Keep the Faith: 'The University of Adversity' is the one school that we all attend

During the last several weeks when we attended the graduations of our children and grandchildren, are we aware that all of us are enrolled in a university? We can call it the “University of Adversity.” This is a university from which it is as difficult to graduate as any Ivy League school.

One prominent graduate of this university was the Apostle Paul. According to tradition, at the end of his life, he was taken to a lonely spot just outside Rome. An executioner’s sword flashed in the sun, and Paul’s life was put to an end. He died a martyr. But it wasn’t the final fate of Paul’s life that made him such a hero of faith. It was rather that long journey of a lifetime filled with constant adversity that made him the great apostle so many revere. He not only suffered a lifetime of hatred by many of the Jews he deserted when he became a Christian, he also suffered years of rejection by Christians whose faith he joined. Some who did finally accept him on the team continued to question his apostleship. Paul survived adversities that would have destroyed a lesser person. Even his death was to some extent the result of jealousy and strife within the Christian community according to the document known as 1 Clement. This little-known work, not included in the New Testament, is the earliest text to mention the deaths of the Apostles Paul and Peter, most likely written before all four gospels. It claims that fellow Christians betrayed the apostles.

Paul is not one to complain about his sufferings, but once in a while he mentions them to make the point that despite all of his adversities, he is certain that God is at work in his life. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-27, he recounts a litany of hardships, such as being overworked, scourged, imprisoned, and many times facing death. He received the ultimate penalty for a Roman citizen--the excruciating 39 lashes--five times, was three times beaten with rods, once stoned, and three times shipwrecked, including once left adrift at sea for 24 hours. He mentions constant danger from robbers and rivers, having gone without sleep, food, and drink, and often suffering from cold and exposure. Paul writes about this series of hardships not knowing that he would undergo much more adversity during the remainder of his life, including additional imprisonments, possibly an exile to Spain, and a final dungeon confinement and execution in Rome by the tyrannical Emperor Nero.

The verses that best describe Paul’s life of adversity come from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” Though the willingness to die for his faith stirs deep admiration within us, it is really the long journey of suffering that he traversed that demonstrates the true bravery of this renowned follower of Jesus Christ. Many times along the way, he could have quit. Often, he was knocked down, but like a champion boxer, he was never knocked out.

Paul could have led a quiet, respectable life as a Jewish scholar. He was a learned Pharisee, having studied under the noted rabbi Gamaliel in Jerusalem. He was on track to becoming a rising star in the Hebrew religious community with all the pomp and honor that accompany such a position. But he disavowed such a future because he experienced something far greater, the love of the resurrected Jesus Christ which empowered him to persevere through all his sufferings.

It was this love that enabled Paul to withstand each individual obstacle he confronted in his ministry, allowing him to rise from bed each morning to face another day of deprivation, depression, and discouragement. He had a calling from God, as each of us does. Ours may not be a calling to become a preacher, missionary, or evangelist like Paul. But it is a calling nevertheless. We are called to serve God in our daily walk by loving God and our neighbor, by treating others justly as we would like to be treated, and by using our gifts and talents to serve others and God’s creation in order to make the world a better place.

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Fulfilling our calling is easier said than done. Each of us will confront adversity when we try to do so. The adversity might be slight, but repeated over and over again, it can develop into a pool of quicksand that little by little pulls us down to prevent us from achieving our goal. Or the adversity can strike suddenly in one wallop, sending us cowering so that we become tempted to abandon our faith. We may find ourselves wallowing in self-pity or doubt, asking questions like “Is it really worth it?” or “Isn’t there an easier way?” or “Why must life be such a struggle?”

We cannot win all the battles in our life. We often fail. We regularly need to ask for forgiveness, which God eagerly grants us. But always we must be convinced we’re doing the right thing. If so persuaded, with God’s help and the encouragement of others, we can withstand any adversity.

Jeremiah, “the weeping prophet,” was miserable, suffering tremendous adversity. But he was assured that he was following the divine will. Because of that, God rescued Jeremiah from much devastation inflicted by the Babylonians. Hannah was depressed because she was barren. Such shame presented a gnawing adversity for her. But she remained faithful in prayer to God. And God answered Hannah with a son, who grew up to become the prophet Samuel.

And Paul was certain that he was treading on the right path, tracking God’s directive. Though it involved considerable suffering, sacrifice, and struggle, he confesses that he’s able to do it because “this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). When we make that confession, we are able to graduate from the “University of Adversity.”

The Rev. Dr. Gary Shahinian is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He served for 20 years as the pastor of Park Congregational Church in Worcester. He is also an instructor in the WISE program of Assumption University.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Keep the Faith: The Apostle Paul and the 'University of Adversity'