Every human life is a paradox
Last Monday a Policeman stopped me and when he realized I was a pastor, he asked me, “Pastor, are you praying for us? Please, pray for us.” I have been wondering on why the man should talk humbly and kindly like that. Because the initial way he commanded me to stop never corresponded with his […]
Last Monday a Policeman stopped me and when he realized I was a pastor, he asked me, “Pastor, are you praying for us? Please, pray for us.” I have been wondering on why the man should talk humbly and kindly like that. Because the initial way he commanded me to stop never corresponded with his subsequent mildness. But why should one wonder? A priest or pastor is a holy man, a good man. And he is always treated as such. But is he really all that good? On the other hand, we know that the policeman is supposedly out there to protect others, but he often ends up being the one trampling on the rights of others.
One would have thought that priests should be all-perfect at least if others are not. But the recent scandalous stories coming from America concerning pedophile priests is setting many people on edge. Are there people totally good or totally bad? Perhaps, we need to gain insight from nature. Existence is by opposites: man – woman, fire – water, light – darkness, day – night, birth – death etc. The truth is that “Every life is a mixture of light and darkness, sin and virtue, good and evil. Every human life is a paradox.”
Two texts (Wis. 12: 13. 16-19; Mt. 13: 24-30) for our reflection today provide an answer to the questions so frequently asked, namely: why does God permit evil to triumph so often in this world? Why are the wicked allowed to succeed at the expense of those who struggle to be good every day? Why should God allow the armed robbers and/or kidnappers who lay ambush on our roads to go scot-free? Is God really the God of Justice? Why do the righteous suffer? Questions like these and many others puzzle us and of course, cause so many to stumble and stray. We would always have loved if God were to eliminate from our midst the abortionists, the child molesters, rapists, the drug lords, the gang leaders, the serial killers, the terrorists, cult members, wicked teachers and those who abuse human goodness and dignity. But God does not do this. In this way, many people understand God to be weak and thus, conclude that He is not all-powerful and all loving as we claim He is.
But happy are those who now grasp the answer given by the writer of the Book of Wisdom. At the end of his reflection, he is able to understand that God only gives time. He is only being lenient not that He is weak. Thus, the Book of Wisdom declares: Your sovereignty makes you lenient to all. Disposing of such strength, you are mild in judgment. You govern us with great leniency. By acting thus, you have taught a lesson to your people how the virtuous man must be kindly to his fellow men. As such, the immeasurable kindness of God is the cause of evil. In other words, the presence of evil in the world is the side effect of the abundant mercy of God and the goodness of God.
Thus, with the parable of the weeds, Jesus answers those who are scandalized at seeing evil everywhere. Good and bad will be mixed till the end of the world. Good and evil will always be found together in persons and institutions. So, to put an end to evil means that God will cease to be God, and no longer to be love, compassionate and kind. God respects people. He knows that temptation is often stronger than their good intentions and they need time to find and to choose steadily what is good.
The point being made today is three-fold: Evil is as a result of God’s kindness in dealing with humans. So evil is the side effect of the abundant goodness, mercy of God lavished on us in the world. Secondly, it cautions us all not to be judgmental. We are not to play God – not to judge others, categorizing and cutting them off. This attitude, we are told is wrong because in the process, the good ones also will get eliminated as well. We are to wait for the time of judgment, for now it is not yet judgment time. The reality is that every one of us carries a shadow, namely that we are what we think we are not. In the sense of the parable, the kingdom of God is still at the growing stage. However, now is the time for conversion, time for change. Punishments for wrongdoing are given in order to bring about repentance and conversion. The present time then, is an opportunity given to all for conversion.
No wonder, the man in Jesus’ story tells his servants to allow the wheat and the grass to grow together. This tells us more importantly that God is being patient with us human beings. He gives us the time to discover, to realize by ourselves the bad things, the sins we have been committing. So that when at last we realize them as wrong, we may turn to him with a repentant heart, hence, his mercy and goodness cannot be measured. Our sense of God-awareness often comes to us through our weaknesses, our wounds, our sins, our vulnerability and our pains. “Our very sins, our sickness, are precisely what bring us closer to the reality that no matter how hard we try to deny it, we are not the ones in control here. And this realization, inevitably and joyously, brings us closer to God.”
Like in the Book of Job, we are made to understand that in the face of evil or suffering, we need not answers to our numerous questions; rather we need to trust in God’s goodness, power and greatness in the stunning world of creation where everything exists in opposites. God has the answers that we seek, but we are not ready for the answers. In the mean time, we are to be patient; we are to love the questions that we ask and live in trust. Some day God will share all the answers and all His secrets with us.
Father Samjumi is of the Catholic Secretariat, Abuja