Saturday, April 20, 2024

Labouring under an apprehension

Sermon for the third Sunday after Easter 

There are many great 
mysteries in life.

Some mysteries 
emerge from facts
lost to History
and exist as ghosts
of speculation.

Some mysteries 
lie in the fathomless 
depths of space
barely penetrated 
by the telescopes
and proves
sent out by astronomers.

And some mysteries 
exist within our own species.

One such mystery 
can be found troubling 
the minds of men
when they are confronted 
with something that they
can never truly know 
- the pain of childbirth.

[PAUSE]

The husband
who joins his wife
In the delivery room
is confronted
with a wall of 
impenetrable ignorance.

He works hard to support 
and understand the needs
of his wife as she struggles 
to bring the baby into the world
but he is at a loss because 
for all his care and attention 
he cannot supply anything
that she needs
based on his experience.

All words he says to comfort
and encourage his wife
cannot be based
on anything other than 
his own imagination 
of what she is going through 
and it usually falls short
of the pain that she is enduring.

All he can do
is faithfully and actively 
extend his love, respect 
and gratitude 
to his wife
and prepare himself 
for fatherhood.

A man cannot know
his wife's pain.

Can she know his?

Can anyone know
another's pain?

[PAUSE]

This is a mystery indeed!

We can only know
our own pain and suffering.

We can only know 
what it is like for us
to sprain an ankle,
cut a finger,
or even give birth.

No two labours
are the same 
because no two women
are the same 
and no two babies are the same.

This is the deep mystery 
of being human.

We cannot truly 
know the pain of others.

This means
all our Christian attempts
to love each other
fall at the first hurdle
because we do not know
what our neighbour 
wants or needs to be perfect.

This is why human love
fails to unite humanity.

This is why the rule
"do unto others 
as you would have them
do unto you"
cannot work.

Indeed, 
this is why the Church appears divided
because 
we are ignorant 
of how to love each other
properly.

But because we try so hard 
to love 
we end up doing damage
to the Church
to the world 
and to each other.

Our sin,
even our unintended sin,
causes pain
from the very moment 
Eve grasps that fruit.

From that moment 
we are blind to God
and we are blind 
to what true love is.

[PAUSE]

And so Love comes among us
to show us Who He is.

We are born, so He is born.
We struggle, so He struggles.
We weep, so He weeps.
We due, so He dies.

And in so doing 
He supplies what is lacking
and corrects what is done amiss,
so that the pain of living
has a purpose
even as bringing a baby into the world 
makes the pain tolerable.

A woman may remember 
the ordeal of labour
but the baby she holds 
means she needs not choose 
to remember the pain.

But then, 
not all labour goes to plan.

[PAUSE]

There are labours 
that go badly 
that have the worst possible outcomes.

There are countless women 
who after the pain of labour
hold in their arms
one whose life has ended
before it even saw the light of day.

And that pain 
frightens us
causes our hearts to break
and to call up to God,
"Why?"

"Why is my baby dead?"

And we might be tempted 
look at Our Lord's words
about sorrow being turned to joy
and to brand them glib
- even an insult -
ignorant of the mother crying out
over her dead baby,
ignorant of the husband,
dazed and confused as
to why he's not a father 
or even no longer a husband,
ignorant of every human being
who has cried our in despair
at the injustice of life.

Words cannot be enough.
But the explanation 
cannot take the pain away.
Answering the "Why?" 
will not return breath to the little body.

There has to be action.

So God dies
horribly,
terribly,
in agony,
surrounded by those who hate Him
who laugh and mock and jeer.

And then He comes back,
not to show off 
but to show that He is faithful,
that He sees our pain 
and the utter devastation
of the human heart 
and to remind us of His promise 
that the pain we feel now
is nothing,
nothing to the joy we feel
with Him in Heaven.

The Cross is not something 
with which we should 
compare our pain:
it is the vehicle 
of the promise we have
received.

It is not a question of
"well, God suffered
so your pain means nothing."
It is more,
"you're in pain
but God is with you
and will bring you through
even though 
you can only know your pain."

[PAUSE]

We look out
onto a world 
filled with so much pain
and suffering 
and we cannot truly know
what that pain and suffering are.

But we Christians hold fast
to the Cross
while bearing our own crosses,
venerating them 
as much as we venerate 
the Cross of Christ,
knowing that God
is never ignorant of our pain
but will bring to birth in us
Faith, Hope and Love 
and that these will last
much longer than any pain can.

No comments: