groaning

I sometimes wonder what is heard in the universe of the groaning that has to be erupting from our tiny corner of it. It is the sound heard, not with ears, but with hearts in our dimension of men, beasts, and the living planet struggling under the weight of the oppression that has accelerated in the last twenty years. It feels like the acceleration of this demonic oppression has doubled in merely two years. The suppressing of truth, the cutting off of freedoms by under-handed back-room dealings, covered by cheap, cracked masks of concern for the human condition is the cause of this inaudible sound. The change that is taking place in the United States is crushing the hope of a better, freer place in which to live, even in other parts of the world. The lies and deception that have become the product of political systems in this post-modern era are not new to our little ball of dirt. But they are vastly multiplied and seek to enslave the collective human soul.

Over two-thousand years ago, a hard-working, honest Jewish man lived in an obscure town in the area of Galilee, in the heart of the fertile crescent. This beautiful and bloody piece of land was coveted by the most powerful rulers of the known world.  It was ruled by a king given to fleeting passions and whims. The man in the obscure little village of Nazareth had very diligently labored, hewing out a meager way of life, and was awaiting his marriage to a virgin of pure character in his village. The King, however, knew no discomfort or hard labor, and lived with the constant sorrow of having murdered his own sons and wife in order to retain his kingly position.  The old king hated his soft, luxurious life. But, how content the man in the village was, having prepared for life so well, and looking forward to filling his days with toil, love, and laughter. His heart was set upon doing right, and living in such a way to please Yaweh, the God of the Jews. The heart of the old king was dark and selfish and he did whatever he felt like doing at the time, void of thought for morality. It happened, as it mostly does, that each man found himself in unexpected circumstances.

Joseph was ill-surprised by the news that his betrothed was pregnant. He knew the child was not his. Not knowing what to do with her explanation for this, and not wanting her to be harmed because of Jewish law, he decided to send her away. But an angel of the Lord told him, in a dream, that it was true: Mary, a virgin, had conceived by the Holy Spirit, and what was in her was the Messiah. Joseph married her, and they promptly moved away to Bethlehem to pay taxes and be counted for the Roman census. Shortly after arriving, Mary delivered the child in the barn where they were staying. It was the only shelter available in the whole town because of the census.

The King got a surprise of his own. After a lifetime of murdering enemies, foreign and domestic, Herod was visited by some very wealthy and highly educated easterners. Their pilgrimage was to see the One born King of the Jews. This news angered King Herod very much. But he concealed his emotions from the Magi in order to get more information on this egregious event. The Magi said they would report back after they had found the child. But later, they were warned in a dream not to have anything further to do with this brutal king, Herod. So, after they had found the place where the child was and fulfilled their pilgrimage, they departed in a different way than they had come. This so infuriated Herod, that he ordered all the male children two years and younger to be killed in that area of Judea.

Joseph wondered at the visits from neighboring shepherds who spoke of angels singing praises to the infant his young wife had just delivered. The priest performing the child's circumcision, spoke and praised prophetically. A year later they were visited by some foreign princes (the Magi), who lavished very expensive gifts upon the child. It was shortly after this visit that Joseph was told by an angel of the Lord in a dream to flee to Egypt, because the King wanted to kill the child. In leaving Judea, they escaped being victimized by a political crime so despicable the land groaned under the weight of its bloody injustice.

The King died a few years later, hated by his people, misunderstood by his equals, and loathed by history. But the man from the little village finally returned. He resumed his business, loved his young bride, raised their children, and died with days full and content. The King was the cause of groanings, forgetting God, and living for his own selfish passions. Joseph, the humble man from the village, rejected what little comfort he had worked so hard for, to obey God's plan for his life.

The stepson of Joseph grew in stature, in favor with God and men, until He left his home to submit to God, his Father's plan. The groan of creation momentarily ceased as the stepson of a carpenter hung on a cross, suspended between heaven and earth. Creation sighed as the Lord of heaven and earth resurrected. The hearts of mankind hoped again, as He promised to return and release creation from the curse of sin and suffering, crushing all injustice, setting up a Kingdom free from hatred, murder, and lies, and turning the groan of the universe into a song of joy.

Romans 8.18-27 (NLT) Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.  For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.  Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.  For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, [a] including the new bodies he has promised us.  We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope [b] for it.  But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)   And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.  And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers[c] in harmony with God’s own will.