We are offended by life’s unfairness. For reasons that we do not understand “Unfair things do happen to good people” and perhaps even more inexplicable is sometimes “Good things happen to unfair people.”
Our national constitution states “all men are created equal.” And while it is true that all humans are created equal in God’s sight and have equal rights and protection under the law, all men are not created equal. I think that we all realize that we are not born with the same opportunities.
Life is not fair. It just isn’t. We have all felt, in moments of distress and pain, that life is not fair. And maybe that God is either out of it or doesn’t care. Why would it be that good people suffer and bad people get the goodies? Why would it be that callous, sinful, spiteful people pile up wealth and power, and the real saints, the salt-of-the-earth people, end up with sickness, debt, pain, and injustice? Why would it be that so many things happen to us, and we feel powerless, we feel abandoned and alone? Why is it that life is not fair?
The bible says:
The city was stressed out when word had spread through the streets that the teacher was on his way. The teacher, the one who had worked wonders up and down the length of Galilee; what would happen here when the priests and Pilate’s supposed powers put the pedal to the metal against him? What could we expect?
Some said that when the teacher would arrive in Jerusalem, God would break open the very gates of heaven, and send legions of angels to rout the Romans. Enough reason to spread palm branches and shout “Hosanna” as he rode in!
Others said no, God won’t deal with the Romans. God will deal with the Temple and will put down its high-and-mighty, money-grubbing priests. The teacher Himself had promised to tear down the Temple with His own hands and then build it again in three days! Wish I was a fly on that wall! There are always people who feel that somebody is to blame and somebody should be punished. Life is unfair!
But still others smiled cynically and suggested that this city had seen Messiahs come and Messiahs go, and that this one would be no different. This one would, like all the others; promise the world and deliver precisely nothing and like all the others before him, stir up hot-headed men always ready for a fight. Those heavy dudes who knew everything days before it happened, just knew that this guy would meet a quick end, like all the others. All they know is that life is not fair and that’s all there is to it. Period.
They were all lined up. The hopeful, the cheated, the cynical. All sorts of people for whom life had not been fair. The procession rounded a corner. You could see him now, the teacher. Staggering under the load of the cross. Stumbling barefoot over the uneven paving blocks in the street. Sweating under the rising sun of and just getting warmer. Half-blinded by streaks of blood in his eyes, dripping down from punctures made by a twist of thorn-twigs pushed down on his brow. It’s not fair to make a man carry the his own execution device; but then life itself is not fair. Nothing is fair.
The crowd murmured; the man under the cross fell to one knee. The centurion was mean and heartless. “Get up”.
The teacher was clearly exhausted, unable to keep going.
The centurion spoke again, “You there!” Simon saw the centurion’s massive hand pointing. “Come here. Pick up his cross.”
Simon felt his heart race, felt a rush of blood to his face; his lips started to form words that would not come. “We need you here. Carry this cross. You’re going to Golgotha with it.”
They compelled a passer-by to carry his cross. It’s not fair. If I had been in Simon’s shoes and had to lift that cross, I would have complained that life is not fair because it feels like things just get worse and worse.
Rome’s rule was an injustice in the first place. It was not right that Rome, by force of arms, should impose itself. It’s just not fair! They were crucifying this man, with hardly any trial; no proper charge and with no compassion. Now they reach out and commandeer a man who has nothing to do with the whole business. He’s a pack mule, gets plucked out of nowhere and made to carry the cross.
And what is God going to do about it? God is doing something! I want to tell you that God is doing something. God is involved. You and I become the miracle that God works when life is not fair.
I don’t know the whole story, but we do know that Simon’s heart was touched that day. Simon felt a whole lot more than the burden of a ten-foot cross on has back. We know that Simon became a follower of Christ and a part of this thing called the church that sprang up behind Jesus. Something grabbed Simon that day and put him into a movement that would attack the injustices of life. Cool!
Do you know what the Christian church did? These followers of Jesus turned around the world of Roman cruelty and brought in real justice. In just a few years, this church attacked dishonesty, undermined capital punishment, worked against slavery, and demanded an end to war! In just a few years, this church changed the status of women, assured life for infants, and built a fellowship across race and class and all sorts of barriers. These Christians turned the very world upside down. They became a beacon for justice, they became God’s instrument for justice.
Simon, who surely must have felt that life was not fair, and thousands of others like him, the poor, the lonely, the despised, and the downtrodden, made up this church. No longer feeling worthless, they became the instruments of God. If life is not fair, how does God work? He uses our experience of injustice to motivate us to work for justice. He takes our pain and energizes it into something that makes a difference.
Do not say, “God is doing nothing.” God is at work in all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. God is at work. He is at work through us!
But Wait, There’s more!!! If I had been in Simon’s shoes and had had to lift that cross, I would have felt alone. I would have felt that nobody cared what happened. If I had been in Simon’s shoes and had had to lift that cross, I might have been so blinded by my own pain that I would not have known there was anybody else who cared.
One of the things I know about humans is that when it happens to us, we cannot see beyond the end of our noses. When we hurt, we just want relief. When we are sick, we just want something for the pain. When we are destitute, we just want one good meal. We miss the big picture!
Life is unfair, yes. But do not say that God is doing nothing. God is giving us as gifts to each other. God is taking what happens with one and is using it to strengthen another. God is using what happens to us in this generation to shape our sons and our daughters in the next generation. God is taking the raw material of our suffering and is refining it in the life of others.
So when life doesn’t seem fair, do what Jesus said to do and Simon literally did…
Matthew 16:24-27
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
Simon says, lift your left arm…Haha….no, Take Up Your Cross!
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