God Is Crazy In Love
In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks his disciples, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray?’ (Matthew 18:12) Well, the simple answer is “No.” No shepherd, owner, or hireling would abandon most of his animals in the hills and go after the recalcitrant one. It doesn’t make economic sense to leave the ninety-nine sheep to rescue just one. No one would take such a big risk, putting the ninety-nine in danger just to find the one that ran away. The only one who will do that is God.
But why would God care deeply about any single soul? Centuries ago, even the Psalmist asked this profound question: “O Lord, our Lord…what is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:5). The answer is simple—it is rooted in God's very nature. God is, entirely and completely, love. As St. Catherine of Siena said, God is “pazzo d’amore” (crazy in love). God loves you personally, as if you were the only one in the world. He is madly in love with you. Now, I know the danger of stating that God is “crazy in love,” and that God loves you individually as if you were the only one in this world. Some of you might be asking yourself, “If God loves me that much, why am I in this situation?” “Why am I suffering?” “Why am I sick?” “Why am I going through a lot and a lot going through me?” Those concerns the issue of human suffering. It is about that ancient question, “Why do the innocent suffer?” I tell you, the great question of our day and in the past is, how do you reconcile the existence of a loving God with the terrible suffering that we see in the world, especially the suffering of the innocent? No Old Testament book wrestles with that problem better than the book of Job.
Job is presented as an entirely righteous man, a good man, an upright man who walks with God. And he enjoys the blessings of his moral excellence. He has a functional family; he is blessed with wealth and has an admirable position in society. But in one terrible swoop, Job loses everything. He loses his family, his loved ones. He loses all of his possessions and his health. In one fell sweep, everything he had and had enjoyed was stripped away. At the beginning of his woe, Job does not curse God. He remains resolute and determined, and faithful. But as his suffering persists and intensifies, he falls, understandably, into depression. As he drowns in his sorrow, three of his friends come to visit him. For seven days of their visit, they sit in silence. When someone is in great pain, words may not be the most suitable remedy. After sitting in silence for seven days, they started to speak. Unfortunately, what they said is something they shouldn’t have said. In summary, what they said to Job is like this: Job, you must have done something bad to bring all this evil upon yourself. I know you look like you’re righteous, but you must have done something wrong because God is punishing you.
After hearing his friends accuse him of terrible deeds, he dismisses them. In one of the most dramatic moments in the entire Bible, he calls God to answer. In his anguish, Job curses the day he was born: “Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, ‘The child is a boy!’ May that day be darkness: may God above not care for it, may light not shine upon it! May darkness and gloom claim it, and clouds settle upon it….” (Job 3:5). Job has had enough and begins to speak up, not to his friends but to God. He speaks for anyone who has endured great suffering, especially those who know they have not done anything terrible to deserve it, yet they suffer anyway. Job questions and challenges God: Why would you allow this? Why would you preside over my misfortune and pain? Did God respond to Job’s many questions? Yes! But not directly. In his speech, God asked Job a series of questions: “Who is this who darkens counsel with words of ignorance? Gird up your loins now, like a man; I will question you, and you tell me the answers! Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its size? Surely you know? Who stretched out the measuring line for it?”
What is God doing and saying? God is taking Job on a tour of the cosmos, essentially asking him, “Where were you when I created all these things?… Have you entered into the springs of the sea or walked into the recesses of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you… Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Have you entered the storehouse of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail? Do you give the horses their strength? Do you clothe its neck with a mane? Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars? Is it at your command that an eagle mounts up and makes its nest on high?” Basically, God is telling Job, “Look, you don’t know. You have no idea.” He is also letting Job know that the Almighty God knows. He is not unaware of what is going on. He is not oblivious to what is happening to us. Growing up, one of the things my mother taught my siblings and me as we wondered and questioned the meaning of the death of my father was, “God knows.”
So, what should we do now? How should we respond to human suffering? Some people fall into despair. They become frustrated, angry, bitter, resentful, and depressed. Their conclusion is either that God does not exist or that he exists but does not care. In my pastoral work, I’ve realized that this kind of thinking doesn’t help anyone. Falling into hopelessness only adds to the suffering. Becoming hopeless, bitter, and depressed makes the pain worse. But there is a better way: surrender to God’s will and plan. If I sit quietly and think about why I suffer from now until the end of my life, I might not find a satisfying answer. Even if I spend my entire life reading books from different philosophical, religious, spiritual, and theological traditions around the world, I might still not understand why innocent people suffer. But I can do something simple: surrender to God. From the Catholic Church’s perspective, human suffering can have a purpose. I can view my suffering as my share in the suffering of Christ. But when I look around, I see toddlers with brain tumors. Years ago, I went to St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, to anoint a young girl who had breast cancer. She had it even before she developed breasts. Why did her suffering come so early? Why did her participation in Christ’s suffering come so early in her life? I don’t know. Again, no explanation can fully answer why innocent people suffer. But we can surrender to God and say, “Lord, I don’t understand where you are leading me. I don’t know why I am suffering so much. But I trust you. Do with me whatever you want.” Hopefully, this surrender will be enough to bring us into the Kingdom of God.
God bless you!
Fr. Marcel
No comments:
Post a Comment