BY JOHN THORPE
We attended a choral concert of twenty singers from a local choral society in the chapel of the Bowdoin campus this winter. They had selected a set of pieces for their performance that related to the theme of ‘Outcasts and Exiles.’ Each song was either a reflection of the theme or characterized the life of the composer who wrote the music. Heightened by the music, this made for a powerful exposition of this theme and demonstrated how this subject spans the centuries of experiences with pieces ranging from Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179) to Paul Hindemith, exiled to the U.S. from Nazi Germany.
Readers of the Bible would not be surprised to note that eight of the twelve pieces performed were Biblical texts or based on Bible stories. God is no stranger to the subject of being exiled or outcast as shown first by his people, the Israelites who were oppressed, enslaved, and refugees and is also shown in the lives of the main characters of the Bible- Moses, Gideon, David, Elijah, Esther, Jeremiah and scores of others. But God not only notes the suffering of his servants being outcast and exiled, He himself knows this suffering in Jesus Christ. Jesus, who was a refugee from Herod in his first years, rejected by the religious authorities in his teaching years and finally executed by both religious and government leaders only for declaring his true identity as the Son of God, suffered as an exile and outcast. Well did Isaiah prophesy that the Messiah would be
Despised and rejected. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised.
Isaiah writes this description, not merely so that we will take pity on the one who suffers, but also to instruct us that this is the path toward redemption, that is, the very answer to suffering.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. He was pierced for our transgressions; He was wounded for our iniquities.
A man or woman who hears of the suffering of refugees in some distant country may have pity on them and even send money to alleviate the suffering, but the one who goes and lives alongside those who suffer and who, themselves, bear the pain, danger and social reviling of those who suffer, will be instruments of healing, redemption, and rescue, all propelled by love. This is not to minimize these initial expressions of pity, as indeed, the road begins there, but the redemption that takes place is proportional to a person’s willingness to be present alongside those who suffer. Who has not been inspired by stories of people who have emptied their own lives and aspirations for the good of others? Movies, books and stories shine with this theme.
The power of this message of sympathy coupled with action is not only an inspiring story but has become for us- the wisdom and power of God. God rules over creation and is also the One who bears suffering (despised and rejected) and through this suffering rescues the very people who have brought on his suffering. The reign of such a God is the final word on how the universe works. This declaration that God himself is the author and finisher of mercy, propels the world forward toward the kingdom of God in which, powered by his love, peace will ultimately reign.