HELLO, WEAKNESS, SHAME AND SORROW | KAIROS GLOBAL | MARCH 2021

Author: Arun George Joseph

Intro: Arun George speaks of the Christian’s response to suffering, in the light of the hardships Joseph and Mary had to face.

Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light (Micah 7:8)

Paul said that he would boast of just one thing: the Cross of Christ. Christian life is not a bed of roses, nor a comfort ride in a comfy car on a well-paved road. My God, who supplies all my needs from his riches in glory loves me, he is always with me. He will never leave or forsake me. He allows me sufferings, dark days, valleys of death, unchangeable and ever irritating habits and situations. But through it all, he is with us. He is our Father. He knows my past, present and purpose. Had Jesus been born in a palace, would we love him so much? If he had a big macho tough guy image of battering to pulp the soldiers in Calvary, would the world ever know true love? If Jesus was not born to an unwed teenage girl, betrothed to a poor carpenter, would we have adored him?

In this year of St. Joseph, let’s think of Joseph first. From many private revelations, it is known that his life was filled with hardship. From the Holy Bible we see him going through unimaginably painful situations. Would any man be able to accept that his fiancée was pregnant? When Mary explained Gabriel’s visit, would a normal human being believe it? Though the angel strengthened him in dreams, St. Joseph still had to make the hasty, long and arduous journey to Egypt – a foreign land, to live in utter poverty there. Think of travelling with a pregnant lady through hills and valleys, days and nights. For sure the roads and inns were not filled with good Samaritans, rather we find no one. And then when Jesus, as a young boy, was lost for three days – what would have been the anguish of Joseph – he who was chosen to take care of the Saviour! And again, he may have come across hard times when Jesus led a bold and brave life speaking and living for truth. Remember all this happened to the man and woman who had visions of angels with great promise from the Lord.

We all look for the best doctor and hospital when a baby is to be born in our family. Now revisit the nativity scene. It was not as beautiful as we see in Christmas cards and crib sets. The sweaty smells of the animals, their filth and dirt, all marked the place where the Saviour of the world was born. No midwife, no NICU, even the season was so adverse – one easy for kids to fall ill. In Mark Chapter 3: 20-21, we see that even those of Jesus’s family perceived him mad. What would his parents have felt then? What would their suffering have been to hear Simon prophecy …?

Sufferings, pains, sorrows are inevitable for me and you. The story may vary, the story may be explicit, sometimes unknown to the world. Whatever it be Jesus is always with us. He may be silent, but he is still there. He has a plan for our lives. We are engraved in his palm. I am a vulnerable child of God. Definitely I have fallen, will fall again. But I have a loving dad and mom. I will look to them, and rise again.

There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future. Tensions, allegations, doubts, anger, lust were seen in the lives of them all, when we read through their stories and biographies. Not one of them was left untouched by the stone of dark days. Yes, my God allows dark days in my life to prove how great his love is.

Let us be happy and proud to be treasures in clay pots. We may be broken, but the treasure of his love is always within us. We will break again. Yet, God loves, trusts us and puts this treasure back in us.

Look anywhere, any book in the Bible, has stories of God allowing sufferings, but these were all part of his great plan. His love for us is beyond our imagination. I may grapple, stumble or fall again. But happily I will thank God for my sufferings. Like a little kid going back to his dad or mom even after getting scolded or punished, or falling down while running, let’s go back to the open hands of our loving God and hug him close.

So, who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

Mary’s Magnificat was sung in spite of that Jewish rule hanging heavily in the air – that of being stoned to death as an unwed mother. With her, our mother, the Perpetual Help of Christians who leads us by example, let us pray unceasingly, give thanks and rejoice for our pains and sufferings, submitting them to the greater glory of God.

My child, if you are going to serve the Lord, be prepared for times when you will be put to the test. Be sincere and determined. Keep calm when trouble comes. Stay with the Lord; never abandon him, and you will be prosperous at the end of your days. Accept whatever happens to you. Even if you suffer humiliation, be patient. Gold is tested by fire, and human character is tested in the furnace of humiliation. Trust the Lord, and he will help you (Sirach 2: 1-6).

Arun George is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Marian College Kuttikkanam, Kerala, India.