No one likes discipline. No one likes to be disciplined or undergo any sort of discipline, even if it is the intent to better ourselves. And most of us do not like to inflict discipline. As children, we did not enjoy being reprimanded and punished by our parents for something we did. And for those of us who are parents, we don’t enjoy disciplining our children, because we know how they feel.
Growing up, I didn’t enjoy doing homework or studying. But I knew that the discipline I was undergoing through studying was going to make me a better student, and ensure I get into college, and graduate and get a good job. When I was training for a marathon last Fall, I didn’t enjoy the 40 mile weeks, all the runs in the cold rain, and the muscle aches from the strenuous runs. But I knew that I was building that discipline that would give me the mental and physical strength I would need later in the race, long after the excitement and the adrenaline had worn off.
Our spiritual lives, and well life in general, is the same way. As it says in the first reading from the Letter of Hebrews:
Endure your trials as “discipline”
Our trials in life, those ups and downs with marriage, our families, our jobs, and everything in-between – they all work together to discipline us, building character, integrity, and wisdom as a result.
God does not want us to suffer. He does not inflict pain on us. Suffering and pain is simply part of the world we live in. But God also uses these instances of suffering, pain, and disappointment to discipline us. Not the punishment kind of discipline, but rather as Merriam-Webster states, the training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character. He uses these as opportunities to bestow His grace upon us, and bring us closer to Him, and train us to turn to Him when we cannot do it on our own.
Again, I go back to running. One result of the strict training regimen is to build that muscle memory. You are out there running for hours, and you build not only the mental discipline to get you through, but you build the muscle memory to the point where you are taking steps and moving your arms in rhythm, and perfecting your technique to a point where you are essentially on autopilot. You simply don’t think about your cadence, or how you are landing on your foot, or how you are swinging your arms, or when you are breathing. You train yourself so that it just happens naturally without thinking. This muscle memory is what gets you through the last few miles of a marathon. It’s the same with a natural, smooth jump-shot in basketball or a swimmer with a beautiful stroke. You simply do. You don’t think. This is what God aims to teach us amidst our trials.
He expects to train us how to seek Him, and turn to Him in times of need, when we get in trouble and have no where else to turn. When we cannot handle it anymore, He wants us to turn to Him, to spend time with Him. He wants to build that spiritual muscle memory in us, so that when things like this happen, it’s automatic. And when we start turning to Him in times of need, soon we build that spiritual muscle memory and discipline to the point where we turn to God in the good times, and for the good of others.
Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled.
He wants us to turn to Him in everything that we do, to build that discipline so that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble. God uses the trials and pain in our lives to make us better people in every aspect of our life. Every moment is a teaching moment.
God treats you as his sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?
Every one of us who are parents can appreciate this fact. When your child is growing up, every moment is a teaching moment. And with God as our eternal Father, He is constantly teaching us so that we become better.
But I think there is also another message to see here. It’s interesting how the word “son” is quoted within the above verse in the first reading today. Put another way, no one is without the need of discipline. Not even God’s own Son.
You may be thinking, what? Jesus didn’t sin. He didn’t need to be disciplined? But remember, discipline, as in the case of running, is training to make yourself better and stronger.
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus visits His hometown and teaches in the synagogue. People are hearing what he is saying, and cannot believe it. They still remember the little boy, who used to run around, who was the son of the carpenter or craftsmen. The son of Mary. How could he have such wisdom and knowledge? They basically scoffed at Him and as St. Mark writes, they took offense at him.
This had to have been very disappointing and disheartening for Jesus. Here he was coming home and he was probably excited to talk to and share His knowledge with the people he grew up with, His extended family. But Jesus, while being fully divine, is also fully human, and to be rejected like this in His hometown likely hurt Him a little. Mark writes, He was amazed at their lack of faith.
He could not help them because they did not believe. They did not have faith.
This was a learning moment for Jesus. God the Father was teaching Him that it was not going to be easy, that those whom He might expect to receive Him may in fact be the ones that reject Him. Perhaps this was a foreshadowing of the events to come, how He would come to be rejected and wished to be crucified by those who first welcomed Him into Jerusalem. Perhaps this was one of those moments preparing and training Jesus for what was to come.
Of course we know the rest of the story, and we know how Jesus contained that spiritual muscle memory to turn to His Father at all times – in good, and most certainly the bad.
Our challenge today, every day, is to be more like Christ. Our challenge is to recognize those teaching moments in our lives, and how through God we can become stronger mentally and spiritually. Our challenge today, amidst all our trials, and through all our successes, is to be thankful for whatever comes our way, seeking the lessons God has for us throughout. Our challenge today, even through all the hurt, anger and hate in this world, is to still have the discipline to love God and each other, just as Christ did for us. Our challenge today is to build the spiritual muscle memory to simply not think, but to be automatic in our love of Christ in all that we do.
