Suffering Produces Perseverance!

From Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter five:

“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3-4)

If you’ve spent any time studying Islam, you know that Muslims hold Jesus in remarkably high regard. Indeed, Jesus’ name appears in the Qur’an more often than that of Prophet Muhammad (PBAH). The same cannot be said of the Apostle Paul, though. Indeed, many Muslims suspect Paul of steering the Christian community off course by focusing too much on Jesus instead of focusing on the God of Jesus.

I’ve always felt that this low regard for Paul is a shame, because if Muslim scholars—particularly Shia Muslim scholars—would spend more time with Paul, they would find in him a profound companion in their own theology of suffering.

Now … my aim in these reflections is specifically to help illuminate the Christian Scriptures, but if there was ever a moment for Christians to deepen their understanding of Islam—particularly of Shia Islam—that moment is surely now.

Only ten to thirteen per cent of the world’s Muslims are Shia, yet they make up ninety to ninety‑five per cent of the population of Iran, and given that America and Israel have now gone to war with Iran, and given that our own prime minister has publicly expressed Australia’s support for this war, it strikes me as essential that we learn something about the people we are possibly preparing to fight.

As you probably know, I’ve travelled to Iran numerous times. I’ve lectured at Iranian universities and have been broadcast on national television there twice. Back in 2006, I helped found the Australia–Iran Friendship Association (in Australia), and in 2019 I fought the amateur boxing champion of Mashhad (in northeastern Iran).

I will never forget that fight, as, after the final bell tolled, all the boxing officials in their white shirts and black bowties lined up across the ring, facing me, and each of them then gave me a red rose and a kiss on each cheek! I went back to my hotel with a big bunch of roses, two red cheeks, and an even deeper love for the Iranian people.

Anyway … I don’t claim to be an expert, but I know enough about Iran to say these verses from Saint Paul would resonate deeply with almost every religious Iranian.

“Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

On April 3^rd this year, we’ll celebrate Good Friday. On August 3^rd, Shia Muslims will celebrate Arba’een, and I must say that the first time I attended an Arba’een service, I was struck by how much the atmosphere reminded me of our Good Friday service.

On Good Friday we remember the death of Jesus—an event both terrible and holy. Shia Muslims, in Ashura and Arba’een, remember the martyrdom of Imam Husain at Karbala in the year 680.

I won’t go into the details here, but I would encourage you to read about it or attend an Ashura gathering this August. Let it suffice for the moment to say that nothing is revered more in Shia Islam than Husain’s example of suffering for the sake of truth, which, I believe, was exactly what Saint Paul was also focusing on in Romans five.

Saint Paul could be mistaken for sounding like a motivational speaker – “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” – but there is more to what Paul is saying here than “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” because Paul is not describing the ordinary mechanics of human psychology where, a lot of the time, suffering doesn’t lead to hope at all but leads to depression, self-harm and death! Paul is describing the mysterious way that God can reshape us from within through our most painful experiences. He says, “Suffering leads to hope—when God pours His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 5:5)

Paul spoke with authority on the subject of suffering, and he lists his own sufferings without embarrassment: “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked…” (2 Corinthians 11:25), and so the list goes on!

You can almost hear Paul’s critics whispering in the background, “God is clearly not with this guy—everything he touches ends in disaster!”, and we can understand that. When life keeps going wrong, we assume we’ve done something wrong. Bad karma. Divine displeasure. God must be against me! But Paul begins his thinking with Christ crucified. And from that vantage point he sees that suffering—when endured in faith and for righteousness’ sake—not as a sign of God’s absence but of God’s presence.

Shia Muslims would not use Paul’s language, of course, but they walk the same path, as their entire devotional imagination is shaped by Husain’s willingness to suffer and die rather than compromise truth.

I have no doubt that the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chose to remain at his desk and embrace his fate rather than flee. I’ve heard that he was warned repeatedly of the imminent attack and replied that if all ninety million Iranians could be moved to safety, he would go with them, but that otherwise he would remain at his post.

The Ayatollah knew that his death would galvanise his people, and I believe it has. If Donald Trump had even a rudimentary understanding of Shia theology, he would never have targeted the second most senior cleric in Shia Islam for martyrdom.

Much of what passes for religion—Christian or otherwise—is little more than an attempt to control the uncontrollable. We want health, wealth, and safety for ourselves and for our children, and we hope that by pleasing God (or “the gods”) we can secure a peaceful life and a happy hereafter.

Saint Paul would be the first to say that if you’re looking for a quiet life, free from stress and pain, following Jesus is not a good option, and Shia Islam isn’t either. But while following Jesus (or following Imam Husain) will not make life easier, it will make life larger and will fill life with meaning, courage, and hope.

“And that hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” (Romans 5:5)

Our Sunday Eucharist

We had another terrific Sunday Eucharist last weekend with Tom Toby and David Baldwin joining me on the panel. Unfortunately, Tom was calling from the hospital, attending to his dad, Mustaffa, and he was called away by hospital staff about half an hour into the broadcast. Next thing, I disappeared from the broadcast and left poor David on his own while I desperately tried to reconnect. Of course, this is not the first technical difficulty we’ve had and everyone showed great patience.

I’ve posted the discussion we had on the Epistle at the end of today’s newsletter. It was during that discussion that I disappeared from the broadcast, but I’ve edited that bit out. If I look distracted, that’s me trying to restabilise the broadcast. Even so, I think AI Paul’s wise contribution to the discussion more than made up for my shortcomings.

I’ve posted below the two ‘shorts’ that were the most popular across my social media platforms last week. It still makes no sense to me why a video like the one below, asking, ‘Will World War III really be started by blackmail?’ is being shared less than 100 times on YouTube but more than 3,000 times on Instagram. See all last week’s shorts on the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page and all our content on YouTube

There’s been a bit of confusion over the team for this coming Sunday’s Eucharist. In the coffee catch-up last week, Jake Pyeatt volunteered to join Rob Gilland and me on the panel, and I gladly accepted. Over the next few days, though, I wondered whether we were putting him in a difficult position.

Jake is a member of the US military, and it occurred to me that his superiors might not appreciate him appearing alongside me at this time, even if he offers no opinion on current world events. Thankfully, his dad, Doug, has offered to take his place, but now I’m wondering whether we might be putting him in a difficult position, as he too works for the US government. Who would have thought that leading a church service could be such a risky venture? We’re praying for you both.

Whoever is on deck, we’ll try to go live at noon this Sunday via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia, Streamyard and TheSundayEucharist.com. Invite your friends (if you dare) by directing them to the Facebook event, the YouTube link or the Streamyard registration page.

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What’s On?

Sunday, March 8th – Our Eucharist from noon @thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard
Monday, March 9th—‘Prayers for Iran’ webinar (to be confirmed)
Tuesday, March 10th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Thursday, March 12th – Online Bible study group meeting from noon @ www.thesundayeucharist.com/bible
Thursday, March 12th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Saturday, March 14th – Boxing at Legend’s Gym in Kensington from 3 pm

My lead graphic today included images from the memorial service for the late Ayatollah of Iran, Ali Khamenei, that I attended last Monday evening. It seemed like the obvious thing to do – to grieve with my Shia Muslim friends and to pray for our world, given the potentially catastrophic repercussions of this US decapitation strike.

I found out the next morning that, in the eyes of our state premier, I’d committed a criminal act! Mourning the Ayatollah’s death was being interpreted as an act of aggression!

I am having real trouble getting my head around this, and I’d appreciate everybody’s feedback. Most mainline media channels seem to assume it as self-evident that the late Ayatollah was a villain on par with Jack the Ripper, if not Adolf Hitler, and I’ve been trying to understand why.

From what I can work out, there seem to be three main charges levelled against the late spiritual leader of Iran:

He was responsible for the violent crackdown on recent protests.
He is responsible for the sharp rise in executions in Iran in the last two years.
He is a supporter of international terrorist organisations.

All these charges are very serious, yet they each seem to me to be controversial.

As far as the recent riots go, there are lots of questions that need to be answered:

Were the riots instigated by insurgents working for foreign governments?
Were those killed mainly armed insurgents, police, or peaceful protestors?
How many people were killed? Estimates range from 3,000 to 30,000!

These are serious questions, and until they get proper answers, it is difficult to give an authoritative moral assessment of the behaviour of the police or government.

As to the rise in executions, I believe that most of those executed had been charged with offences related to drug trafficking. I am completely opposed to the death penalty, regardless of the charge. Even so, I appreciate that lots of countries do still impose capital punishment, including the United States.

As to the Ayatollah’s support of international terrorist organisations, I believe the groups being referred to are Hezbollah (in Lebanon), the Houthis (in Yemen) and Hamas (in Gaza). The USA does indeed designate each of these groups as terrorist organisations. Notably, the United Nations doesn’t designate any of them as such, and the rest of the world seems to be split.

Forgive me if I seem to be babbling on too long today, but I really believe we need to think these issues through slowly and carefully. There has been far too much sloppy thinking of late, and in the current global context, sloppy thinking can lead to enormous loss of human life!

I’m reminded of the wisdom of the philosopher Anthony Flew, who pointed out that one hundred leaking buckets hold the same amount of water as one leaking bucket (ie. none). We don’t need more reasons to attack Iran or its leader. We need good reasons.

The great hymn of Harry Emerson Fosdick comes to mind:

Cure Thy children’s warring madness;
bend our pride to Thy control;
shame our wanton, selfish gladness,
rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal,
lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal.

Yes, Lord, grant us wisdom, and grant us the courage to follow that wisdom rather than the wide path that leads to destruction.

Stay strong. Stay wise.

Your brother in the Good Fight.

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P.S. I’m working on putting together a “Prayers for Iran” webinar for Monday evening (Sydney time), featuring some of our favourite expert commentators. I’ll email you as soon as I’m able to get it organised, but try to keep Monday evening free.