God’s ways to realize
his will is often mysterious and sometimes painful as man perceives it. But truly,
God only desires the best for his best man.
In a Jewish story, that once I had
read, a rabbi kept on questioning the goodness of the will of God for he saw
them as something which was not good, in terms of the means used and the
immediate effect and therefore opposing the very definition of the will of God,
which is something good. One day, God decided to send Isaiah in the land to
accompany the rabbi in one of his journey. Isaiah obediently followed the
command of God; he went to the rabbi to accompany him. The rabbi was thankful for
what God had sent may obliterate all the doubts that are braced in his faith.
They started their journey. When night fell, they looked for a house to shelter
them from the cold and darkness of the night. They found a shelter in a hut of
an old couple, who owned a cow, which supplies them with enough milk that the
couple can sell in the market. The couple politely accepted the two. In the
morning, the rabbi found out that the cow, owned by the old couple die of a
thunder struck. The couple grieved as if it is the end of their world. The two
left the couple after consoling them. As they continued their journey, the
rabbi began to asked Isaiah about the death of the cow; Why did God let the cow
die? It is the only source of the couple’s livelihood, he explained. Isaiah
answer ‘If God did not let the cow to be struck by a thunder, surely the
husband will be the one to be struck by thunder. It might cause far more
grieved in the side of the wife than the one that they have now with the death
of the cow.
They continued in their journey but with a silence in the mouth of
the rabbi. When the night fell, they look for a house to shelter them from the
cold and darkness of the night. They found a large house with a pillar that was
half destroyed. The owner, a rich yet arrogant man, refused to welcome the two.
The two searched for another house that will shelter them until the dawn.
Fortunately they found one. In the morning, Isaiah went to town and hired the
best mason in town to repair the half destroyed pillar in the house of the rich
man. And the rich man was sarcastically thankful for he saw that act as an
insult in his wealth. The two continued in their journey, again, the rabbi
started to asked Isaiah; Why did you hired the best mason in town to repair the
half destroyed pillar in the house of the rich man? even though he did not let
us to sleep in his house, he explained. Isaiah answered, ‘If the pillar will
totally be destroyed, it will exposed a chest of treasure buried for centuries.
And that will make the rich man richer and more arrogant.” The only word uttered by the rabbi was “Now I
understand.”
Most of the time in our lives, we
tend to confuse things. We fail to learn and recognize the lessons and ends
buried in our everyday battle. We are unable to see the greater effect of
things that are happening around us. We only see, most of the time, the
immediate effect of these things, and take them dreadful. And that dreadfulness
causes the failure to see the greater effect.
Just like in the gospel, Peter
objects the will of the Father, for it seems that the will of the Father is
awful; that it will cause the death of Christ. But Peter fails to comprehend
that the death will not only cause the death of Christ but also the re-birth of
souls redeemed from sin and death. The challenge of our Lord to us is for us
to see the greater fruits of things that the Father wills for us. It is these greater ends that matters most, not the passing pain and sorrow that accompany their birth and realization.
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