Theology Lesson for the Day

There is an old Peanuts comic strip in which Linus gets a splinter. When Lucy notices, she exclaims, “Ah-Ha! That means you’re being punished for something! What have you done wrong lately?” “I haven’t done anything wrong!”, Linus answers. To that, Lucy replies, “You have a sliver, haven’t you? That is a misfortune, isn’t it? You’re being punished with misfortune because you’ve been bad!…” She continues, “I know all about these things! I know that…” Just then, Linus interrupts, “It’s out! it just popped right out!” As Lucy walks away frowning, Linus says, “Thus endeth the theological lesson for today!”

Lucy’s theology is bad, though unfortunately, it is not uncommon. Sometimes people think that illness or misfortune is a sign of sin. Sometimes they look down on those who are down and out. However, bad things do happen to good people. And, good things sometimes happen to bad people. We don’t know why that is.

What we do know is that God sent Jesus into this world to share in our suffering, pain, and heartache. While there are no promises in scripture that life would be easy – there is the promise that God is with us – offering us strength and courage, peace and hope even in the midst of our trials.

What if Lucy had comforted and helped her brother instead of heaping on the guilt and blame? Now that would have been a theological lesson worth teaching!

Let us pray: Loving God, we can’t pretend to have all the answers, or to understand why things happen as they do. We remember Jesus saying that you cause the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and send rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Whether it is sunny or raining in our lives, help us to follow his example of self-giving love. May we find meaning and comfort in a grounded trust in your goodness and through our service to others. We pray in the name of the One who gave even his life for us. Amen.