Finding a Balance between Pessimism and Trust

 Finding a Balance between Pessimism and Trust   

A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer, March 21, 2021

Lenten Sermon Series – Practices for Better Living, 6 

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12; Matthew 6:25-34

The passage read earlier from Matthew, encouraging us to not worry, is one of my favorite passages in the Bible, as some of you might have guessed.  Luke includes the same teaching in his gospel (12:22-31).  I mean, who couldn’t like this passage where Jesus talks about the birds of the air and the wildflowers of the field, and how we can take a lesson from Nature about trusting the beneficent Creator to take care of us and provide all we need?  There are those times when we are drawn to such warm and fuzzy assurances and when we receive much comfort from them.  I have done so many times over the years, this past year included.

And yet, had we been sitting there on the hillside that day when Jesus is said to have uttered these words, we might have pressed him on the subject.  When it came time for responses and questions from the audience, we might have been moved to say to Jesus, “But wait, Jesus; what about the family that can’t put food on their table and is about to be evicted from their home because the father suffered a debilitating injury on the job and can no longer work to support his family?  What about the family that has spent all its money on a chronic illness or a severely disabled family member?  What about all the families that have been devasted by this pandemic that has taken so many lives and has left many people sick for months after they contracted the virus?  What about them?  Should they have no cause for worry?  Can they just trust that everything will be all right?”  Such are legitimate questions.

As much as we love this passage that counsels us to just trust and not worry, and as much as we would like to rest assured that if we just trust God enough, all will be well in our lives, if we are honest with ourselves we have to confess that the harsh reality is sometimes good, praying, trusting people do go hungry, do suffer financial loss due to serious illness, and are evicted from their homes.  If we have watched the world news these past twelve months, we know this to be the sad reality of life for many of our fellow Americans.

Then on the other end of the religious spectrum, we have read a rather skeptical passage from the book of Ecclesiastes that takes a more pessimistic view of life.  Ecclesiastes is part of the body of Jewish writings called Wisdom Literature, and along with the Book of Job it calls into question the idea that if the faithful just trust enough and always do what is right, life will always come up roses. Ecclesiastes and Job were written in attempts to provide a balance for teachings found in Proverbs, for instance, that say if you always do what is right, you will be blessed and life will be wonderful for you. Both Job and Ecclesiastes contend that you can’t always trust good things to come to you just because you have faith.  Sometimes bad things happen to good people.  The righteous do sometimes suffer; the faithful do sometimes meet with tragic circumstances; calamitous chance and fickle fate can befall all alike.  Just look at the character Job – he was a good man who trusted God and thought he was doing everything right, and calamities rained down upon him, one after the other.

Well, this is the season of the year that forces us to see, like no other season of the year, perhaps, that tragedy does come to good, faithful, trusting people.  Tragedy came to Jesus in the form of a Roman cross.  Tragedy came to the Jewish people whom Hitler tried to exterminate during the Holocaust.  And tragedy has come to millions of families worldwide in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, the faith question is this: How do we balance the two religious extremes of wanting to just trust that all will be well and we should not worry about anything, trusting that all our needs will be taken care of on the one hand, with the harsh reality that good, faithful people do sometimes suffer life’s tragedies and deprivations through no fault of their own on the other hand?  That, as they say, is the million-dollar question.

Both life and religious belief – it seems to me – are a balancing act.  One benefit of religious belief is to help us adjust to, deal with, make sense of, and often overcome the tragedies, harsh realities, suffering, and deprivations that come to us in life.

Another benefit of religious belief is offering hope  – hope for a better day, hope that a positive change might be just around the bend, hope that good shall come and the right shall prevail. 

A third benefit of religious belief is fostering courage – courage to face difficulties, loss, and an uncertain future. 

And a fourth benefit of religious belief is shaping our attitude and helping us find meaning – meaning in suffering, meaning in the great questions of existence, and meaning in life itself.

So, either religious extreme we see in the Bible – the pessimistic view that we see in Ecclesiastes and Job on the one hand that says everything is up for grabs, or the just trust and everything will be peachy on the other hand – either extreme can have its pitfalls and problems. 

A mature religious approach, it seems to me, is to be cognizant of the harsh realities of life that may befall the best and most faithful of people, but at the same time let our religious beliefs help us navigate life by fostering less worry, greater courage, and a more meaningful, hopeful outlook on the future.  May it be so. Amen.