Living in Unfairness

Genesis 4: 1-8; 1 Peter 3: 8-22 

Rev. Patrick Streeter

It’s not fair! I don’t understand why he get’s to do that but I don’t. Why does he get something but not me. I just want fairness. My brother is four years younger than I am. Growing up we had our fair share of arguments like any siblings do.  I can remember times growing up where my brother was given something that I wasn’t or it seemed that one or both parents favored him over me in a situation. I remember trying to make that argument that it wasn’t fair. I would try the argument that he was the favorite son because he was the youngest and he always got what he wanted. 

As I look back, a few years older, maybe a little wiser, and hopefully a little more mature, I can begin to see that the unfairness that I experienced was perceived unfairness. My parents weren’t perfect, most aren’t, but mostly they were always right. They saw the situation differently or knew something that I didn’t know and that impacted how they made decisions about their sons. My perceived unfairness was just that. In my mind, with the information I had observed and collected, the situation was unfair. I wanted fairness but what I really wanted was what I felt like I deserved. 

  Cain was hurt; the Lord had shown favor over the younger brother, Abel’s offering and he felt the unfairness come upon him. Cain was the first born, the tiller of the ground. Abel, the second and the keeper of the sheep. At some point in their life, they bring an offering to the Lord.  Cain brings forth an offering of fruit from the ground while Abel brings forth the firstlings of his flock, the fat portions. It is written that the Lord looks with favor on Abel’s offering but does not offer the same with Cain’s. Immediately Cain becomes upset and it shows. The Lord tries to warn Cain of what is right and the consequences for falling into wrong. We know how this story ends; Cain kills his brother and then must endure the consequences for his actions from the Lord. 

As we study this passage, some critics and scholars attempt to justify why the Lord favors one offering over the other. Some would say the quality of the offerings led to the Lord’s decision to regard one over the other. However, the story does not explain why the Lord favored one offering over the other. Instead, the story focuses on Cain’s reaction to the unexplained divine preference from the Lord. The point here is not to justify the perceived unfairness.  Let us not miss this important point.  When we experience unfairness in our lives, we are prone to seek justification for the unfairness. If we can only understand why or rationalize the current situation, then maybe it will be easier to understand and accept. What God is saying to Cain in this story, and to us as we experience unfairness, is that we are not to justify or rationalize why the situation is unfair. It’s not about justifying the unfairness. It’s not about why. God’s questions demonstrate that God is more displeased with Cain’s response than with the actual offering. It’s not the style of offering but the substance of Cain’s heart that is called into question. 

So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?” The word countenance means, appearance, especially the look or expression of the face. Other translations say that Cain became angry and furious and his face fell or his face became downcast.  Cain experiences unfairness and becomes upset.  When life happens, when things don’t go our way, when life seems so unfair, it bothers us. It can bother us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Cain’s emotional reaction is no different than the feelings we experience when we encounter unfairness. We become upset. Being upset, feeling emotions of anger, confusion, and sadness is how we are designed responds to situations of unfairness.  But again, being upset isn’t the point here. 

If it’s not about justifying the unfairness, not about whether it’s ok to be upset when we encounter unfairness, then what? If not that, then what? It’s about how we deal with and live in the reality that unfairness happens. Bad and unfair things will happen. How we move forward and  respond makes all the difference. 

The Lord said to Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Here is God’s guidance, Gods point in this situation and God’s response to us in the midst of unfairness. In the midst of unfairness, remain faithful and trust. It may not be fair, but I am good and I am just. Don’t fall into sin that can entrap you in your quest to rationalize fairness. God’s challenge to us is to remain faithful during times of unfairness. We must recognize that we may not fully understand the circumstances, but that we are still called to trust. 

There was a season in my life when I struggled with fairness, or more so with the unfairness that I was experiencing. It seemed that everything around me was falling apart. The goodness that I was holding onto was falling apart and I just didn’t understand why. I listen to music a lot and I was going through my music at that time and started listening to some older music. As I was listening to an older band, I found myself attracted to this one song in particular. It spoke to me during this season of my life as I dealt with the questions of living in unfairness. Hear these words from this song:

Late at night I wonder why, sometimes I wonder why. Sometimes I’m so tired, I don’t even try. Seems everything around me fails, but I hold onto the promise that there is a reason.  Late at night darkness makes it hard to see, the history of the saints who have gone in front of me. Through famine, plague and disbelief, His hand was still upon them ‘cause there is a reason. 

He makes all things good, There is a time to live, a time to die, a time for wonder and to wonder why.  For the lonely nights and broken hearts, the widow’s mite in the rich man’s hand and the continent whose blood becomes a traitor. For the child afraid to close their eyes, the prayers that seem unanswered, there is a reason. 

As we struggle to understand the unfairness of life, we must remember and hold onto one thing. God is good and God makes all things good. There is a reason for all things. We may not know or understand the reason, but we do know and we must put our hope in the goodness of God. We receive and embrace this goodness through the grace of 

Christ. During our doubts, questions and suffering for doing good, for trusting, we must embrace the gift of grace. 

Peter reminds us that we may suffer for doing what is good and for doing what is right. It is by doing this that we show grace and seek the promise of hope.  Peter writes this letter to the believers living in Asia Minor as encouragement as they are enduring suffering and unfairness. Peter reminds them to remain faithful through unfairness. “Have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart and a humble mind;” this is how we are to show grace. This is how we allow others to experience grace. In the midst of unfairness, it can be easy to retaliate, to say things that we shouldn’t; easy to respond out of hurt feelings and upset hearts. Peter says this, “ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.”  

When we begin to think about the unfairness in our lives, our suffering or the suffering of others comes into the conversation. Maybe we are in an unfair situation where we are asking how is this right, how is this fair. Maybe we are in midst of suffering seeking answers, seeking resolution. Christ suffered for us and we too will suffer. But we are called to endure that suffering. Peter also reminds us that when we suffer we are to sanctify Christ within our hearts. 

The word sanctify means to make holy, to set apart as sacred or to purify. In the midst of the questions and feelings that overwhelm us in the midst of suffering and unfairness, our hearts will hurt. Our heart will hurt because we are broken people. We must remember that we are called to sanctify our hearts with the grace of Christ. The grace of Christ is powerful enough to mend our broken and hurting hearts. 

What is our response to perceived unfairness? In the story of Cain and Abel, Cain’s response was to kill his bother. An extreme measure but that was his response to unfairness. But what about ours; How must we respond? 

Do you remember the parable of the workers in the vineyard in the Gospel of Matthew? A landowner went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. He found some workers, agreed upon a set wage and sent them to work. Later that morning, he found some more men looking for work and hired them as well. Three more times that day he found more workers and hired them as well. When the evening came the landowner paid each of the men, beginning with last and then to the first. The workers who had worked hard all day became upset because those who had worked the least received, in their opinion, an unfair amount. 

The unfairness in life can creep into our hearts when we begin to question what we have been given or maybe not given. Maybe we work hard, struggle to make ends meet, get paid very little and we look at others who seem to work less, make more, and live a more comfortable life. Maybe our life is one hardship after another. It’s a struggle to pay the bills, we are worried about job security, we lose our job, our health or the health of those we love consumes our every moment. When the realities of life crash around us, we are left with the choice of how we will respond. Maybe our response is to live in the unfairness that is. If we must respond, then our response is through grace. 

To live in unfairness, we must live in grace. We must live with the understanding that we are unworthy, but God is worthy. We must live with the understanding that the sinless death of Christ on the cross was unfair, but necessary. We must live with the understanding that through unfairness, there is grace. The unfairness of life can wound and scar us. Where in your life have you been wounded by the hurt and pain of unfairness? Where are you still hurting? Where have you hurt others in the attempt to rationalize unfairness? Where do you need to receive grace in your life? Where are you called to extend grace to another? Live in the grace that only God can provide. During those moments when life seems unfair; when you suffer and looking for an explanation; rest in the grace through Christ. May the grace of Christ sanctify your heart. May that be enough. Amen. 

                                                                     

                                                                                The Question of “Why”

Job 38: 1-11; Mark 4: 35-41 

Rev. Patrick Streeter

My final summer of Camp Ministry was 2012. During the second week of camp, one of our 12 year old campers, named Will, collapsed during the morning assembly. He was unconscious and immediately rushed to the hospital where the surgeons worked to save his life. Will had suffered a spontaneous brain hemorrhage; an event that occurs in less than .001% of the population. The surgeons saved his life, but Will’s brain suffered traumatic injuries during the event. Following the life-saving surgery, Will spent 3 weeks in a coma and 2 months in the hospital. He was eventually released from the hospital after learning that he would have to rehabilitate his brain and body to perform nearly everything from walking to talking. Will could have died at camp. Just a few days before that day, we were on a campout. If Will had gone to sleep and this had happened, he would have died. If he would have collapsed during the campout, the likelihood that we would have been able to get him medical help in time was slim to none. Will would have died. Why? Why God would you allow this to happen to Will? Why would you put Will and his family through this? Will and has family have been good and faithful servants to you. What have they done to deserve this?

Will and his family faced a question that most of us will face at some point in our lives. The question of “Why”. Maybe it is a death or illness that hits close to home in our own lives or in the lives of the ones that we love and care for. Maybe it’s seeing the events on the news that make us ask Why. We ask; Why did God allow this? Did God allow this? If God is all good and all loving, then why would God allow such evil in the world? We ask these questions and we expect answers that are already wrapped up in a neat little bow. You may have asked those questions and heard answers such as, “It is all part of God’s plan. Trust that God knows what God is doing.” How can pain and suffering be really part of God’s plan? How can good come from that? Or maybe you have heard the answer, “Well, it is all because of free will. God allows free will, so there is evil and suffering in this world.” Try using that answer to a set of parents whose child has been born with a mental disability. It doesn’t work and it certainly doesn’t provide comfort. 

So, what’s the answer to the Why Question? What is the answer to the problem of suffering? I must be honest and up front. I don’t have the answer. And I would question anyone who says they do have the answer. I don’t think, in this life, that we will ever fully understand the Question of Why. We will never fully understand the problem of suffering. We are not privy to that information and that is the way God designed it. Do you remember in the beginning what God gave Adam and Eve? He gave them everything, but he had one request of them. That they not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Unlike God, our knowledge and wisdom are finite. We are simply not equipped to make accurate and loving judgments about good and evil. That is the way that God designed Adam and Eve and us today. We cannot fully understand good and evil and we must first come to terms with that before we can begin to understand the question of Why. 

Our understanding of good vs. evil is limited and this passage in Job reminds us of this. Do you remember the story of Job? Job was God’s good and faithful servant. God allowed Satan to test Job faithfulness to his God. This passage is where God begins to ask Job several questions about creation and good vs. evil. Job is unable to answer them. In the end, Job is satisfied with God’s response and receives everything back doubly. The point is that we can never fully understand. We can only be faithful. Maybe the heart of Job told him to trust God even when his mind could not understand the mystery of suffering. With Job, the Israelites began to see suffering of innocent people not as a punishment but as a mystery. 

Even though we cannot fully understand the problem of suffering, I do believe that there is a framework that we can develop as we begin to address the question of Why. That framework must begin with our image of God. Not only how do we view God, but how we view God in the midst of pain and suffering.

So, if we must begin with our image of God, then where do we find that image? The obvious answer would be scripture, but where do we find the image of God through scripture? The most direct image of God that we can find through scripture is found in Jesus. Jesus is our most direct, most accurate image of God. Do you remember the beginning of the Gospel of John? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being. And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” Him being Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our image of God. If we want to know how God thinks, feels, and reacts then we must look to Christ. Christ is our God in the flesh. 

Our image of God is revealed though Jesus Christ. When we see him, we see the very heart of God. Do you remember in the Gospel of John when someone asked Jesus to show him God the Father, Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus was saying I am your picture of God. Jesus spent his ministry freeing people from evil and misery. That is what God seeks to do. What is your picture of God? What is your image of God in the midst of suffering? Your image of God in the midst of suffering may limit how you are able to view the full power of God. 

The hymn, It Is Well With My Soul, was written by Horatio Spafford. The hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of their only son who died from Scarlet Fever in 1870. In 1871 the Great Chicago Fire ruined him financially when one of his major investments burned to the ground. In 1873 the economic downturn continued to hurt him. His family had planned a trip to Europe and he had sent his family ahead because he was delayed with a business matter. While his family was crossing the Atlantic, their ship struck another vessel and sank and all four of his daughters died. His wife survived and sent word to him. As he was traveling to meet his grieving wife, he wrote the words to It is Well With My Soul. 

Spafford got it. Despite the circumstances he was in, he recognized that Jesus was in his boat and he felt the calming presence that only Christ could provide. It is well with my soul, he wrote.  No matter what comes my way, I have Christ with me. When we need Christ the most in our lives, no matter how distant he may seem, he is right there, standing with us, feeling our hurts, our pains and ready to carry the weight on his shoulders. Spafford’s prayer articulated his image of God and how that allowed him to understand his present suffering.  Our image of God can pour into our prayer life. How we pray, what we pray and when we pray can make all the difference in the midst of suffering. 

Do you remember the movie, Bruce Almighty. Jim Carey plays this career pursuing man who complains to God a lot. He misses the wonder and mystery of God. God, played by Morgan Freeman, decides to work through Bruce’s life. He does so by giving Bruce God’s powers. There is a scene you may remember where Bruce sits down one night to answer the prayers of the people. He turns on his computer where he is able to answer them in an email format. At first, he goes through them one at a time but soon becomes tired of the enormous amounts of prayers. After a few evenings of frustration he decides to select all and answer yes to everyone’s prayer. Havoc ensues and Bruce learns about the personal attention needed for each prayer and it’s consequences for each response. 

Does God always answer prayer? This seems like an important question as we continue to understand the framework of the Question of Why. How we pray, when we pray, and what we pray can indicate the answer to this question. The power and art of prayer is another sermon for another day, but there are a few thoughts that we should consider. Praying for healing, praying for a good outcome, praying for good news is a good thing. It is good because God knows what is in our hearts and wants us to voice that to God. Prayer is dependent upon the condition of our heart. We must first pray with honesty and them we must listen with an open heart and open mind. God always answers prayer, but in God’s own time, and in God’s own fashion. And we must consider that may not the answer we expect or want. Sometimes the answer may be no. That’s tough but sometimes the answer is no. Regardless of answer, God is ever-present, with us.  

God works despite the circumstances, in the midst of suffering. God is ever present; doing everything God can to draw closer to us. God continues to work to for good regardless of the circumstance. Remember the circumstances that Mark described in our Gospel reading? Jesus and his disciples were on a boat in the middle of night when a storm came upon them. Storms on the Sea of Galilee were a common occurrence. This was a bad storm and storms were a fisherman’s worst nightmare. Can you imagine being in the middle of the Sea in the dark and a storm comes upon you? Scary stuff I would imagine. Jesus was in the boat with them, asleep when the storm came upon them. Jesus was present with them. Scared and afraid they disciples awoke Jesus saying, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” How many times have we cried out the same plea? We are in the midst of suffering or the suffering and we cry out Lord, where are you? Do you not care about my suffering? Just as Jesus responds to the disciples, he also responds to us in our crisis of suffering, “Peace, be still.” In this story, we know that Jesus utters this command and the storm ceases, but I think this command is not only meant for the storms in our life, but more directly for us. When we suffer and cry out for respite from that suffering, the storm doesn’t always die down. But God always responds, and his response is one of Peace, be still. That command is meant for us. Be still and trust in me. I am here, I am present in the midst of suffering and I will give you peace to strengthen you as you endure whatever suffering may come your way. 

God is working for good in our life, despite the evil and suffering that too often creeps into our lives. God doesn’t give up. God continues to work. The story of the young man named Will is not finished. The WillPower5K was created by Will in 2013 to celebrate his recovery and help him fund his long-term rehabilitation. Now, that Will is much better, the race raises research money and awareness for HHT- the genetic condition that led Will’s brain to bleed. The first race in 2013 attracted over 1,000 runners and in 2014 the number grew to 1,200.  God has done wondrous things amidst suffering. God continued to work for good through the suffering. We must trust and move past the question of Why because God is working and eagerly wants to share that work with us. 

Beyond the Question of Why is the beauty and mystery of God’s work. Beyond the Question of Why is grace outpoured and abundant mercy. When we suffer and struggle with the Question of Why, Christ is there, with us, sharing the weight of our emotions. He is there saying, Peace, Be still! I am here and I am with you. Trust me and allow me to work through this. Regardless of the circumstances, I am greater and have come to overcome. Even on your darkest day, I am working for good because I love you. You are loved my child. May we move beyond the Question of Why. May we come to know that we love and serve a God who continues to work through our circumstances. May we listen to the voice of Christ saying, Peace, be still. May that be enough. Amen.