Being willing to suffer in obedience to Christ is our shared destiny with him
‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ Luke 9:62
In 1519 Hernan Cortez set sail from Cuba on a bold mission to conquer Mexico. When they disembarked at Vera Cruz, he promptly ordered some of his 700 men to set fire to ten of his eleven ships and sent the other back to Spain. They watched as their only exit strategy sank in the depths of the Gulf of Mexico. This brazen decision eliminated the possibility of any retreat. The only course of action left was to press on resolutely into the interior and fight for their commander.
In times such as this, we can choose to live life with or without God. If we choose God’s way, there are no guarantees that it will be easy. Abraham, Elijah, Jesus and his disciples’ lives all show us that it will be costly. We are aware of the implications of worldwide shutdown. This is unprecedented, and the uncertainty is taking its toll on all of us. Anyone predicting the outcome gets labelled according to our view: pessimist, optimist or realist.
We were sharing a joke the other day: ‘Discipline saved China, Indiscipline drowned Europe, while Ignorance will kill Africa and Denial will cost the transatlantic world’. Our attitudes to the coronavirus are maybe just what separate us from destruction.
All jokes aside, in my mind, attitudes to individual rights and the greater good for the masses is what differentiates individual countries’ approach to the coronavirus pandemic. Whether or not individuals should sacrifice themselves to protect their countries’ economies. Prophecy is not my strongest point, but I think our responses to the pandemic are currently linked to what we think the outcome will be. However, it is too early to predict this.
In Luke 9:51 we are told that when the time came for Jesus to be taken up to heaven, he was determined to continue his journey to Jerusalem despite rejection. He rebuked James and John when they asked permission to pray for fire from heaven to destroy a town. Jesus was aware of what was about to happen to him. The Bible says he was in anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane.
In Mark 14:34 Jesus says to his disciples: ‘I am deeply grieved, wait here and pray.’ In verse 36 he prays repeatedly: ‘Abba Father! take this cup away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.’ We know Jesus was aware of what was coming and he was capable of walking away from it or making it disappear. Staying to face arrest, trial and crucifixion demonstrated his power over the enemy. By contrast, his disciples wanted to eradicate their opposition.
To some degree, we are guilty of this in our own lives when want to see the destruction of our enemies or people who have wronged us. Jesus refused to use his powers in ways contrary to the will of God. He knew he would be victorious regardless. Escape was not part of the deal.
Jesus did not conquer by escaping the cross, but by facing it, in obedience to his Father. As he prayed, ‘not my will but yours.’
The beating, humiliation, mockery and crucifixion did not separate Jesus from the love of his father (Romans 8:39). No love is greater than that supreme sacrifice of laying down one’s life for one’s friends. Jesus has proved his love to us by dying on the cross for our sins. He paid for our forgiveness.
In a world that seeks self-gratification, we often hear people say, ‘I deserve better’ or ‘I deserve this or that’. We sometime feel that God owes us for all that we have been doing for him.
I remember during our graduation from medical school, banks and motor companies sponsored our banquet in the hope that we would later buy their very expensive cars to suit our ‘doctor status’. They would say things like: ‘You worked for it, reward yourself.’ Some fell for it. But others of us knew what our success had meant for the families and friends who had supported us.
Without their financial support, graduating from university would have not been possible. It is true that we studied hard and maybe even endured ‘social distancing’ during exams while trying to cram anatomy and histology. But this doesn’t justify taking full credit for our achievements and rewarding ourselves. Our success was paid for by others.
Our work as doctors is very demanding and sometimes we can feel undervalued by our employers, government or private. ‘We deserve better’, ‘society owes us’, we tell ourselves. But at times like this, we see that humanity can only survive if we stand together. We all face death, whether we like it or not. Our maker may call some of us home through coronavirus or cancer or accident.
I often joke with my patients before injections that while I hate injections, they are good for patients. In times like this, when we are all exposed and vulnerable, it is good to reflect how suffering and pain may be God’s way of shaping us.
In Henri Nouwen’s book ‘The Wounded Healer’, he exhorts us to be willing to go beyond our professionalism and leave ourselves open as our patients’ fellow human beings to wounds and suffering. This is what Jesus did and we are made in his image. In other words, we heal out of our own wounds.
The disciples were not exempt from waves and turbulence while crossing the sea. But Jesus was with them in the boat. It is comforting to know that he is present and that we can cry to him to do something about our own storms. He has promised not to leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
What is then our mission? I suggest our mission is to obey the will of God. Obedience dictates that we do the will of the master. This will involve pain and suffering, but we can be assured that no matter what, he is there with us. There is no ‘I’ but ‘We’. It is a shared destiny.
Augustin Lutakwa
ICMDA AEO in Sub-Saharan Africa
Thank you for this Augustin. Praise God he is always with us.