Malachi 3:13-4:2a, 5-6
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19
Have you ever been very lonely and sad?
When you feel that way, do you ever wonder where Jesus is?
Cuz for me, when I feel like that - well, some of the time, it just doesn't feel like he's around anywhere.
And sometimes I even get mad at him, because it doesn't seem like he's there.
Once when I was about Kori's age, I was very, very sad and lonely because my dog died.
do you remember when your kitty died awhile back? That's a very lonely and sad time isn't it?
Well - I was very sad and lonely, and I wouldn't talk to anyone and I was really mad at Jesus because I thought he wasn't around and I was all alone.
So my Uncle Dick came over to see me. Whenever I was really upset and wouldn't talk to anyone else, my Uncle Dick could always help me figure things out.
So he came over to talk with me - and I finally told him that I was mad at Jesus because I felt like Jesus had let me down and hadn't stayed around to help me out when my dog died.
Now my Uncle Dick is a very, very smart man - so he thought awhile before he said anything... and then he took a stone out of his pocket and handed it to me.
My uncle was always telling me things about Jesus with rocks and stones. He was funny that way.
So, anyway, he handed me this rock and asked me tell him how it felt in my hand.
Here - (Give stones to children).
What do they feel like to you?
Smooth? Hard? Slippery? Put the stone against your cheek - is it cold or warm? That's right it's cold.
And Uncle Dick told me that when it seems like Jesus isn't around to help me out, it's like a cold stone...but then he told me to hold the stone in my hand real tight and to think really hard about Jesus.
You all try that....hold it real tight and think about Jesus...and maybe even rub the stone a little bit or breathe on it like the Spirit. Now put it against your cheek again... Do you notice anything?
It isn't cold anymore is it? That's right. It's warm and smooth...
And Uncle Dick said that this stone was my Jesus stone - and when I was sad or mad or lonely and I felt like Jesus wasn't around to help me...
all I had to do was to hold onto my Jesus stone real tight and think real hard about Jesus and then I put the stone against my cheek, it would be warm and smooth.
- and it would help me know that Jesus is still right here with us - and when we are sad or lonely or mad that we can talk to him about it, and he will always listen and he will never go away...
So these are your Jesus stones - to help you remember that Jesus is always around to listen and care about you whenever you need him....
I hear the same questions over and over and over again in my office every day.
"Where was God?" "Why did God let it happen? I was a child all alone." "How could any God let a child be abused like that?"
I look into eyes that are overflowing with pain and confusion and grief and rage - and they demand an answer. They want to know WHY God did not protect them from the assaultive father, the molesting uncle, the tyrannical mother, the merciless teacher..
They want to know WHY God would allow such things to go on...
The child who was raped by her uncle.
The woman who was beaten as a child for such senseless things as spilling her milk;
the little boy who was tied up and left for hours in a dark, musty closet by his
. the man who as a child was made to stand in front of the class for hours every day with a sign around his neck that read, "I'm stupid," because he couldn't stop stuttering.
And then September 11th came...with all its horror.
Thousands of innocent men, women, and children were destroyed in senseless acts of violence. Firefighters and law enforcement personnel died heroic deaths in the flames of the World Trade Center.
And I heard those same questions... Where was God? Why did God let those innocent people simply die all alone like that? ...Why?... Why?... Why?
The voices of pain and anguish echo across the centuries back to the days of Jesus and before...back to the dawn of time. And they always ask the same question...WHY?
It's probably the hardest question that has ever been asked. And it's probably the most frequently asked question...at least it's the most frequently asked question in my office.
Jesus tells us that we're in for rough times...that there'll be wars and earthquakes and famines and plagues and dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. Well, it certainly would seem as though those times are here...one doesn't have to look far to see the evidence ... just pick up the evening newspaper and its all there...terrorism, wars, starvation, AIDS, a hole in the ozone layer...and on and on it goes
So why doesn't a loving God do something about all of this mess?
Didn't God become incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth to make things better? ...to redeem us from our sin and restore us to the loving arms of the Father? Well... yes...he did. We hear some version of that during the Eucharistic Prayer almost every Sunday:
Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us for yourself; and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all.
When I get lost in the seemingly endless muddle of grief and confusion after a whole day of listening to the anguish and horror that human beings are capable of inflicting on one another - I used to look up to the sky and shake my fist and say, "God, why aren't you doing something? What am I supposed to tell these people?" I would be just so angry with God...and I didn't mind telling God so either.
But one night after a particularly gruesome day filled with stories of horror and pain, I looked up to the sky and as I was about to yell at God again, an image came into my mind. It was the image of Jesus at Bethany when he learns that his friend Lazarus has died. You may recall that image which is accompanied by the shortest sentence in the Bible..."Jesus wept." Even though Jesus had to have known that he would raise Lazarus from the dead, he wept. He suffered and mourned just as we do. He was filled with pain and loss, grief and sorrow.
Well - that image stopped me in my tracks and made me start thinking.
And I continued to think over the next few weeks... Why didn't Jesus go and save Lazarus before he died? Why doesn't Jesus intercede and stop things like planes crashing into the World Trade Center? Why does he stand around predicting disaster and plagues and not do something about it?
Shortly after that experience I ran into a prayer in our Book of Common Prayer - a prayer for persons in trouble and bereavement. It says:
O merciful Father, who hast taught us in thy holy Word that thou dost not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men: Look with pity upon the sorrows of thy servant for whom our prayers are offered. Remember her, O Lord, in mercy, nourish her soul with patience, comfort her with a sense of thy goodness, lift up thy countenance upon her, and give her peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The words, "that thou dost not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men..." jumped off the page at me. So it's not God who makes these things happen.. And when painful and awful things do happen, Jesus weeps.
Yes, Jesus does tell us that rough times are ahead. But he also tells us that we won't be alone when they come. He won't be standing idly by when our hearts are breaking or we're inundated with despair. If you look real closely, he never promised that nothing bad would ever happen again. What he did promise is that he would never leave us.
The words of Paul Claudel capture it so well: "Jesus did not come to explain away suffering or remove it. He came to fill it with his presence."
Now, when I listen to those anguished questions every day in my office, I realize, with a prayer of thanksgiving, that God did do something...and that God is still doing something...God sends Jesus to fill our suffering with his presence... AMEN.