I had a convergence of three events on Saturday night and
Sunday. Seeing a musical play Saturday night at a local civic theater, hearing
a sermon Sunday morning, and reading a biographical sketch Sunday afternoon all
led me to the same question: how do you deal with unavoidable pain or suffering? [1] At
the end I found something absolutely profound.
• “I don’t look normal and I can never change that.”
“Violet” is a 1997 musical play based on a short story, “The
Ugliest Pilgrim.” The bouncy music of Southern folk, R&B and gospel plus
the storyline of “Violet” tell a tale of the scars we bear – inside and out. In
an accident involving an ax on a farm outside Spruce Pine, North Carolina, a girl of 13 becomes
horribly disfigured in her face. She experiences unkind words and a certain
amount of isolation. Over time Violet’s facial wound heals, but she becomes
obsessed with how others view her disfigurement. Seeking to erase her scar,
Violet, now 25, takes a bus from her home in the mountains of North
Carolina to Tulsa, Oklahoma with stops in Kingsport,
Nashville, Memphis
and Fort Smith.
It’s September 4, 1964 and she seeks to be healed in Tulsa by a TV preacher.
She believes her damaged face could be miraculously replaced with Ingrid
Bergman’s cheekbones and Rita Hayworth’s skin. On the bus, she meets and spends
time with soldier boys, one black and one white, on their way back to Fort Smith. She discovers
that she can see beyond the skin color of the one and the physical beauty of
the other to see their true character. The first is an admirable man but the
second is shallow, not someone she’d want to marry. The young black soldier goes
on to tell her, “My mother said, ‘You pick your road and walk it, one day at a
time.’”
In Tulsa
she meets the preacher at rehearsal and he turns out to be a charlatan. In
private he tells her, “Once I had it [my TV show] all scripted, the Almighty
started missing his cues.” A little later, daydreaming about her dad, she imagines
that he asks for her forgiveness of any involvement in the accident. She grants
him forgiveness and immediately feels like a miracle has happened. But she doesn’t
dare look in the mirror. On the bus trip back to North Carolina, she stops to see the
soldiers. They accept her as she is – healed of all disfigurement, she thinks.
She then opens her purse, grabs her mirror, looks, and . . . is aghast. She
still has her horrible scar. She rejects the advances of the soldier with the
shallow character, but embraces the love and acceptance of the other one. With
new hope, she gains the confidence to accept her scar and continue the journey of
life in hope.
How do you deal with unavoidable suffering? Violet’s answer
is to have a forgiving spirit, to adopt an attitude that values character above
physical beauty, and to embrace the love and acceptance of genuinely loving
people. All of this is sound wisdom. But is there more?
• “I want to live for God – Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit – and some people don’t like that.”
In the morning I went to church. The pastor has been
preaching through 1 Peter whose theme is “suffering well.” The text this
morning was chapter 4:12-19:
12
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test
you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But
rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and
be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the
name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests
upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or
an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins
with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18
And
“If the
righteous is scarcely saved,
what
will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” [Proverbs 11:31]
19
Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a
faithful Creator while doing good.
Learning from my pastor and having engaged in further study,
I will now offer some of my own thoughts as we let St. Peter the Apostle teach
us all. There are two basic thrusts of the passage. In the first place, Peter
says in verses 12-15: don’t be surprised
at suffering but, instead, rejoice to the extent that you share Christ’s
sufferings. Why should we be surprised? First, it is sinful human nature to
dislike and to regard with suspicion anyone who is different. The Christian
brings the standards of Jesus Christ to the world as he lives his life. He or
she is different and even goodness can be an offense to a world in which
goodness is regarded as a handicap. Second, when a man or woman has to suffer as
a Christian, he or she is walking the way their Lord walked and sharing the
Cross their Lord carried. This is a dominant theme in the New Testament. If we
suffer with him, we will be glorified with him (Romans 8:17). It is Paul's
desire to enter into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ (Philippians
3:10). If we suffer with him, we shall reign with him (2 Timothy 2:12). If we
remember that, any suffering for the sake of Christ becomes a privilege and not
a penalty. [2]
Peter knew it well. St.
Mark’s Gospel is a literary arrangement of the preaching of Peter. Mark 8:31-38 recounts
Peter’s failing:
31 And he [Jesus] began
to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by
the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three
days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him
aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples,
he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your
mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
34 And calling the
crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For
whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my
sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man
to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man
give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of
my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man
also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
In the second basic thrust of the passage, Peter says in
verses 16-19: don’t be ashamed of
suffering as a Christian but, instead, honor God for the privilege and entrust
yourself to him. Shame is the feeling that there is something basically
wrong with you. “I’m such a failure.” If we have sinned, we have Jesus Christ –
who has died as the just for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18). We are sinners and we
have come to the Savior to be forgiven, cleansed and granted the Holy Spirit to
live righteously. But if we feel shame because we are a Christian, it is flat
out wrong. It is not a shame, it is a privilege. We are to honor God for being
a Christian even if it means suffering. And not only are we to honor God
(“glorify God,” 5:16), we are to entrust ourselves to God, the Creator (5:16).
The [Greek] word he [Peter] uses
for “to entrust” is paratithesthai,
which is the technical word for depositing money with a trusted friend. In the
ancient days there were no banks and few really safe places in which to deposit
money. So, before a man went on a journey, he often left his money in the
safe-keeping of a friend. Such a trust was regarded as one of the most sacred
things in life. The friend was absolutely bound by all honour and all religion
to return the money intact. [3]
We are to entrust our lives as Christians to God. As
all-powerful Creator and Sustainer, he can be absolutely trusted with keeping
us safe in this life for eternal life with him.
• “That I may know him”
Born in 1925, Helen Roseveare [4] was raised in a
comfortable English family and loved the quiet atmosphere and rich ritual of
the Church of England. But, leaving these services, she felt a great sense of
emptiness and futility, a deep void. She asked herself, Where is God? How can I find Him? How can I meet my own need and the
crushing, overwhelming problems of the world? Drawn toward medicine, she
enrolled in Cambridge
University and came to
participate in the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union. At a student
retreat she opened her heart to God and experienced forgiveness in a personal
way. On the final night of the retreat, veteran Bible teacher Dr. Graham
Scroggie wrote Philippians 3:10 in her new Bible, where St. Paul says:
That I may know him, and the power
of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death
And then Dr. Scroggie said to her:
Tonight you’ve entered into the
first part of the verse, “That I may know Him.” This is only the beginning, and
there’s a long journey ahead. My prayer for you is that you will go on through
the verse to know “the power of His resurrection” and also, God willing, one
day perhaps, “the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His
death.” [5]
Sensing God’s call to missions, after graduating from Cambridge as a medical doctor, at age 28 she applied to
the World Evangelization Crusade (WEC) for service in Africa.
She served with WEC from 1953 to 1973. She was first assigned to the
northeastern part of Congo
(later called Zaire),
where she was the only doctor for two and a half million people. She
experienced the stresses of pioneer medical work, but her medical,
administrative and training skills allowed her to do much good.
On June 30, 1960 Congo
achieved its independence from Belgium.
But during 1960 to 1965 civil wars broke out. Most Europeans fled, but Dr.
Helen Roseveare elected to stay. Church History Timeline picks up the story:
[6]
Helen was well aware of her
danger. Many mission women had been raped by the marauding rebel armies. She
stayed on, believing that “If Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice
can be too great for me to make for him.” That was her mission’s motto. . . .
On this day, Saturday, August 15,
1964, a truck-load of soldiers took over the hospital compound at Nobobongo.
They occupied it for five months. “They were brutal and coarse, rough and
domineering. Their language was threatening and obscene. All of us were cowed.
We did exactly what they demanded, mostly without argument.” Tension was
terrific.
“We heard that the local chief had
been caught, bound and beaten; then he was taken to the people’s tribunal at
Wamba, found guilty, flayed alive and eaten. No wonder we did not sleep well.
No wonder we were not hungry.”
Then Helen and others were taken
away. “...We were put off at a house in the jungle--nineteen defenseless women
and children surrounded by some seventy-five men, soldiers and others, all
filled with hatred and evil intentions toward us... And in my heart was an
amazing peace, a realization that I was being highly privileged to be
identified with [Christ] in a new way, in the way of Calvary.”
She was severely beaten and was raped. Finally, the national
army with the help of mercenaries defeated the rebels. Helen was rescued and
flown back to England.
After furlough, she returned to Congo
in 1965 and resumed her medical missionary work.
In her address to Urbana
76, she spoke of the five months of being repeatedly beaten. [7] How do you
deal with unavoidable suffering? St. Peter in
Scripture gave us his answer. Later he lived out his answer as he suffered the
martyrdom of crucifixion at the hands of the Roman Emperor. Dr. Helen Roseveare
also lived out the answer and has profoundly repeated it for our benefit:
I wasn’t praying. I was beyond
praying. Someone back home was praying earnestly for me. If I’d prayed any
prayer it would have been, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” And
suddenly, there was God. I didn’t see a vision, I didn’t hear a voice, I just
knew with every ounce of my being that God was actually, vitally there. God in
all his majesty and power. He stretched out his arms to me. He surrounded me
with his love and he seemed to whisper to me, “Twenty years ago, you asked me
for the privilege of being a missionary. This is it. Don’t you want it?”
Fantastic, the privilege of being
identified with our Savior. As I was driven down the short corridor of my home,
it was as though he clearly said to me, “These are not your sufferings. They’re
not beating you. These are my sufferings. All I ask of you is the loan of your
body.” And an enormous relief swept through me.
One word became unbelievably
clear, and that word was privilege. He didn’t take away pain or cruelty or
humiliation. No! It was all there, but now it was altogether different. It was
with him, for him, in him. He was actually offering me the inestimable
privilege of sharing in some little way the edge of the fellowship of his
suffering.
In the weeks of imprisonment that
followed and in the subsequent years of continued service, looking back, one
has tried to ‘count the cost,’ but I find it all swallowed up in privilege. The
cost suddenly seems very small and transient in the greatness and permanence of
the privilege.
Can you—will you—believe it and
enter into it?
Footnotes
[1] “Violet” with music by
Jeanine Tesori and lyrics by Brian Crawley was performed at the Lakeland Civic
Theatre, Kirkland, Ohio, under the direction of Dr. Martin
Friedman on 2/14/2015. Scott Kennedy delivered the sermon on 1 Peter 4:12-19 at
Parkside Church
Lake County,
Kirtland, Ohio,
on 2/15/2015.
[2] William Barclay,
Commentary on 1 Peter (originally Louisville
KY: Westminster John Knox Press,
revised edition 1975), now online. http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/view.cgi?bk=59&ch=4
[3] Ibid.
[4] This section is mostly based
on a short but fully researched biography posted on the Intervarsity / Urbana website: “Helen
Roseveare,” February 18, 2007. https://urbana.org/blog/helen-roseveare
[5] Cited in the biography:
Helen Roseveare, “The Cost of Declaring His Glory”, address at Urbana 1976, page 33. https://s3.amazonaws.com/urbana.org/general_session_audio/urbana-76-helen.roseveare-cost.of.declaring.his.glory.mp3
[6] Dan Graves, “Congo Rebels
Reached Helen Roseveare,” Church History Timeline.
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1901-2000/congo-rebels-reached-helen-roseveare-11630820.html
[7] Helen Roseveare, “The
Cost of Declaring His Glory,” op. cit.
Pics: (1) Young Violet with
Father and (2) one segment of the bus trip – both in “Violet,” Lakeland Civic
Theatre, Kirtland, Ohio 2/14/2015 photos taken by me. (3) Simone
Prince, “Hard Working Man,” part of the “Juried Junior & Senior High School”
exhibit, January 1 to February 22, 2015 in the Gallery at Lakeland Community College.
