“Disasters, he proposed, create a "community of sufferers" that allow individuals to experience an immensely reassuring connection to others”
―
JOSHUA 21-22
4And now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them, you may return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you across the Jordan. 5But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (22:4-5)
20Looking at his disciples, he said:LUKE 6:1-26
“Blessed are you who are poor,for yours is the kingdom of God.21Blessed are you who hunger now,for you will be satisfied.Blessed are you who weep now,for you will laugh.22Blessed are you when people hate you,when they exclude you and insult youand reject your name as evil,because of the Son of Man.23“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
JOURNAL
God gives the Israelites rest...rest from years of struggle and battle and wandering. They now have land and a kingdom in which to live and thrive. Some of the tribes build an altar and the worst is assumed until it is later clarified that it was built to God as a testament of their faith. Jesus names his key disciples and then begins to give a sermon in the midst of multitudes of people who had come out to hear him and be healed.
Jesus begins the sermon with a paradox. Jesus begins this sermon by claiming suffering and persecution as the place of greatest blessing. Who in their right mind would ever see suffering as being blessed. It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when George makes a commitment to do the complete opposite of every decision he normally would make...his reasoning is that if all his decisions in the past have been wrong, then the opposite of those decisions would be right.
It is obviously not that simple...or is it? If all selfishness ultimately leads to misery...then the opposite would logically seem to be the answer. Seek to be a servant, to give more than I receive, to embrace suffering instead of running from it. Seek to love rather than to be loved. What does a life dedicated to the opposite of having it all look like...I think it looks a lot like Jesus.
Thinking through these initial words of Jesus really has a way of changing mindset. Many times in life it is hard to see circumstances as blessings. However, I think it's more the fact that when we suffer we need God and in that need we collectively become what God ultimately desires for us. We no longer deal with the pride of controlling our world or seeing ourselves as better than someone else. We are brought together under a common suffering. I also think there is a daily purpose there of putting ourselves in the midst of hard things...accepting them and even pursuing them. That little bit of self-inflicted suffering is called obedience and doing it is what following God is all about.
Sebastian Junger wrote a book called Tribe. In it he documented cases upon cases of people bonding together during really difficult circumstances. One of the paradoxes was that when they looked back on those times they considered them as some of the most joyous of their lives. It is comforting to know that God sees, God loves and God will always provide a way for love and joy...we must just be willing to trust and follow.
Jesus begins the sermon with a paradox. Jesus begins this sermon by claiming suffering and persecution as the place of greatest blessing. Who in their right mind would ever see suffering as being blessed. It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when George makes a commitment to do the complete opposite of every decision he normally would make...his reasoning is that if all his decisions in the past have been wrong, then the opposite of those decisions would be right.
It is obviously not that simple...or is it? If all selfishness ultimately leads to misery...then the opposite would logically seem to be the answer. Seek to be a servant, to give more than I receive, to embrace suffering instead of running from it. Seek to love rather than to be loved. What does a life dedicated to the opposite of having it all look like...I think it looks a lot like Jesus.
Thinking through these initial words of Jesus really has a way of changing mindset. Many times in life it is hard to see circumstances as blessings. However, I think it's more the fact that when we suffer we need God and in that need we collectively become what God ultimately desires for us. We no longer deal with the pride of controlling our world or seeing ourselves as better than someone else. We are brought together under a common suffering. I also think there is a daily purpose there of putting ourselves in the midst of hard things...accepting them and even pursuing them. That little bit of self-inflicted suffering is called obedience and doing it is what following God is all about.
Sebastian Junger wrote a book called Tribe. In it he documented cases upon cases of people bonding together during really difficult circumstances. One of the paradoxes was that when they looked back on those times they considered them as some of the most joyous of their lives. It is comforting to know that God sees, God loves and God will always provide a way for love and joy...we must just be willing to trust and follow.
27And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
LUKE 14:27
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