The Seven Great Pains of Sin: Part 6, Hard and Difficult Places

Today we reach the seventh and final great pain of sin described by Julian of Norwich in her vision of the fallen servant. 

As Julian observes the servant--hurt, stunned, stuck, and alone--Julian surveys the pit the servant has fallen into and notes that the place itself was "hard and full of difficulties." 

Sin is often its own punishment. Sin brings us to a place that is hard and full of difficulties. We think, here, of the prodigal son in Jesus' parable. The father doesn't punish the son. The son ends up punishing himself as his behaviors bring about the sad but predictable consequences. At his lowest point, the son finds himself in a hard and difficult situation. And that hardship and difficulty work to bring about a change of heart. 

In the last post I described how we cannot live another person's life. We can cheer and coach, but they are the one who ultimately has to make their own choices. But the consequences of life can help us here. We just have to step back and let those consequences come about. This might take a long time, and we will grieve the pain caused by consequences suffered, but life has a way bringing us back to our senses. Not always, to be sure, but often. Life is a school of hard knocks. Hard and difficult knocks.

So, we can finger-wag or, like the father of the prodigal son, let it play out. 

I confess, I don't think this is exactly what Julian is getting at in her vision. She sees the fall of the servant into the pit as accidental rather than intentional. My sense, though, is that we tend to dig our own pits, like the prodigal son. Regardless, Julian and I agree that both sorts of pits end up being hard and full of difficulties. 

This is simply the lesson of the wisdom tradition in Scripture, that life has a logic to it. There are causes and effects, behaviors and consequences. To be sure, these connections are not inviolate. Good people, through no fault of their own, do find themselves in hard and difficult situations. This lament is also expressed in the wisdom tradition. But it is true that certain courses of behavior will, eventually, exact a price. Life will snap back at you. What is coming will come. 

But the good news, according to Julian's vision, is this. When we find ourselves, like the servant, in that hard and difficult place, our lord is close at hand to rescue and to save. There is healing for the injury, peace for the stunned mind, friendship for the lonely, and rescue for all those who find themselves in hard and difficult places.