18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel… 25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. [Luke 24:18-27, NRSV]
Two of the disciples meeting the resurrected Jesus on the way to Emmaus, by Hans Andersen Brendekilde (1857–1942)
In ministry, we know too well that “we were hoping” are three little words that betray a great deal inside the sufferers who utter them. They are still living in their Calvary, re-hashing their experience of rejection and dashed hopes, hurts and pain. They are still trying to make some sense out of it.
Negative Experiences in Ministry
In Renewing Your Ministry: Walking with Jesus in All that You Do, Joe Paprocki points to some characteristics from the Emmaus story that are displayed in people engaged in church-ministries who are hurting inside with frustration and pain. Their experience is the same as those that they serve who are experiencing pain.
- Ministers experiencing pain are stuck in the same place and cannot move on. That place is the “rut of negative rhetoric”.
- They are unable to notice others because all they can feel is their own pain.
- You find them going in circles, unable to see clearly where they are headed and who is walking along with them.
- As their ministries are not getting the support they hoped for, and the congregation they serve are resistant to change, they find it increasingly tough to keep up a positive outlook and get increasingly mired in the temptation of negativity.
- “See how my ideas and suggestions are trampled by others!”
- “See how my co-workers and others turn against me!”
- “See how they stifle my spirit and drain my enthusiasm!”
- “And see how my ministry lacks even the minimal support that I reasonably expect from them!”
- And so, filled with negativities, it feels good to continually curse the darkness, instead of lighting candles.
- We become cynical “spin doctors” proclaiming bad news instead of good.
- We focus on all that is wrong and “evil” in the church – the faith community of fallible people.
- We even feel good and heroic for cursing darkness so insightfully and courageously.
The problem is, cursing darkness get us nowhere. Creative negativity creates a paralysis and we drag others down with us, hampering the good that can otherwise be done despite all the inevitable presence of darkness surrounding ministry.
Learn to Move On
There are lots and lots of people in the Church who render voluntary service to the faith community. Whenever they are confronted by discouraging words and behaviour, they do not just throw in the towel and leave. Instead, they keep quiet and just get on with the work, knowing that without anything good to say, they do the best thing, which is not to say anything. These people actually practise the best of what Jesus has taught about “turning the other cheek” (Mt 5:38-39). We are often struck, not physically, but verbally. It hurts. Turning the other cheek is not passive, but pro-active. It means to be strong and big enough to move forward despite the hurt. This is the spiritual alternative to verbalizing return-abuse. It means to live, act, and continue to minister positively despite negative behaviour on the part of some others.
To be proactive is identified by author Steven Covey as one of the “seven habits of highly effective people”. In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he insists that proactive people “do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior,” but instead choose responsibility.
Paprocki is not recommending that ministers ignore their pain, much less to enter into denial. Instead, he recommends confronting our pain in a healthy and mature manner so as to allow it to be transformed. To do so, we are to note the difference between “talking from our pain” and “sharing our pain”:
- Talking from our pain is a one-way street. It is a monologue and not a dialogue. It seeks to change the other.
- Sharing our pain is done with a mind open to a different perspective and a heart willing to allow the self to be transformed.
In the Emmaus story, the disciples on the road do not tell their story to Jesus and walk away. Luke says they share their story with the stranger and are ready to hear an alternative interpretation of the events – a different perspective – by the stranger. They allow themselves to be challenged by the stranger and his views. The stranger listens and offers something that not only confounds their previous view, but even cracks open an unexpected glimmer of hope. While their eyes are not opened at this stage to recognize the risen Jesus, already their hearts are burning inside them. Sharing their pain has now set their hearts on fire with fresh hope. When lingering bitterness, frustration and pain burden our hearts and trouble our souls, we are well advised to seek out someone with the twin qualities of a willingness to offer us empathy and to truly listen to our inner pain, as well as an ability to open our mind to a different way of reading the things and events that cause us pain.
A Lesson from Saint Paul
Saint Paul has a spirit that is well worth our tuning into if we can. Paul knows suffering in ministry more than anybody else. But he did not sit around complaining about it and refusing to work for Christ anymore for the rest of his life. Instead, he embraced his suffering and developed a new approach to life and ministry, which is to boast of nothing but his weaknesses:
- “‘[The Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:9-10).
Paul, having mastered the art and spirituality of peace, manifested the power of shalom – the state of being at peace, content, and whole even in the face of suffering. He had attained a level of acceptance in the midst of conflict, pain and frustration.
The same apostle Paul has taught us that we are the Body of Christ. Ministers who hurt inside must nevertheless learn to move on by practising resurrection. We practise resurrection by bringing hope to people of pain and hopelessness, mindful that we are the Body of Christ alive in the world. And in the climate of ecclesiastical crisis today, followers of Christ Crucified and Risen must move beyond complaining about the Church we see, and start becoming the Church we dream of. But of course, we can only do so by reminding ourselves of a key insight from the Emmaus story, and that is, resurrection is the work of God, not the work of humans. In all that we do, our resurrection practices are at their best when they are defined not by our attempts at taking charge and exercising control, but by surrender and trust in God. This moderating sense comes through in the work of the poet Wendell Berry who coined the phrase “practice resurrection” in the poem “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front”. We are neither the originators of our lives nor the controllers of our destinies. When we practise resurrection, we enter into what is more than we are. Our companion on this journey of faith is Jesus the Christ, who knows where we are going better than we do.
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, August 2021. All rights reserved.
You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to jeffangiegoh@gmail.com. You can also be dialogue partners in this Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry by sending us questions for discussion.