The Transformation of Suffering
Scripture Reflection for the Twenty-nineth Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 21, 2012)
Scripture Readings:
Isaiah 53:10-11
Psalm 33:4-5, 18-22
Hebrews 4:14-16
Mark 10:35-45
I must confess, the opening verse of this Sunday's readings was a source of great discomfort for me. At the end of September a dear friend and mentor died, too young, after a two year battle with pancreatic cancer. In light of Robert's courageous struggle to live faithfully, I found Isaiah's words extremely disconcerting: "The Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity" (53:10). What kind of God takes pleasure in enervating a loyal disciple? The perennial question of Job resounds across generations of readers/hearers before the text---why do bad things happen to good people? What makes this fair?
The connection between Isaiah's Suffering Servant and Job was also noted by Peruvian liberation theologian Gustavo Gutierrez. In his classic On Job: God-talk and the Suffering of the Innocent, he observes that the ties between sin and suffering are thematically severed in these texts by Second Isaiah. Instead these Servant Songs suggest that suffering is not punishment, tragic yes, but possibly crucial in serving divine purpose (119, n.19). This theological turn does not diminish the reality, the pain or the inequity of suffering. Instead it affirms divine presence amidst struggle and the hope that perhaps somehow God can transform it in a manner that brings about some good. But even then, in the presence of suffering brought about by affronts to justice and the flourishing of creation, we must take care lest we convince ourselves that such misery is necessary and tolerable. Our faith in God's goodness does not absolve us of the responsibilities that are ours to participate in the reign of God's justice.
While our readings for this Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time are ripe with possibilities for reflection, I cannot help but interpret them through the hermeneutical lens of Robert's life as a teacher. Isaiah's allusion to the servant's descendants refers not to his biological or adopted offspring, but to those who follow the example and teaching of the one who is suffering. The epistle to the Hebrews calls attention to a significant attribute, one that made Jesus the Son of God a teacher who gets it, who comprehends the vulnerabilities of human living in all its suffering, who can "sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way"(4:15). In Mark's gospel, the pedagogy of Jesus entails teaching not only by words but by example, an example that tragically includes profound suffering. He offers schooling in the politics of power, but that lesson is a difficult one. True authority rests with those who accept the responsibility of service, a daily expectation of living one's life with the flourishing of others as a priority, an expectation of participating in the reign of God's justice. However here too we must take care, lest we confuse the gracious generosity of such service with pathological self-denigration or the perpetuation of abusive power structures. A life of service in God's name honors the dignity of all created in the divine image, including oneself.
The homilist at Robert's funeral, his oldest friend, reminded all of the power of a teaching life. He spoke of the many comments from past and present students on the Facebook page from the all-girls Catholic High School where Robert taught his kids new lessons in how to live especially during these past two years with advanced sage cancer. Among those comments were ones from those who themselves turned to teaching because of the example of their teacher. As word of Robert's passing went out, similar sentiments were expressed across cyberspace from others he had taught or had mentored into teaching from the three high schools he had served across his forty years of ordained ministry. Like with the descendants of Second Isaiah's Servant, the will of God continues to be accomplished in the lives of those touched by a teacher who had been tested, yet continued to teach even through his suffering, a lesson learned from the consummate teacher, Jesus the Word of God.
References:
Gustavo Gutiérrez On Job: God-talk and the Suffering of the Innocent (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1987).
Image: Public Domain, Source: www.theworkofgodschildren.org
Carmen Nanko-Fernández
Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry
Director of the Ecumenical Doctor of Ministry Program
Director of the Certificate in Pastoral Studies
M.A., D.Min., Catholic University of America
Carmen Nanko-Fernández is a Catholic pastoral theologian with extensive experience in ministry, teaching, and administration. Her scholarship reflects an appreciation for contextual and postcolonial theologies and has focused on areas of US Hispanic/Latino/a theologies, Catholic social teaching, interreligious and intercultural relations, youth, and on the intersections between faith and popular culture with particular attention to béisbol.
Nanko-Fernández was the 2008-09 President of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologicans of the United States (ACHTUS), co-editor of the New Theology Review, convener of the Latino/a section of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), co-chair of the Committee on Underrepresented Ethnic and Racial Groups (CUERG) of the CTSA, and co-chair of the Latino/a Religion, Culture, and Society section of the American Academy of Religion (AAR).
Her publications include the chapters "From Pájaro to Paraclete: Retrieving the Spirit of God in the Company of Mary, in Building Bridges, Doing Justice: Constructing a Latino/a Ecumenical Theology (Orlando O. Espín, ed. 2009), “Language, Community and Identity,” in Handbook of Latina/o Theologies, "(Edwin Aponte and Miguel de la Torre, eds. 2006), and "Justice Crosses the Border: The Preferential Option for the Poor in the United States," in A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice (María Pilar Aquino et al, eds. 2002). Among her journal articles are “Locating the Daily: Lo cotidiano as a Locus for Exploring Christian--Jewish Relations latinamente,” Apuntes (2009); “We Are Not Your Diversity, We Are the Church! Ecclesiological Reflections from the Marginalized Many,” Perspectivas: Occasional Papers [Fall 2006]; “¡Cuidado! The Church Who Cares and Pastoral Hostility” in New Theology Review (2006); “The World Series in Ordinary Time,” in Preach (2005).
She has published a number of articles in the Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology [http://www.latinotheology.org/] including “Theologizing en Espanglish: The Imago Dei in the Vernacular” (2008), and “Elbows on the Table: Ethics of Doing Theology/ A U.S. Hispanic Perspective” (2003). Nanko-Fernández has also authored several theological perspective pieces on Sunday readings for Lectionary Homiletics in print and online as well as for year A of the Feasting on the Word series.
Affiliations: National Advisory Committee, Center of the Study of Latino/a Catholicism, University of San Diego.
Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Member of the leadership team for the Latina/o Faculty Colloquy [2008-2009]
Books written by and featuring Carmen Nanko-Fernández
