Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Ending at Hope

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.  Romans 5:1-5

Why do we suffer?  Why must we endure pain even when those around us are seemingly at peace?  I looked to one of my very early devotions dealing with suffering.  The story revolves around one of Major League Baseball's most memorable moments known as "The Shot Heard Round the World."  Bobby Thompson, a New York (now known as San Francisco) Giant hit a home run against Ralph Branca and his Brooklyn (now Los Angeles) Dodgers in the bottom of the 9th inning to win the 1951 National League pennant playoff.  Below are Branca’s comments describing the aftermath of this historic home run:

I drove home that night.  Took Brooklyn with Ann (his wife), and you know.  It was a long lonely ride, and she started to cry because we were going to get married in 17 days.  When I got home, my mother and father of course was disappointed, and I think they bled for me.  My mother got a couple of phone calls.  "Teach your son how to pitch," you know, and they'd hang up.  And that's really vicious.  Brothers and sisters (heard) at work at the time, "Ah, your brother stinks."  You know, "Your brother lost the game."  Ann going to a gas station, and giving her credit card.  And guy says, "Ay, your husband threw the home run pitch, right?"  Shouldn't have to take that nonsense.
My cousin was a dean of Campus Ministries at Fordham, and I said, "Why me?"  And you know I was always in shape.  I didn't drink or smoke, and baseball was my love.  Why me?  And he gave the Jesuit answer.  He said, "God chose you, because he knew your faith would be strong enough to bear this cross."

We all should aspire to have a faith like that; a faith that even in the most trying of circumstances says as Joshua once said, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15b - NKJV)  Paul’s message of hope and glory in the midst of our suffering reminds us that we have the final victory of eternal life with Jesus Christ, and there is a purpose for everything in God’s plan.  What can you learn from your most recent failure?  How will you maintain hope in the midst of suffering?  My prayer is that though we may start at suffering, we end at hope.  Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment