Proper 27
23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Ordinary Time 32
Year C
November 6, 2004
Comfort The
Sorrowful
Ecclesiastes
1
18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more
knowledge, the more grief.
Isaiah 53
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows,
and familiar with suffering.
·
In our series, “Blessed Are the Merciful,” we
have: Defined mercy as lovingkindness, compassion, or
forbearance shown to one who offends. Remember that when you are
offended. We also learned about two works of mercy—corporal and
spiritual.
·
The works of mercy we are called to be Jesus
Christ are love in action as we come to the aide of our neighbor in
his bodily and spiritual necessities.
·
So far in our series, we have learned what it means to
feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and
visit the imprisoned, sheltering the homeless, to visit the sick and
bury the dead, how to admonish people in sin both inside and outside
the Church, and how to counsel the doubtful.
·
Today, we turn our hearts to comfort the sorrowful.
·
Sorrow is one of those words that can seem so big,
overwhelming, and umanageable. The causes of
human sorrow are endless.
·
Let’s see why.
1.
WHAT IS SORROW AND WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?
·
Sorrow is mental suffering or pain caused by
injury, loss, or despair. However, sorrow
goes beyond this common definition because sorrow touches more than
the mental part of man, but also can be a spiritual experience that
touches the very roots of our being.
·
This is why the Church has traditionally recognized
comforting the sorrowful as a spiritual work of mercy that offers
support and encouragement as a general rule of the Christian life.
SORROW IS CONSTANT
·
Jesus became a man of sorrows acquainted with grief
because sorrow is a constant part of the human experience of being.
·
Most of us have constant sorrow whether small or
large. Life has joy, and life has sorrow.
·
How do you deal with the sorrow of life?
Most of us keep it to ourselves and live with some level of
pain week in and week out.
·
Parents live with sorrow for the choices their
children make and carry that sorrow in their heart so it is known
only to God.
WHERE DOES SORROW COME FROM?
·
Sorrows have countless origins.
Many of the crosses we bear in life arise form situations of sorrow.
Life is sometimes a veil of tears. Living as
Christians includes a response to the dark side of life.
·
Jesus would have us comfort the sorrowful as part of
our basic Christian spirituality for everyday life.
·
Everyone we live with, work with, and come into
contact with experience sorrow in ways we may never know the
particulars of.
·
NO matter how trouble free a person’s life may seem,
everyone has sorrows whether they talk about them or not. Some
people openly sorrow, and some out of pride hide their sorrow behind
a life that is a mask—a flase face they put on for the world to see
on the outside despite what is really going on inside.
·
Comforting people who are openly sorrowful and asking
for help is one thing, dealing with those whose lives appear to be
happy with no anxieties or sorrows is more difficult because they
are denying the existence of their pain.
·
People who say they had perfect childhoods, perfect
parents, perfect marriages, perfect children, and perfect jobs are
often just below the surface living a life that is a mess, full of
emotional insecurities, fears, and sorrows.
·
Wisdom sees that and let’s mercy flow to them in their
denial, shame, and guilt.
2.
WHAT DOES MERCY CALL US TO DO WITH HIDDEN AND OPEN
SORROW?
LEARN PATIENCE, TOLERANCE, AND THE GOLDEN RULE
·
This work of comforting the sorrowful boils down to
cultivating an attitude into daily life that takes it for granted
that people we run into will have sorrow, and we will approach
everyone with mercy and grace in order to comfort any sorrows we
encounter in them without judgment or criticism or gossip.
·
IN comforting the sorrowful, we first need to
cultivate patience, tolerance, and understanding in ourselves and
deal honestly with our own sorrows.
PRESENT SORROW IS OFTEN THE RESULT OF THE
SORROW OF THE PAST
·
We need to also realize that often times in life, the
way people live later in life is formed by the joys and sorrows of
their earlier life. Sorrow resides more in the heart than in the
mind. This is why people can tell themselves
they should not be sad all the time, but then are anyways.
·
We need to realize this in showing mercy to the
sorrowful. People cannot be talked into
a place of balance in their lives by the power of argument and
reason. We must touch their hearts in ways that
transcend reason.
·
I used to think that in my 30’s and had a ministry
heavy in teaching, reason, and argument—I learned that people are
more emotionally attached to things than intellectually attached to
the same things.
·
WHAT I REALIZED WITH MY WIFE’S HELP AND WORKING WITH
THE HOMELESS IS EMOTION IS THE POINT WITH PEOPLE, NOT REASON.
People have a hard time changing when they are emotionally
attached to whatever God is dealing with in their lives—especially
doctrines, church affiliations, politics outlooks, and other things
they are bonded to.
·
People can’t adjust their emotions till their hearts
change, and hearts don’t change until God’s love and grace flood our
spirit with His love and life raising our spirits from the dead.
·
And I need to interject here this is not just a one
time event. Every time sorrow begins, we need to
go through this process.
·
Some of you here today have sorrow deeply embedded in
your emotions and it effects you in your physical body because your
emotions are part physical and part of your soul.
So, the answer to some of your physical problems is a soul
and spirit issue. You once again need healing of
your soul—your heart, mind, memories, to get the hurts of yesterday
healed. This only happens in the spirit in the
presence of God.
·
We must open ourselves up; allow God and others in to
the place of our hurt and shame if mercy is to transform us.
·
So, we cannot argue or reason people out of sorrow.
How do you think we comfort people then? We meet them at the
level of meeting and healing their emotional needs spiritually and
physically with unconditional mercy and love.
This why Servant Evangelism is so
right, and why Mother Theresa and people like her impact the world.
2
Cor. 7
10Godly
sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no
regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11See what this
godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness
to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing,
what concern, what readiness to see justice done.
THERE IS A SORROW THAT IS A GOOD
SORROW
·
St. Paul
says worldly sorrow brings death—and it does.
The sorrow of the world under the curse of sin causes death in
relationships, in our hearts, in our emotions, in our minds and
every part of our being.
·
If you allow this sorrow, depression, discouragement,
and despair to go untreated in your life it will kill you and every
part of your life including your awareness of God. Don’t deny your
sorrow, don’t ignore your sorrow.
·
The church has been called to come to you
with mercy to comfort your sorrow—let us in.
·
But remember this about sorrow—there is a good sorrow,
a goldy sorrow, a sorrow that saves us when we get off the path of
life. Godly sorrow for sin that hurts God and
others turns us back to life when we are on the road to death.
·
Going to confession with your priest, telling someone
what really goes on inside you, having a spiritual director will
lead you to salvation and a life of no regret; it leads to a clear
conscience; it leads to true concern for others, and a ready to see
justice in a world of injustice by the works of mercy flowing
through you.
CONCLUSION
1.
Jesus was a man of sorrow acquainted with grief
because he enter into the experience of human beings not with
reason, but with heartfelt love, care, and compassion ready to give
to help others.
2.
When people live alone, have no friends, have
experienced losses, rejections, hardships, trials, alienation from
loved ones, and other painful pasts, their sorrows our the
Macedonian call to the Church to come and help!
3.
May mercy and grace motivate us to give ourselves in
love and mercy to others.
"The road is too rough," I said, "Dear Lord, there are stones
that hurt me so."
And He said, "Dear child, I understand, I walked
it long ago."
"But there's a cool green path," I said; "Let me walk there for a
time."
"No child," He gently answered me, "The green path does not climb."
"My burden," I said, "Is far too great,How can I bear it so?"
"My child," He said, "I remember the weight; I carried My cross, you
know."
But I said, "I wish there were friends with me Who would make my way
their own."
"Oh, yes," He said, " Gethsemane Was hard to
bear alone."
And so I climb the stony path,Content at last to know
That where my Master had not gone, I would not need to go.
And strangely then I found new friends,The burden grew less sore;
And I remember--long ago He went that way before.
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