HE Comes

One of the delights of our family is that we get Christmas cards from a variety of countries.

One card from a cousin multiple times removed who lives in the ancestral home in Vienna, sent a simple card featuring a picture of the Madonna and Child which is in the Molk Abbey in Austria.

A writing on the back of card comes from Klaus Hemmerle, a Roman Catholic Bishop in Austria who died in 1994.

The writing said:

“God’s interest is us not only distributes friendly gifts while HE Himself remains at a distance, but His interest in us drives Him into our situation. HE comes where we are, HE enters our lives.”

Have you ever experienced a friendship where you were buddy-buddy, until something bad happens? A death or an illness? Even though we experience all of these things, we don’t always know how to deal with someone else who experiences them. We distance ourselves. 

God does the opposite. When things are good God keeps a distance, maybe because we’re taking care of each other. 

But when things get bad, God joins us where we are, in our suffering and our pain. God doesn’t withdraw, God moves in.

Jesus demonstrated this. As news spread about Jesus, people who suffered with diseases, seizures, paralysis, and demon-possession came to Jesus and he healed them. He didn’t withdraw, he moved forward and healed.

A search of the word “suffering” in Biblegateway.com doesn’t provide very uplifting verses. We are told that our suffering is nothing compared to Christ’s, that we suffer on earth so we can enjoy the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

I much prefer the vision of Christ coming to us in our suffering. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus lets us know about the promise of the future.

Yes, Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection show us the promise of a future in heaven.

But until then, we are here on earth, knowing that God watches and shares with us in the good times and the bad.

Ann Iona Warner