This is an extended, theologically minded, version of last week’s blog entitled ‘Only a game’.
Last week I posted on the Somerset cricket supporters Facebook page. I said a few, admittedly optimistic, words about Somerset’s prospects for the upcoming day’s play and said that, win, lose or draw, I was looking forward to seeing them play Kent this coming week adding that, for me at least, there are few more enjoyable things than watching Somerset play at the county ground in Taunton.
You would have thought that this would have been an uncontroversial view to express on a forum specifically set up for Somerset supporters – but you’d be wrong! Alongside those who ridiculed my suggestion that, given past batting performances, the team might yet do well, others presumably disenchanted by the teams recent batting performances and who clearly think Somerset are only worth watching if they win, responded by suggesting that I should ‘get a life!’
Which got me thinking about what ‘a life’, for some, entails.
As a doctor I regularly sit with those whose mental health is so poor that all they want to do is die – and those who mourn the death of those who meant the world to them.
I spend time with those whose cognitive functioning is declining – and those whose chemotherapy hasn’t delivered the cure that had been hoped for. Furthermore I speak to those whose cancer is so far advanced at presentation that an attempt at curative treatment isn’t even an option for them.
I visit those, some of whom are just a few years older than me, who, having suffered a stroke or the progressive effects of some other debilitating disease, find themselves in a nursing home – and I console those who, having geared themselves up for surgery only to have it cancelled at the last minute, have to endure their pain or anxiety for even longer than they already have.
And then there are the events like those that have recently occurred in Morocco and Libya.
Such, to a greater or lesser extent, are all our lives and so, in a world characterised by suffering, we all sometimes feel the need to be distracted by something we enjoy. So yes, because of the life I have, spending a day watching Somerset playing cricket at Taunton is one of the things I like doing most.
It saddens me then when a small minority seem to find it necessary to spoil the pleasure we have in supporting the teams we do by denigrating individuals who have entertained us so wonderfully for so many years. Do they not know how fortunate they are to watch what many are denied the pleasure of because of their life situation? And in a world where we are constantly told we have to be better, where the pressure to prove that we are a success is a constant burden, it’s a shame that they can not enjoy sport for what it is, an opportunity to play, to take part in what is after all just a game, without having always to win.
Of course there’s disappointment when results don’t go the way we might have hoped – but unkindness and rudeness are never justified. And they make the world, cricketing and otherwise, an even sadder place than, for some, it already is.
But having said that, watching cricket is, of course, only a distraction – at close of play, the problems remain. And so, whilst I am grateful to God for the pleasure I get from watching cricket, if I, or anyone else, wants any lasting comfort it is to God that we must turn. For he is the God of all comfort – the God who comforts us in all our affliction. [2 Corinthians 1:3-4]
Notice though that it doesn’t say that God will always act to immediately remove our affliction. No, for now at least, he comforts us IN our affliction. The writers of the psalms recognised that this was the case. As King David famously penned, ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. [Psalm 23:4] And the less well known writer of Psalm 119 is even more explicit when he says, ‘This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life…Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant. [Psalm 119:50,76].
Here then is hope for the afflicted. A hope that comes from believing God when in Revelation 21:4 he promises that a day is coming when he really will wipe every tear from our eyes and death will be no more. A promise which, as all the promises of God, finds its ‘Yes’ in Jesus Christ and is, therefore, guaranteed to be kept. [2 Corinthians 1:20].
To continue on a cricketing theme, on July 15th a man caught a ball. I’ve watched that catch dozens and dozens of times. Why? Well the man who took the catch was Tom Koehler-Cadmore and every time I see it I marvel at both his agility and superb eye-hand coordination. ‘TKC – take a bow’, the commentator intoned recognising the catch was one that was worthy of praise. But I watch it most because of what that catch achieved. For with it Somerset won this years T20 competition.
How much more then should we all continually look to the cross. For every time we consider what took place at Calvary we see something of the character of Jesus who hung and suffered there. We see his amazing bravery, we see his great humility and we see his overwhelming love for those he came to save. And we recognise what his death achieved – our reconciliation with God. For by dying for us, paying the penalty for all that we have ever, and will ever, do wrong, Jesus secured the forgiveness of our sins. Furthermore it brought about the death of death itself. As such Christ’s obedience to the point of death, even death on a cross, is worthy of our everlasting praise.
The cross then demonstrates how seriously the Christian faith takes, not only sin, but suffering too. It provides the solution to both the cause and the consequences of the fall.
And so it is at the cross, that we find real comfort – even in our affliction. It is at the cross we are made right with God and where we truly ‘get a life’. More than that it’s where we get ‘eternal life’.
And so I am grateful that in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus, mindful of where he was heading, was greatly distressed and troubled, so much so that his soul was ‘very sorrowful even to death’, [Mark 14:33-34] he did not waver from obeying the will of the Father. Because when the going got tough, Jesus kept on going – to the cross – to die, for you and for me.
Some people tell us that we need to step out of our comfort zone. And maybe sometimes that’s true. Even so, as Jonny Bairstow recently discovered as he wandered out of his crease, our comfort zone is exactly where we need always to stay. For it is in Christ that we are safe. God is our comfort zone – he is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in times of trouble. [Psalm 46:1]. Hear his words:
‘Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. [Isaiah 40:1-2]
‘Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. [Isaiah 49:13]
In these troubled times therefore, come and be comforted – trust in the atoning death of Jesus and know that each and every one of your sins is forgiven and that the sufferings of this present time are but temporary – for they are light and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory that is being prepared for you. [2 Corinthians 4:17]. And without minimising in any way your current sadness, if you are grieving today take heart – ‘The LORD is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit’ [Psalm 34:18] – ‘a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench’. [Isaiah 42:3].
For if you mourn your indwelling sin and the consequences of living in this fallen world, there is hope because ‘blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ [Matthew 5:3-4].
And hear too what the Book of Common Prayer calls the ‘comfortable words’ of our Saviour Jesus Christ who says to all who truly turn to him, ‘Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [Matthew 11:28]. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [John 3:16]
What a comfort it is to know that our sins are forgiven. And what a comfort it is to know that though our weeping may tarry for the night, joy will come with the morning. [Psalm 30:5]
Related posts:
To read ‘T.S. Eliot, Jesus and the Paradox of the Christian Life’, click here
To read “Suffering- A Personal View”, click here.
To read “Luther and the global pandemic – on becoming a theologian of the cross”, click here
To read “Why do bad things happen to good people – a tentative suggestion”, click here
To read “Hope comes from believing the promises of God”, click here
To read ‘Looking back to move confidently forward’, click here
To read ‘The Resurrection – is it just rhubarb?’, click here
To read “Hope comes from believing the promises of God”, click here
To read ‘Faith and Doubt’, click here
To read ‘What becomes of the broken hearted? Sorrowful yet always rejoicing on Palm Sunday’, click here
To read ‘Why do bad things happen to good people? Sorrowful yet always rejoicing on Good Friday’, click here
To read ‘Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things? Rejoicing, though temporarily sorrowful, on Easter Day’, click here.
And to read the shorter version of this blog entitled ‘Only a game’ and find links to other blogs about cricket, click here
Some musings 