When Life Isn't Fair

Job 14:1-6; John 10:7-10

A sermon by Rev. R. Franklin Gillis, Jr.

“That’s not fair!” You who are parents or grandparents have no doubt heard these words many times. Perhaps you‘ve even said that yourself on some occasions. Let’s face reality! “Life isn’t fair!” But then, where does it say that life is supposed to be fair? The closest we can come to fairness is through our own actions toward others, and at times that’s not enough. So many things in life do turn out unfairly. The Old Testament story of Job is a classic example of life’s unfairness and adversity. Sometimes because of what happens to us, life just isn’t fair!

As an adolescent I experienced several surgeries due to a bone cyst on my upper right arm. The physical aftermath left one arm slightly shorter than the other, but the psychological aftermath was one of feeling inferior. The combined effects motivated me to be an achiever. One of my greatest dreams was to play on the George Wythe Jr. High School baseball team. I spent much of my time after school sharpening my ball playing skills, playing with neighborhood kids on a nearby corner lot. My father encouraged me by buying me my first baseball glove, a first baseman’s mitt. I practiced hard and got pretty good at playing first base. Then the day came for tryouts. After the first day, I felt good about the possibility of making the team. I returned the second day, and gave it my best. It appeared to me as if my first baseman skills were at least equal to the competition. Tryouts continued through the week, and I went back faithfully each day. Then in the second week, the word came the coach would be making “cuts” following Friday’s practice.

My fellow students and I reported to practice that Friday with great anxiety and determination to do our best. One of my classmates could throw a ball faster than anyone I’d even seen, and he was a “lefty” at that! It was the luck of the draw that when it came my time to bat, he was pitching. He threw the first ball precisely across the plate and it was called a strike. I tried hard to concentrate as the next pitch was thrown at an amazing speed, and it, too, was right on target! Strike two! I knew the next pitch might be my last chance, so I gripped the bat firmly, and with the ball coming toward me at what appeared to be a speed of 100 miles an hour, I swung with all my might, hoping that somehow the bat and ball would connect. They didn’t! Instead, I lost my balance and fell. My peers laughed as I sat there in the dust feeling defeated. I knew at that moment what mighty Casey must have felt like when he stuck out.

It was a long weekend. Monday finally came and before going to homeroom, I went to the gymnasium bulletin board to review the coach’s list. My name was not there. I remember the feeling of rejection and bitterness toward the coach. At dinner that evening I told my parents I had been cut from making the team and how unfair I thought it was. My story was filled with “if onlys”. If only “Lefty” hadn’t been pitching… if only I had gripped the bat more securely… if only I could have another chance… if only my right arm was the same length as the left one! When life isn’t fair, we usually resort to “if onlys,” and blaming, and having a “pity party”, don’t we? It was then that my dad offered me one of life’s greatest lessons. “Son, blaming isn’t the answer. The most important thing is to get up and shake off the dust, and learn from the experience so you can move on.”

There are so many experiences in life that point to the reality that life isn’t fair! And such a reality leads us to look for answers. We look to great philosophers, and to those who have experienced trials and tribulations in life, but find no satisfactory answers. We look to scriptures and we are reminded that the unfairness of life has been a part of every age and generation. The story of Job portrays life’s unfairness so dramatically. In a search of scriptures throughout the Old Testament to the New nowhere do we find the affirmation that life is fair!

All around us are life situations that point to that reality of life’s unfairness. Devastation from natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes and tornados change people’s lives forever as we have seen from Katrina on the Gulf coast, and most recently in Haiti. As a result of the BP platform disaster, not only was eleven lives claimed, but the millions of gallons of crude oil pouring into the Gulf have threatened livelihoods along with animal life and the environment. While people are starving and dying from hunger in many places around the world, most people in our nation and several other prosperous nations have more than enough to eat. Friends and family members whom we have grown to love and respect – people who are good, decent, law-abiding citizens, have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses. It isn’t fair! We see on the news that a teenager with a promising future was killed in an automobile wreck by a drunk driver. We experience heart aches, and heart breaks, and disappointments of all kinds in our personal lives, and we, too, conclude there are times when life isn’t fair.

So what do we do when life isn’t fair? The answer is found in the lessons of faith from the faithful. As a people of a faith, along with Job, the Prophets, and the Psalmists, and the disciples and Apostles of old, we need to claim that we are not without hope. To express it simply, yet profoundly, life isn’t fair, but God is with us, and God’s abiding presence, God’s grace and love will see us through. Because of that truth, we can deal with life’s unfairness. And with boldness, we can sing with those faithful who have gone before us, “My faith looks up to Thee.”

Every time we gather as a community of faith we are reminded of just how unfair life really is. The primary symbol of our faith as Christians is the cross. It reminds us that life offers many forms of crucifixion, persecution, and unfairness. But it also reminds us of the central truth of faith: The power of God is available to help us deal with defeats and despair and enable us to bring forth new beginnings and experience resurrection. This is the most important truth I know! It’s the most joyous good news there is! Jesus taught his disciples who were living in an unfair world that if they would live by his example and trust God, they would experience the abundant life. That truth is offered to us as well.

So if you are here today with a shattered dream, or an aching heart, or feeling bitter because of what has befallen you, there is good news. You can put the pieces of life’s puzzle back together again. God doesn’t want us to be bitter, but to get better! God wants us to live fully the abundant life, and to do that we must conquer life’s unfairness.

You know, although my father was no great theologian, I’ve discovered he was right. When life isn’t fair, we simply have to get up and shake off the dust. The most important thing is to learn from the experience and move on. We can rely on our faith and the faithfulness of others to point the way. While life isn’t fair, God is, and God’s truth deals with all of life’s unfairness to enable the faithful to experience the promise of abundant and everlasting life!
Thanks be to God! Amen.