Chris Montovino, John 11:1-44
The Dark Seasons of the Soul Part II
October 4, 2016
The Dark Seasons of the Soul, Part II1
“You have probably heard someone call another person who has done
something foolish, "A silly goose!" Well, I can tell you that geese are not silly! We
can learn a lot from the goose. For example, I am sure that most of you probably
know that when geese fly, they fly in a "V" formation. Have you ever wondered
why the geese fly in a "V" formation?
Recent scientific studies have given us the answer. It has been learned that as
each goose flaps its wings, it gives a lift to the one immediately following. It has
been determined that flying this way gives the geese about 70% more flying range.
Of course, that means that the lead goose is working harder. When the lead
goose gets tired, he falls back into the formation and another takes his place. Now,
that's team work!
If you have ever seen a flock of geese flying, you have also noticed that all
the time they are flying, the geese are "honking." They do this to encourage one
another. It is always easier to do something difficult when you know you aren't
flying alone, isn't it?
Sometimes, a goose becomes sick or is injured and falls to the ground. When
that happens, two other geese go down and stay with it until it is well. If it dies,
they join another formation and continue on their journey.
Do you think the geese are silly? It sounds to me like they are pretty smart!
What lessons do you think we could learn from the geese?
We could learn that it is important for all church members to share the
responsibility within the church rather than letting the same loyal ones work until
they drop!
We could learn that it is important to "honk" encouragement to other
workers in the church.
We could learn that it is important for us to look after those who are sick or
in need.
There is a lot that we can learn from the goose, isn't there?
Dear Jesus, help us to use the gifts that you have given us to serve and
encourage others. Amen.”2
1
Today’s sermon is inspired by thoughts I gleaned from a sermon by J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) found http://
www.middletownbiblechurch.org/christia/sickness.htm
2
Children’s sermon found at http://www.sermons4kids.com/ Copyright © 2001- 2010 Sermons4Kids, Inc.
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Today in light of the fact that this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I want
to address the Dark Seasons of the Soul by considering sickness and the impact
that it often has on our lives. I recently encountered a sermon by R.C. Ryle who
was a pastor in the 19th century who wrote about the universality of sickness, the
benefits that it sometimes brings, and how we as Christians should respond when
we are sick.
But I want to inviting you to join me as we read together the story about a
good friend of Jesus, named Lazarus, who had become sick and died. John
11:1-44.
Let us pray. Prayer of Illumination.
I think we can all agree that being sick is the pits. I think we can also agree
that sickness is universal. It strikes the rich and the poor, the good and the bad.
American, North Korean. Christian, Jew, Muslim, and Atheist. It attacks the
young and the old, the healthy and the weak. Sickness, like death, is no respecter
of persons. Though some of us might have access more resources that can help us
in our sickness, at some point or another, we may become sick. I think we can all
agree on that. Amen?
What we may not all agree on, however, is the idea that sickness can bring
certain benefits. In other words, there are things that God can accomplish in us
when we are sick that He might not otherwise. Lets see if I can help us understand
this a little more.
Sickness reminds us of our mortality. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but
some day we are going to die. Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days
aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”3
“A man went to see his doctor in an acute state of anxiety. "Doctor," he said,
"you have to help me. I'm dying. Everywhere I touch it hurts. I touch my head and
it hurts. I touch my leg and it hurts. I touch my stomach and it hurts. I touch my
chest and it hurts. You have to help me, Doc, everything hurts."
The doctor gave him a complete examination. "Mr. Smith," he said, "I have
good news and bad news for you. The good news is you are not dying. The bad
news is you have a broken finger."4
Sickness makes us think more seriously about God, our souls, and the life to
come. Because we are going to die some day, we think about the purpose and
meaning of life, the giver of life, what will remain after we die, and what heaven
will be like.
3
Psalm 90:12
4Why
Does It Hurt? David Holdaway, Kincardinshire, Scotland | posted 4/09/2001
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The Apostle Paul said to the Romans, “For none of us lives to himself alone
and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die,
we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”5
Sickness teaches us to trust God and to trust those who are providing care to
us. Our gifted Stephen Ministers who walk with people in seasons of darkness,
like illness, constantly remind themselves that they are the Care Giver while God
alone is the Cure Giver. The same is true for our Medical personnel. They are not
the miracle workers but God may work through them to provide the skills, talents,
and technology God has given us to bring healing others.
We provide the Care…but only God provides the cure.
Sickness softens our hearts and teaches us wisdom. Last Sunday night, I was
trying to explain to my Camas high school boys the difference between knowledge
and wisdom. We can learn head knowledge, right? Study books. Sit under
instruction. But wisdom, that deep sense of knowing that something is right…
comes from the gut usually through experience.
Martha has the head knowledge about the resurrection at the end of life. But
what she lacked was the wisdom that Jesus himself was the reason and cause for
the resurrection.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Did she really believe it or was
it just head knowledge?
Sickness levels and humbles us. Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s
womb, and naked I shall depart.”6 It is interesting that whenever I visit someone in
the hospital, and I see them in their hospital gown, it is nearly impossible to tell if
that is a wealthy person, powerful person, or someone of prestige. Sickness has a
way of letting us know that we are not in control and that perhaps there is a higher
authority who is truly calling the shots.
Bruce Demarest writes, “When things are going smoothly, we take charge of
our life, but when our path is shrouded in darkness we have no alternative but to
trust God unconditionally. This makes good sense, for what is visible requires
little need for faith. The times of darkness invite us to trust in God under all
circumstances.”7
Sickness tries and refines our religion. It determines what kind of faith do we
really have. The Apostle Paul says that faith will be tested by fire. And if anyone
builds their faith on something other than Jesus Christ, it will be shown for what it
is worth when the tests come. If we build a faith that is perishable, material, or
5
Romans 14:7-8
6
Job 1:21
7
Bruce Demarest, Seasons of the Soul, Stages of Spiritual Development (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2009), 101.
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temporaral, the fires of our sickness will reveal the quality of that faith. If it
stands, then we will receive our reward. If it does not, then we will suffer loss.8
Sickness has a way of reordering our priorities. What we once considered
important, like devoting our lives to climbing a corporate ladder, may all of a
sudden seem pretty insignificant. Instead we start to cling to what truly matters,
which is faith, hope, and love.9
What should we do in our sickness?
First, we should examine our hearts. We should ask ourselves, “Are we ready
to meet our maker? Have we made peace with those with whom we are at odds?”
Jesus said whatever we let loose on earth will be let loose in heaven. What we
have bound on earth will be bound in heaven. Do we really want to carry the
baggage of this life into the next?
This makes me think of A Christmas Carol where Ebenezer Scrooge is
haunted by his dead partner’s ghost, Bob Marley. Marley is chained by the money
coffers and ledgers that drove his life. What he held so tightly and bound on earth,
was literally bound to him in the next life. And it was tormenting.
Do we really want to be bound by those things? If not, let us take care of
them now. Seek forgiveness. Grant mercy. Let’s be generous in giving to those in
need.
We need to examine our faith. Do we really believe Jesus’ words to be true?
He tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. They who believe in me will
live, even though they die; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
Do we believe this? It’s amazing how we can sail through life when things
are going well and not give it any thought. But when the tides turn and we are
faced with a life threatening illness, we began to examine whether or not we have
the faith to believe that Jesus really does offer eternal life.
We are called to bear with our sickness with patience. I remember being in
the hospital with Rhyan and one of things that he grasped right away, was that he
was not the driver of this train. If anything he was the caboose, along for the ride.
He could either fight what the medical team, his parents, and others were wanting
him to do or he could bear with it patiently. Rhyan was a great patient. Interesting
that we call a person enduring sickness…a patient.
We have to be patient for God’s healing.
Do you hear the impatience in both Mary and Martha’s accusations of Jesus?
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
8
1 Corinthians 3:10-15
9
1 Corinthians 13:13
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They were not very patient. They had legitimate expectations that Jesus
would show up on time. But like most doctors, he did not show up when we
hoped.
How much are we like them? Especially when the doctor doesn’t arrive in
time, or the treatments don’t work as we had hoped, or the insurance delays the
procedures. Our impatience during those dark seasons of the soul, is just a way
that our humanity wrestles with the truth that are not in control of what is going on.
We were surprised when the doctors told us that Rhyan could go home from
hospital on the Thursday after his accident. It was late in the day and his release
depended on getting the attending physician to sign the discharge papers. Well as
these things tend to go in hospitals, we told our nurse that we were ready to leave,
but she sent the request to the wrong doctor which meant that the signatures didn’t
make it in time. We had to stay an extra night.
We were disappointed. But in that disappointment, we had a choice. We
could either wallow in grumpiness and complain or we could embrace what was
and let go of what wasn’t.
That evening, several of Rhyan’s buddies came to the hospital and hung out
with us in lower lobby. It was so good to begin to regain some sense of normalcy.
And then that night Rhyan and I curled up in his bed and watched the new Jurassic
Park movie, just like we used to when he was a little boy.
Laurie Short, in her book Finding Faith in the Dark, writes, “When God
doesn’t answer our prayers in the direction we wish, we can dwell in the
disappointment of what isn’t - or we can ask for what we need in the reality of
what is. It comes down to perspective.”10 [Sometimes] “It’s the willingness to live
in the disappointment and silence, waiting to see how God shows up. It may not
happen the way we think it should or want it, but it may be our first glimpse of the
God who truly is.”11
God showed up by giving Rhyan and I the gift of a little extra time and space
before jumping back into the craziness of our lives. I wouldn’t trade those
memories for the world!
Does our sickness move us to feel with and help others? Or does it cause us
to draw deeper into ourselves and wallow in self pity?
Surviving a serious illness should give us compassion as. Notice how Jesus
enters into the pain and suffering of Mary and Martha. He is deeply moved. The
story says simply, “Jesus wept.”
This is not just a Hollywood tear down the cheek. This is a convulsive,
hyperventilating, snot pouring, wail. Jesus felt the depth of their loss.
10
Laurie Short, Finding Faith in the Dark (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), p. 35.
11Laurie
Short, Finding Faith in the Dark (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), p. 39.
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So should we. But we just don’t feel it, we are compelled to so something to
alleviate other’s pain and suffering.
Those of us who have gone through a particular illness are the best resource
for those who are just starting that same journey. A breast cancer survivor can
bring life, hope, and assurance despite what is to come better than any medical
specialist can. No one can describe chemotherapy, radiation, and reconstructive
surgery better than one who has already walked that road. Helping other people
draws us out of ourselves and is the primary way that God makes something
beautiful of our ashes.
“We can get a glimpse of God’s work when we are willing to look beyond our
own stories and let God meet us in the stories of others.”12
We need to be at peace knowing that we are in God’s hands, whatever may
come. We pray for healing, but we need to understand that that may or may not be
God’s answer. This week, in our Adult Sunday School Class, we talked about
Praying for One Thing and Getting Another. No doubt, Mary and Martha were
praying that Jesus would show up and heal their brother under their conditions.
But God is not a Santa Claus or magical genie that grants our every desire.
Sometimes God’s good purposes are contrary to the prayers that we ask.
Finally, we need to have hope which is the belief that there is a way out of the
dark season of sickness that may or may not be apparent at the moment. Harvard
Medical School Professor Jerry Groopman says that hope is and will always be at
the heart of medicine and healing. People need to maintain hope that a better day
is possible than the one they are currently living. Without hope, we fall prey to
despair. Without hope, we couldn’t live.13
My friends, our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who experienced sickness,
died, and rose again from the grave. And he offers us the free gift of eternal life for
all who believe he is God’s Son.
This morning may we exercise our hope that God has our lives in the palm of
his hand. May we see that God might have greater purposes for our lives that he
may accomplish through our sickness. And may we believe that Jesus’ healing is
still available in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
12
Laurie Short, Finding Faith in the Dark (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), p. 42.
13
Ted De Hass, Bedford, Iowa; source: Rachel K. Sobel, "The Mysteries of Hope and Healing," U.S. News and
World Report (1-26-04). | posted 8/23/2004
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