Reading: 1 Peter 2:20b-25. The small town in Oklahoma where George and Kathy raised a daughter and a son was not a stronghold of the Ro­man Catholic faith. But George and Kathy were faithfully raised as Roman Catholics, and they were determined to bring up their two children in the same manner. They brought them for baptism to the small parish where they belonged when each was a small infant.

First Communion at age seven and parochial school start­ing with the first grade. Taught by nuns. All the good stuff faithful Roman Catholic kids are supposed to learn from the time they could learn. They were shining examples of what Catholic parents expected of their children.

But that little Oklahoma town was also a breeding ground of cultic groups. Strange and distorted offshoots of Christianity grew like weeds in that small community; no one knew exact­ly why. It was a puzzle to the good Baptists and Church of Christ folks and to the small cadre of Roman Catholics in town.

Even more of a puzzle was why they were an attraction to some of the young people. The son and daughter of George and Kathy were under the spell of one particularly weird cult. They left their parents stunned and hurt one evening as they announced that they were renouncing not only their Roman Catholic upbringing, but also their family name. “We’re start­ing over with a new religion, and it’s going to save the world,” they told their parents – almost as though that statement had never been made before.

When it became obvious after a few weeks that George and Kathy couldn’t get to first base trying to persuade their two teenagers otherwise, the parents went to their priest. “Father Baker, we’re at our wits’ end. We don’t know where to turn next,” they said wearily. “Is there anything you can do?”

Father Baker paused before answering. “This has happened here before,” he said, “many times, to members of our par­ish as well as to those of some other churches in and around town. I’m as stumped as you are. But I’ve learned one thing; that is, you can’t argue them out of it. The more you try to argue with them, the more determined they are to stay with whatever group they’ve hooked up with.”

“Are you saying,” George questioned, “something like Jesus said – that is, the only way you can deal with this is by prayer? He said something like that, didn’t he?”

Father Baker agreed, “Yes, that’s close enough. And I think that’s right. We will pray about it, and I’m sure you are doing the same. Let’s not minimize the power and effect of prayer in this kind of situation.”

“We always thought we raised them in the right way in the Catholic faith,” Kathy said with some resignation in her voice.

“Believe me, you did,” Father Baker replied. “And I’ve been around long enough to believe that the seeds you and the church planted in them will bear fruit. I believe some day we’ll see them return – to you, and to the church. The faith we teach is, after all, a good place to return to.”

-- Merle G. Franky

Source: Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit

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LIFE IS UNFAIR – BUT GOD IS JUST

Children have three words we hear quite often, “It isn’t fair.” Perhaps, they cry out these words when they do not like something they are asked to do. But in a large sense, they are right. Life in this world isn’t fair. And we shouldn’t expect it to be.

Life isn’t fair even to the Son of God. Jesus came, he healed, he taught of God’s love. Yet, after the mockery of a trial, his enemies took delight in spitting on him and striking him with fists. All the horrible physical and verbal abuse Christ endured prior to the cross was unfair and unjustified. Yet, he did not strike back. Jesus found the strength to put up with such an abusive trial when he “handed himself over to the one who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23). Literally, Jesus kept handing himself and all his circumstances over to his Father. That’s because he was confident in the righteous judgment of God. That confidence allowed him to accept tremendous suffering calmly.

It’s something to remember when we feel life is unfair to us. Life in this world has never been fair. The Apostle Peter wrote, “If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps” (1 Peter 2:20-21).

One of the challenges of the Christian life is to react properly when being unjustly accused. Our natural inclination is to defend ourselves, which is appropriate at times. But there are other times when we must remain silent and trust the Lord to defend us. We can follow Jesus’ example to endure unjust suffering without answering back. The key is simply entrusting our lives to a righteous God who will make everything right and bring us safely into his glory.

A mother of several young children was having a difficult time dealing with a situation in which one of her sons was being treated very unfairly and very unjustly at school. She agonized for days over what to do about the problem, then decided that it would be best if she kept her hands off. Having made the decision, she quickly began to have second thoughts. She wor­ried that she might be wrong to let her son try to work out the problem for himself. The problem haunted her for days. She couldn’t sleep. Finally, she got in her car and drove out to the country, just to get away from it all for an hour. She pulled the car off to the side of the road, put her head on the steering wheel, and cried…and cried…and cried! When she was all cried out, she lifted her head and looked out in wonder at the great, golden field of wheat she had parked beside. At first she was overcome by the sheer beauty of that sea of golden light, waving and dancing in the wind. Then, suddenly, she realized that there was something more to it. These are her words:

I knew God was saying something to me in that wheat field. And so, I dried my eyes and I let its glories pour into me. I began to experience God’s love. God didn’t send me any easy solution to my problem, just the assurance of his knowing and caring. And that was enough, because I knew that the same Fatherly love would reach down to touch my hurting child.

  -- Sermon Treasury of Illustration

The path to glory for Christ was the path of unjust suffering, and that is to be our path as well. Because our Lord endured suffering with perfect patience, he is our example of how to respond to suffering. Like Jesus, we may be misunderstood, misrepresented, hated, persecuted, and even murdered. But we should never lose heart or feel that God has abandoned us when evil people seem to prevail. The day will come when God will vindicate us.

That’s the way we should respond when confronted with unjust affliction on the job or in our families or other relationships. When we get revenge, we give up the blessing and reward that suffering is meant to bring. Revenge shows us lack the confidence we are supposed to have in God’s judgment to make things right in his own time, which will include punishing the unjust and rewarding those who are faithful in suffering. So give it over to God and let him handle it.

Life is hard – but God is good.

Life is unpredictable – but God is sovereign.

Life is unfair – but God is just.

Life is short – but God is eternal.

Rev. Linh N. Nguyen