Why to bad things happen in our good world.
Why do bad things happen in a good world, created by a loving God? All of us ask that question. At times, it can even be screamed in tears in the midst of pain. The question is real. And God does not answer the question – at least not in a way that is satisfactory to my mind.
Jesus does give a ‘sort of answer’ in last Sunday’s Gospel (Mt 13: 24-43). In the parable of the Weeds amongst the Wheat, the farmworkers want to get rid of the weeds, the landowner tells them to leave growing in amongst the wheat till harvest. No real farmer is going to do that. Laborious as it is, a farmer gets rid of the weeds. But parables often go against our expectations. They challenge us. God’s ways are not ours.
In his explanation, Jesus says that the good in the world has come from God but evil has been sown in it by the Evil One. And God lets both grow together to harvest, the End of Time, when all will be sorted out. This seems so unfair. Why do we have to put up with bad? I don’t know…at least my head doesn’t and mostly my heart objects also.
But the way forward comes in the very life and death of Jesus. He too asked this question, in his cry on the Cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ He knows what we go through, still he trusted, still he put his life into God’s hands. And released the fullness of life for us in his Resurrection. This is at the core of our faith: God often does not take away the pain and suffering we have in our lives. Rather, in the person of Jesus, we know God is with us, strengthening us, guiding us and strangely, helping us to grow in love and life.
Loving God, I often do not understand you ways, often when I am hurt, especially when I suffer. Give me the faith to know that you are with me. May your Spirit strengthen and guide me as he did Jesus in his Life. I ask this in his name confident that you will hear me.
Sr Kym Harris osb
