagnosis, die yesterday afternoon... Lord, in your mercy….
And then I learn of a family who is in the process of
losing much of what they have. I don’t know what all they are going through,
but I can imagine…. Lord, in your mercy….
So yesterday evening, even after a long but fruitful day of ministry,
I felt hollow. Because on a human
level, I can offer very little help in these situations that came to my
attention. Theologically, I can sum it all up to the fallen nature of humanity.
That’s not a lot of solace, but it’s a start. But that fact doesn’t erase the hurt.
Hurt
I think l of some words, written by Trent Reznor but
stunningly sung by Johnny Cash not long before he died in 2003,
“I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel
I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real….”
And as I consider the writings of Paul about the Body of
Christ (the church), I focus on these words… “If one part suffers, every part
suffers with it….”
Hurt is appropriate. Suffering is real, and hearts should
break. Hurt is part of being His church. It’s part of being alive. When one of
us hurts, the whole church should hurt with it. Often it does. It is what we are supposed to do; it’s in the
job description.
And so it is Holy week, and…things are about to hurt even
more. And we will commemorate once again the death of Jesus. Jesus knew all about hurt, and in that hurt he is going to be brutally nailed to several
pieces of wood. Hurt. And left to die.
His death on the cross did many things, certainly the
most important being that with those nails our sin gets left tacked to those
wood beams with him. But I can’t help
but think that he also carried our hurt, our anguish, our questions, our anger...
to the cross with him.
He knows how we feel. He knows how we hurt. And he loves
and graces us anyway.
While that doesn’t necessarily provide all the
solace we may need in times like this. It does point directly to what we need
to be able to see through the indignities of the moment. That the day is going to dawn very soon where
that cross that Jesus was tacked to proves, once again, to be empty.
Hurt is real.
But the love, grace, truth and redemption of Jesus is also
real and it is strong enough to overcome the hurt. It may take time – this week may seem to be
dark, but Easter is coming.
Yes, in His mercy.
The cross will once again be empty…..
