Do you recognize the name, James Calvin Tillman? Mr. Tillman was convicted of kidnapping and raping a woman in Hartford, CT in 1988. The victim identified him among a couple of suspects, clearly identified him as her rapist in court, and he was convicted. 45 years in prison. He was offered a deal if he would plead guilty. He turned it down, saying he didn’t do it. He totally missed out on the 1990s. While dolly the sheep was cloned, the Hubble telescope was launched, while Tupac and the Backstreet Boys were singing, Mr. Tillman wasn’t sitting in prison. He hardly saw his family, lost most of his friends, and through it all, maintained his innocence. And in 2006, 18 ½ years later, he was proved right. DNA evidence set James Calvin Tillman free. For 18 ½ years, he had suffered unjustly.
How does that make you feel? You really don’t have to stretch too far to imagine what he felt. While I’m not aware of anyone here who has unjustly spent 18 ½ years closed off from the outside world, every person in this room has had bad things happen to them that are not your fault.
You pour your heart and soul into your job only to have an irresponsible colleague mess it up. Someone gets a hold of your personal info, steals from you, ruins your credit, destroys your name; good luck getting a loan for anything for the next 7 years before it all goes away. You’re there for your kids. You reach out to them. Give advice to them. They ignore you, blow everything they have and more, and come crawling back to you expecting that their new burden is going to be carried by you, so you’re faced with the impossible decision of throwing your kid out or taking their problems in. Speaking of problems, why are you the one who gets everything thrown on them? Stuff that shouldn’t happen. Things you never saw coming. People’s choices that just befuddle you. You find out someone’s been holding key information from you.
Then you throw in all the smaller ways you suffer, which seem no less significant when you’re going through them. Your car gets hit by a careless driver without insurance. Your window’s broken by a neighborhood kid who runs away. Your tire is punctured in a pot-hole you didn’t create. Your boss gives you grief you don’t deserve, blaming you for things you didn’t do. Your secretary’s sending customers away because she’s cranky and having a bad day.
And what do you do to deserve this? Nothing. You’re just alive. And you take your life seriously. You do what you’re supposed to. And all this crummy stuff just unjustly happens to you. Why? Because life’s not fair? No. You want a better explanation that that. Here it is: Because this unfair, unjust life is the one God has called you to.
You know, God, the one who says he’s concerned about you, the one who says he wants nothing but the best for you. Jesus, the one who calls himself your Good Shepherd. Don’t believe me? Let Peter tell you.
His people were doing what God expected them to. They were working. They were working hard. They were providing for their families, but they were also suffering unjustly. Their bosses especially were treating them harshly; everything from talking down to them to even abusing and whipping them. And what did Peter tell them?
(19) For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. (20) But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. (21) To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
What do the bad thief, the good thief, and Jesus all have in common? They all suffered, didn’t they? But, according to Peter, who is the only one commended by God for their suffering? Jesus, because he’s the only one who suffered unjustly.
When you talk about suffering, you have to make a distinction between suffering you deserve and suffering you don’t. God only commends you if you put up with suffering you don’t.
Do you know who Kwame Kilpatrick is? He’s the mayor of Detroit. He was accused of having a sexual affair with his Chief of Staff. He said he didn’t do it. His lawyer said that he looked forward to being exonerated of these blantantly false accusations, which have put him through suffering he does not deserve. Then they found 14,000 text messages on the woman’s phone, in which Mayor Kilpatrick professed his love for the woman and talked a great deal about their sexual relationship.
You are not doing an honorable thing by putting up with suffering you bring on yourself. That’s not unjust suffering. That’s just plain damnable sin. God doesn’t commend you for sticking with a failing business if it’s failing because you’re lazy. God doesn’t commend you for being a single mother if your choice to sleep around is what caused that. God doesn’t commend you for taking another job if you’re too scared or timid to handle your current responsibilities. God has not called anyone to any of those things. Those sufferings come because of individual sins.
But if you are working hard as a single mother because your husband left you or your husband died before you, God commends you. If you stick with a business that is failing because some other employees were stealing, God commends you. If you work faithfully at a job where you are disrespected, or keep your cool when you’re faced with challenges that are unexpected, God commends you. If you are going through hell you don’t deserve, punishment you didn’t earn, pain you didn’t gain, God commends you – not just for your unjust suffering, but because you are putting up with it.
What are the other options that go through your mind when you suffer unjustly? You could retaliate. You could hit them where it hurts. You can call them names (at least behind their back). They mess with me, I’ll mess with them. They yell at me, they had better cover their ears, because I am about to shout at them. If you don’t like confrontation, you could leave. You could leave all the unaddressed issues unaddressed. All the conversations you know you should have, you can bury them in silence. You can find somewhere else where the pasture is greener. Maybe you can just sulk. Find a quiet corner and just think about how life’s so unfair and ask yourself, “Who are they to treat me and my kids this way,” none of which God calls you to do. God calls you to stay and put up with it. He even gave you an example of exactly what you should do.
(21) To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. (22) He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. (23) When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
When you’re learning to write, your teacher doesn’t just hand you a piece of paper and say, “OK, everyone write the letter “A.” You get this piece of paper with the letter “A” already written on it. The teacher tells you to copy it. There is an example on the paper. And, after copying the example a few times, writing the letter “A” becomes a bit easier.
Your Father has given Jesus to you as an example. He is certainly an appropriate example. We went through Holy Week not all that long ago, where we heard in great detail about the sufferings of Jesus: they hurled insults at him, he suffered at the hands of Pilate, Herod, and other evil men. He was whipped, beaten, scorned, and, finally, killed. He suffered.
And he suffered unjustly. He committed no sin. No deceit was found in him. He did not retaliate. He made no threats. He didn’t complain or despair. He did not say, “Woe is me.” He did not look for anyone’s pity. He didn’t say, “How unjust, unfair, or ungodly.” He simply stayed put and put up with it. And expects that this example will be followed by you and me.
When you have a spouse who doesn’t love you, a boss that’s harsh with you, people who disagree with you, friends who lie to you, family who hide secrets from you, government that’s dishonest with you, prisons that wrongly hold you; God calls you not to retaliate, to make no threats, never to complain or despair, not once to say, “Woe is me,” or to look for anyone’s pity, or to say, “How unjust, unfair, and ungodly.”
But that’s not fair! And you’re right, it’s not. I don’t know where we get this idea that we are owed a life that is fair and comfortable. But it certainly is not from the bible, where Stephen was stoned, John beheaded, and Paul imprisoned. It’s not from history. You’re familiar with the Nicene Creed? We recite it after the sermon on most communion Sundays. Did you know that there were 318 delegates who met to write the Nicene Creed? Did you also know that over 300 of them had an eye gouged out, a hand cut off, or their legs beaten and maimed because they were tortured for their Christian faith?
And we certainly don’t get this idea from Jesus, whose life was anything but comfortable. And why? Did you every ask yourself why he was treated so unfairly and unjustly? It’s not so hard to figure out.
Just as oil and water can never unite, neither can holiness and sin do anything but fight. Jesus’ way of life does not jive with this world. The Lord of life does not blend in with the valley of the shadow of death. The King of all creation will always be at odds with a world ruled by the king of all temptation. A world that always puts itself first will always and only hate, snicker, and try to kill anyone who puts his own needs last, like Jesus did.
And because he did, there was conflict; he suffered, just as you will when you follow him. He was hated, just like you, he was laughed at, just like you, he was doubted, just like you, he suffered, just like you; and you will continue to carry his sufferings in your body for as long as this sinful world is holding you.
But, there is one load of suffering he carried that will never be felt by you. (24) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. Ask David where he suffered the most. It wasn’t in war. It wasn’t with the lion or the bear. It wasn’t the unfair treatment he received from Solomon who tried to kill him. It was the pain of his soul when Nathan pointed out his sin with Bathsheba.
Ask Peter. Ask Peter what hurt the most. He’ll tell you it was the pain his soul felt when the rooster crowed. Ask Judas. Ask him what one pain, more than anything, he wanted taken away. He’ll tell you. It’s the pain in his soul he still feels to this day; when his selfish focus on his life is what unjustly betrayed and ended Jesus’ life. The pains of your body will someday pass away. The pain of a guilty soul, if it’s not removed, will forever stay.
You didn’t ask Jesus to suffer a hell you deserve, to take a punishment you earn, or to endure pain that you should gain. He knew you’d be too focused on yourself to ever ask. He just decided to take all that away. Was Jesus hanging on a rugged cross for your mistakes unjust? Yes. Was having the devil laugh at him for your sins unfair? You bet. Was there ever a doubt in Jesus’ heart that he was simply going to stay put and put up with it? Never.
And if you want to throw all that love away, retaliate, complain, be bitter, run away. But if you’d rather travel safely through the valley of the shadow of death rather than die in it, put up with the pain, suffer through the injustice, then hear and follow the example and voice your Good Shepherd who is leading you through it. And who knows, because the godly light you will carry looks so different than the darkness you are right now traveling through, you may just end up taking more sheep with you. Your Shepherd certainly wants you to.