Cana/Qana and Giving Voice to Suffering

In staff prayers on Tuesday we read from the Gospel of John the story of the Wedding at Cana. Lebanese Christians claim that Qana is the Cana of John’s Gospel and we were encouraged to reflect on the stark contrast between the wedding celebrations in the story and the events of July 30 in Qana, when Israeli shells hit an apartment block, which collapsed several hours later killing 56 people, 34 of whom were children.

What struck me in later reflection was the utter lack of word, liturgy or symbol in contemporary evangelicalism capable of giving voice to such depths. We would be forced to consider the wedding and not the slaughter. We would be encouraged to look beyond to the hereafter, or sing cheap songs of triumph.

Today is the Jewish feast of Tish B’av, a regular, annual commemoration of the pain and suffering of the Jewish people throughout history. It is a formal, public remembering of the destruction of the Solomonic Temple in 586BCE, during which it is estimated 100,000 Jews perished. It is a public remembering of the sacking of the 2nd Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. Of course the Holocaust is also remembered on this day with prayers and fasting. It is a day set aside to be characterised by the absence of idle conversation, smiles or laughter. Shaving and make-up are banned, lights are dimmed and the Ark, where the Torah is kept, is draped in black. Laments for the dead are sung at the Wailing Wall and the book of Lamentations is read.

Such rich resources honed in the cauldron of suffering. Such a rebuke to those of us who peddle a cheap gospel promising to make us feel good and satisfy our deepest needs.

I envy the possession of a annual, public day of mourning and lament even while I am also aware of the danger of ritual becoming vain repetition. It seems to me that faced with such a regular reminder there are two temptations. Either those who are called to remember, hear only the great injustices that have been inflicted on them and are reinforced in a sense of victimhood. Or, faced with such remembering the community is reminded that ‘since we have suffered such great injustices, let us be mindful not to inflict the same on others. And, since we have faced such suffering, let us be sensitive to those who suffer.’ The Decalogue, or the 10 Commandments, has a similar thing, when it reminds those who receive it to keep the Sabbath holy, do no work on that day, neither you nor your servants – ‘Remember, you were slaves once as well and God released you.’

I just wonder how thoughtful Jews will feel this year. Will the deep awareness and deliberate recall of their own sufferings, which still go on, move them to the plight of others?

Please God, may it be so.