Pentecost 8A 2023

Todd Cook

Sermon • Submitted 9 months ago • Presented 9 months ago

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8th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

We have another one of those words today that I think we should take a close look at, and that word is “suffer”. Today’s readings from Romans puts suffering in a different light than I think we normally consider it, and I think it’s worth taking a close look at this word. Mostly, I think the way Paul used it in first century Judea is far different from the way we use it today. And I think the reason for that is because of our need for excitement. This need that we have drives us to use literary tools like emphasis…embellishment…exaggeration. It makes formerly powerful words bland and useless. If you don’t believe me, just consider how overused the word “awesome” is these days...

In the height of his career, Bill Cosby did a bit about the book of Genesis on his album “Those of you with or without children, you’ll understand,” and listen to this short segment of it: “God made a tree and He saw that it was good, and it was good. The quality of God’s work: good. And God was satisfied: good. Just good. Man invents, God creates. Man invented an automobile, called it ‘fantastic’. God did a tree; He said ‘good’. Man did a refrigerator and said ‘amazing’. God did a rabbit and said ‘good’. The wheels fell off the car, and the refrigerator broke down. Tree’s still up, and the rabbit’s still running.” [Bill Cosby, Those of you with or without children, you’ll understand, Track: Genesis. 1986]

I can’t speak to Mr. Cosby’s exegetical skills or training, but I think what he says here makes the point quite clearly. “Good” was good enough for God, but we humans needed something more interesting or captivating. So when we make something, it’s “fantastic” or “amazing”. Is it? Really?

Now let’s take the word “suffering”. This word might even be more abused than the word “awesome”. The first thing that came to my mind was how the pharmaceutical companies use this word for every single new drug they want to peddle upon us. “Are you suffering from simple chronic halitosis?” Are you “suffering” from bad breath? What do these companies think this word means?

Merriam-Webster defines to “suffer” as:

to endure death, pain, or distress

to sustain loss or damage

to be subject to disability or handicap

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think bad breath qualifies for any of these.

The Biblical definition of suffering is actually pretty close to this. Paul often writes about his own sufferings…and we understand this to refer to the beatings he was subjected to, but also to some “thorn in [his] flesh” that scholars think was some kind of medical ailment. But we cannot forget that when Paul mentions suffering, it’s usually linked to the suffering and death of Christ for our redemption. Suffering and death for Christ are closely linked. Christ did not suffer without death. And He did not die without suffering. Remember the first definition of suffer: to endure death, pain, or distress. So yeah, Christ suffered. And He did so for us. “For us and for our salvation” as we say in the Creed.

We don’t need to compare our suffering to Christ’s suffering. First of all, we’d be put to shame by that contrast every time, and Paul isn’t asking us to make that comparison. And I’m not suggesting that anyone who *is* suffering some physical or emotional hardship, injury, or illness should just “suck it up, cuz it ain’t that bad.” That is NOT the message here. Not at all. What Paul is saying is that all of creation is suffering... because of sin… so don’t think you’re suffering alone. The whole creation is suffering, and we’re suffering right along with it.

And there are different reasons for suffering: “From our suffering together with Christ, from the cross, the suffering we endure for Christ’s sake, Paul turns to our suffering in general, much of which is not for Christ’s sake, some of which is due only to our own sins and our faults which necessitate chastisement (Heb. 12:4–11), some of which is due to evil men, and some of which is [simply because we exist on earth]. The only kind of suffering in which we glory (5:3) and can glory is that [which is] endured for Christ’s sake. [...Since Paul] writes “the sufferings of this present period,” [that means he is describing all of {the sufferings}], of whatever kind they may be. We need comfort and assurance not only when we suffer for Christ but also and often much more when we endure other suffering.” [Lenski, 529–530.]

But that suffering - as bad as it is, and there is some real, devastating suffering going on in the world - as bad as it is, something so good is coming that it can’t even be compared. It’s not even close. We’re about have this goodness revealed so that we’ll know just how good it is. What is “it”? Glory is the word used here: “it denotes ‘divine and heavenly radiance,’ the ‘loftiness and majesty’ of God, and even the ‘being of God’ and His world.” [Kittel, “Δόξα...”, 237.] THAT is the comparison we are asked to make: suffering against glory.

Our Epistle reading this morning says that this divine and heavenly radiance is “to be revealed to us”. But here’s the fun part: other translations say “to be revealed in us”. The Greek word there can mean either “in” or “to” in this sentence. How much of an impact does that translation make to its meaning?

Look at the next verse (and I’m going to use an older translation): “For the expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” Here’s Luther’s description of this verse: “For the expectation, because it is in captivity and slavery to the unworthy, of the creation, that is, the structure, the fabric, which makes up the whole world, waits for, longs for, the revealing, in the resurrection and glorification, of the sons of God, and so it is.” [Luther’s Works, Vol. 25, 72.]

The whole world is waiting for the resurrection and glorification of the sons of God. That’s what happens on Judgment Day. That’s when we will be resurrected and glorified. “We” means those of us who are baptized and believe that Jesus of Nazareth *is* the Son of God, and that He suffered, died, and was raised from the dead for our redemption and salvation. If you don’t believe that, well, see our Gospel reading for today.

So back to suffering. Our suffering is described as “of this present time” - or of this brief and limited period - it will not last. The later verses of this passage tell us that God subjected creation to futility, meaning that He allowed it to exist in a way that it did not serve it’s intended purpose. It became futile. But don’t stop there - God did this “in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” We know that “the glory of the children of God” refers to our resurrection and glorification, which is when - as John tells us in Revelation - there will be no more suffering. So when we are resurrected and glorified, all of creation will no longer be futile. The whole creation then will finally serve its intended purpose. And all of creation will no longer be suffering.

We haven’t seen any of this. But we hope for it. We have hope for one reason only: the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We don’t have hope because Jesus died. We have hope because He didn’t stay dead. We have hope because He was resurrected. Not resuscitated…resurrected. And He was also glorified. This glorified body is Jesus’ giving us a sneak preview of what’s in store for us. A glorified body - the glory that will be revealed in each of us… the “good” thing that all of creation is waiting for. The “good” thing that is so vastly superior to anything we might be suffering.

Again, I’m not discounting the suffering that anyone is going through. But as Paul is directing us, let’s not let that suffering define who we are. Don’t let suffering be the focus of your whole attention. Paul is giving us a reminder that something better *is* coming, and it’s filled with hope. How much better? “Place all the sufferings into one pan of the scale and the coming glory into the other pan; the pan with the [sufferings] flies into the air as if it were holding only a few feathers. When sufferings and glory are held against each other, the sufferings amount to nothing, no matter how many and how severe they are.” [Lenski, 530.] That is a rough estimate of how much better this glory is by comparison. And that glory is eternal.

Brothers and sisters, God never promised that none of us would suffer. He *did* promise us that He would hear our prayers when we do suffer. He promised us that He would never leave us along in our suffering. (Next week, we’ll hear that He can and does even use our suffering for good…) And He promised that our suffering would not be eternal - it will come to an end one day. And He made the ultimate promise in sending His Only Son to suffer for us - a suffering far worse than any of us will ever experience. The suffering of the Son gives our God true compassion for us. He has experienced bodily suffering, and He did so willingly, out of His great love for us. He knows that we suffer and He hears our prayers. Let us all remember that and use it to keep perspective in our suffering.