Suffering with Jesus
You are not like Jesus. You will continue to sin. But you will say about every sin of yours, "It is not mine; it belongs to Jesus..."
But will not the remembrance of past sins continue to trouble you? I once told a mass-murderer the story of the two brothers... in which the older [demanded to put on the bloody clothes of the younger who had just murdered someone and was executed in his place], asking from him only one thing: to live henceforth, in the white garment which he had left him, an unspotted life. The murderer became a Christian. I asked him sometime later if he was joyous at having been freed of his past through the sacrifice of Christ, our older Brother. His answer was, "I will be joyous only when an occasion arises in which I am able to play to another sinner the role of the older brother and suffer for him." The occasion presented itself, and he became a happy man.
You can be happy even without such special occasions. Every man who becomes a Christian becomes an innocent sufferer because he bears punishment he no longer deserves. Immanuel Kant wrote, "The criminal has a right to punishment." A former murderer, liar, adulterer, drunkard, or sinner of whatever kind will continue to suffer the results of his past life even after his conversion. Through repentance he has become an entirely new creature who normally would not have to suffer. The sorrows and pains which the new man suffers for the old man are a continuation of the sufferings of Christ. Do not worry: you will have your part of suffering and also the joy of being able to suffer.
[And] you will have been saved from all your sins.
[RW, LNWLEO, (c)1974]
But will not the remembrance of past sins continue to trouble you? I once told a mass-murderer the story of the two brothers... in which the older [demanded to put on the bloody clothes of the younger who had just murdered someone and was executed in his place], asking from him only one thing: to live henceforth, in the white garment which he had left him, an unspotted life. The murderer became a Christian. I asked him sometime later if he was joyous at having been freed of his past through the sacrifice of Christ, our older Brother. His answer was, "I will be joyous only when an occasion arises in which I am able to play to another sinner the role of the older brother and suffer for him." The occasion presented itself, and he became a happy man.
You can be happy even without such special occasions. Every man who becomes a Christian becomes an innocent sufferer because he bears punishment he no longer deserves. Immanuel Kant wrote, "The criminal has a right to punishment." A former murderer, liar, adulterer, drunkard, or sinner of whatever kind will continue to suffer the results of his past life even after his conversion. Through repentance he has become an entirely new creature who normally would not have to suffer. The sorrows and pains which the new man suffers for the old man are a continuation of the sufferings of Christ. Do not worry: you will have your part of suffering and also the joy of being able to suffer.
[And] you will have been saved from all your sins.
[RW, LNWLEO, (c)1974]
posted by CS at 3:12 PM
1 Comments:
beautiful. there is a truth in penance. not as restitution, but as an act of suffering. and i guess that only when our eyes are on christ, or to the degree that my eyes are on him, are those sufferings worth anything--if my eyes are on my self, on how well, how truly, how humbly i suffer, it's only flesh.
i guess my question is this: HOW do we suffer for our sins? Is continuing (tho not un-repented or unconfessed) sinfulness to be considered suffering? Is guilt a component of suffering? Is our enemy's attack to be considered suffering?
wow.
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