Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
We all have those moments when we expect one thing and end up with another. It can happen with work, school, politics and many other situations: we think we have a promise of one thing, but then the truth comes out, we get something entirely different. Sometimes it is the fault of the other person or organization: maybe they were lying from the beginning or maybe other circumstances changed that prompted them to change their mind. Whatever happened, they told us one thing, and we ended up with another. It could be something as simple as being told to come in to work on a Saturday when we thought we had the weekend off, or being asked to cancel vacation plans for work. Not as major as other broken promises in the history of the world, but still I don't think that anyone appreciates being asked to work when you originally planned not to.
Sometimes things go differently than expected because of a mistake on our part. Maybe we misunderstand the instructions, or we are confused and don't ask enough questions to clarify, or maybe we weren't pay close enough attention. We think we understand something and we are willing to go with it, but only later we realize we got something wrong or jumped to the wrong conclusion. A great example of this that I have noticed is that many Christians have come to believe that if they are good Christians, if they work hard enough at following the Commandments, if they pray hard enough, if they love Jesus enough, then God will protect them and nothing bad will happen to them. Then, when of course something bad does happen to them in their life, they jump to the conclusion, “God must be mad at me. I must have done something bad. I must not have done enough good things. God is punishing me.” They may even go as far as thinking there is no good and gracious God.
That lie that God will never let anything bad happen to you probably comes from misunderstanding Scripture passages like we hear in the first reading today. God says through the prophet Malachi, “But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” This comes after saying that bad things will happen to all evildoers. In another place in the Gospels, Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and my burden light”. People seem to take these passages to mean that God will protect those who fear His name and prevent bad things from ever happening. In reality, we are being told that God will be with us and help us, even during the difficult times. Bad things will still happen to good people, but God will be there in our lives. That is the truth.
There is a popular phrase that people like to use. I've noticed that some people hate it while others really like it. The phrase is, God never gives you more than you can handle. I've noticed that whether you like it or dislike it seems to be based on how you interpret that phrase. In other words, what does it mean to say that God will never give you more than you can handle? If it means that God will never allow bad things to happen in your life or that God will never test you, then you're probably not going to like this phrase. One does not have to live life in the real world for very long to see that life as a Christian is full of challenges and hardships. Even as faithful Christians we are still going to experience sickness, stress, and persecution. Christians will still be jobless and poor, and will still experience death on earth. When I hear people complain about that phrase and say they don't like it, they indicate that it is because they themselves or someone they love has experienced a hardship like those I just mentioned.
There is another way of interpreting this phrase, however, that I think can give us some consolation during hard and difficult times. We can say that God doesn't give us more than we can handle because He is always there with us, even in the midst of the most difficult times of our lives. Granted, it might not always feel like God is right there when we are going through the darkest times of our lives. But if we search our hearts later on, I believe we can all find how God the Father was still there, encouraging us to continue forward; Christ the Son was there to give us courage as we carried our crosses; the Holy Spirit was there giving us the words to say at the right time.
Our Gospel today speaks to this. Jesus gives some very scary warnings about coming violence and persecutions. He warns His disciples not to let these things terrify them or to let themselves worry. He warns about the persecutions that the Romans will make against the Christians in the first several centuries of Christianity. Christians are still persecuted today when we consider that we live in a culture that so often goes against what our faith teaches us. Christ describes how people will be arrested and taken before kings to answer for what they did. Later we hear that even family members will turn loved ones in to authorities for believing in Christ. All this, Jesus tells us, will lead to giving testimony. This is a good thing, because it means that the story of Jesus is being told to others. Many of the early martyrs gave testimonies that resulted in many conversions, including the very guards who were holding them prisoner. How will we get these words to give such powerful testimonies? Jesus tells us we don't have to worry about what we will say: He says, “For I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” The point is, God is going to be there with us and will give us the words we need.
God never promised that He would keep all bad things from happening to those who believe. He did, however, promise to be with us until the end. God does not make us take on hard times in our lives by ourselves. He is there. Accept the help. He will give us what we need. We may even help others to find their way as well.
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