Ecclesiasticus I: Introducing Eastern Orthodoxy
Ecclesiasticus II: Orthodox Icons, Saints, Feasts and Prayer
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In
one of Germany's famous art galleries, a painting called "Cloud-lane"
hangs at the end of a long, dark hall. From a distance it appears to be
a depressing painting - a mass of dark, threatening clouds. But when you
step up close to the canvas you see that what is really there is an innumerable
host of beautiful angels.
Appearances can be deceptive. In John 9, Christ and the disciples come across
a man blind from birth. The appearance depresses the disciples and they
assume the blindness is a punishment - either for the man's own sins or
those of his parents. But Christ sees past the surface and says in verse
3, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works
of God might be made manifest in him." The disciples saw a blind man
and can only think of doom and gloom. Jesus sees a blind man and sees an
opportunity for the glory of God to be revealed.
And if we read the rest of John 9 we see how God's glory was revealed in
this blind man - partly through his miraculous healing but even more so
in how this simple, uneducated man became brave enough to stand up to the
powerful Pharisees and declare to them his belief in Jesus Christ.
One of the greatest saints in our tradition is righteous and long-suffering
Job whose story is told in one of the most beautiful books of the Old Testament.
Job, like the blind man, came to know God's glory in the midst of suffering.
He was a rich and happy and healthy man with a wonderful family -and then
disaster struck. A storm killed his children, all his wealth was lost, and
he also lost his health. He ended up totally destitute, sitting in a heap
of ashes. His so-called friends - Job's famous comforters - had the same
answer to his dilemma as the disciples did to the blind man's suffering
- suffering is punishment for sin. But righteous Job refused to believe
this. He knew he had not committed any sin worthy of such punishment. However,
Job didn't know why he was suffering and so he struggled with God and argued
with God, but yet stayed true to God. And at the end of the book God appears
to Job and speaks to Job and reveals His awesome glory to Job - just as
His glory was revealed through the blind man in John 9.
We all have Job-like times in our lives - times of suffering, depression,
illness, finally death. We all have times when we struggle, when we get
angry at God, when we doubt God - after all, even righteous Job went through
that.
When we have those times, when we feel like all hope is gone and that there's
no longer much meaning or purpose to life; that's when we need to struggle
to remember the blind man and to remember Job - and to remember how God
was at work revealing His glory even in the worst of times - that there
were angels present even in the darkest of clouds.
Once a man was shopping at Marshall Fields' in Chicago. A magnificent tapestry
was on display there. The rare beauty of its design and the marvelous skill
with which it had been sewn made it particularly impressive. The shopper
turned over the corner of the tapestry to get a peek at the price tag -
$6000! But he discovered something else, too. While peeking at the price
he glanced at the back side of the tapestry He realized that if Marshall
Fields' had hung it wrong side out they probably couldn't have gotten $6
for it, to say nothing of $6000. That back side appeared utterly without
design. Threads ran crazily in this direction and that. It all looked like
the work of a nitwit. Yet those were the very threads that, worked by the
artist's master hand, had produced the exquisite picture on the other side.
When we're suffering, the threads of our life may appear all tangled up
to us but it may be a beautiful picture that is being formed. When we're
suffering, all may appear chaos to us but there may be a rhyme and reason
that will later make sense. When we're suffering, we may see nothing but
storm clouds but perhaps hidden in those clouds is a host of angels.
Sometimes it is suffering and the hard times that prepare us to know God
better. Job went through many horrible, and apparently pointless, trials,
but at the end of it all, he was ready to hear God speak to him, The blind
man suffered for many years, but at the end of it he was ready to manifest
God's glory to the world.
Sometimes God allows us to suffer in order to prepare us for what's ahead.
Joseph Duveen, the American head of the art firm that bore his name, planned
in 1915 to send one of his experts to England to examine some ancient pottery.
He booked passage for him on the liner, the Lusitania. Then the German embassy
issued a warning that the liner might be torpedoed. Duveen wanted to call
off the trip. "I can't risk your being killed," Duveen said to
his young expert. "Don't worry" the man replied. "I'm a strong
swimmer, and when I heard about the sinkings in the North Atlantic, I began
hardening myself by spending time every day in a tub of ice water. At first
I could only stand it a few minutes, but this morning I stayed in that tub
nearly two hours." Duveen laughed as the idea seemed preposterous,
but he let the young man sail. Of course, the Lusitania was torpedoed and
sank. The young man was rescued after nearly five hours in the cold ocean,
still in excellent condition.
Suffering can actually strengthen us instead of weaken us - it can prepare
us for what lies ahead. It can open us up to a closer relationship with
God, as it did for St. Job.
But when we're in the midst of suffering - when we're perhaps in physical
pain or greatly depressed over problems in our lives it's hard to calmly
remember that all this might make us better people, that it's part of the
plan for our lives, etc. All we know is that we hurt. And maybe, when our
suffering is at its worst, we can only remember one thing - that we do not
suffer alone. Christ has also suffered He was betrayed by one of His closest
friends, deserted by the rest, slandered, spit upon, beaten, and finally
crucified like a common thief- all while perfectly innocent. We do not suffer
alone. Christ has also suffered and He goes with us through our times of
suffering.
Therefore, we should not despair or give up. Admit it's rough - yes; have
some doubts - yes; perhaps get angry with God like Job did - yes; have no
idea why we're suffering - yes; but give up - no! Instead, we struggle on,
with Christ at our side, until the days of suffering end.
Once, during a war between Spain and France, the Spaniards surrounded the
French army and sent over a note to the French general which said, "Surrender!
We have you outnumbered and surrounded." The French general wrote a
reply, fastened it to an arrow, and shot it into the Spanish camp. It read,
"Surrender? Never! We have our King with us."
Our King, who knows what suffering is, is with us, too, and so we should
never surrender, never give up, but struggle on, asking for His help. Like
Job, we may not understand why we suffer. But let us have faith that there
is a reason that someday even if not until the next life, we will understand.
Let us take comfort, even in the worst times, from knowing that our King
is with us and that even these worst of times will somehow, someday, work
out for good. Let us remember that even in the darkest of storm clouds there
may be hidden a host of beautiful angels.
Father Andrew Harmon is pastor of St. Matthew Church in North Royalton,
Ohio.
From Word
Magazine
Publication of the Antiochian Orthodox
Christian Archdiocese of North America
April 1992
p. 21
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