Sárospataki Füzetek 21. (2017)

2017 / 2. szám - MISCELLANEOUS-SONSTIGES - Homoki Gyula: Where to look in suffering? A fictional round-table discussion with

Gyula Homoki

In short, the whole soul, ensnared by the allurements of the flesh, seeks its happiness on the earth. To meet this disease, the Lord makes his people sensible of the vanity of the present life, by a constant proof of its miseries.. .For we must hold, that our mind never rises seriously to desire and aspire after the future until it has learned to despise the present life. (III.9.1)

In light of the eternal, the temporary is but nothing. The same is true for the time of suffering. If we are but citing and listing all the time the loss we suffered during the times of troubles, concentrating only on the recent horrors of life, looking only to the present state, then we give place to our flesh to talk and get even more troubled.10 11 We must hold on and see the finish of our race. In this regard, poverty, loss, exile, even death counts as nothing, rather it becomes “the longed-for haven after fearsome thunderstorms..., the end of a dangerous and painful journey..., the healing of every wound and disease.. ,”u By looking away from this earth, Calvin can even say that we ought to long for death and despise this life in the light of the coming one.12

Taffin calls the eternal heaven“oceans of joy”,13 where the fullness of life will be accomplished and reached. He is using wonderful and dazzlingly beautiful language to describe the “blessedness” of the children of God, the eternal life which is ahead. There, we will enter into the “joy of our Lord”, and reach a state when we can see God face-to-face and enjoy the overflowing love and joy that this perfect knowledge provides. The reader can clearly sense that Taffin is struggling with the words, he is doing his best to describe this reality, to give a foretaste to the miserable people of a place that is prepared for them. Similarly, before discussing the issues of the present life, Calvin emphasizes the coming glory that is the inheritance of the children of God, by pointing at “the theological reality that hope in the future life provides for the present life.”14 He shows precisely that our life on earth is nothing but an exile, the body is nothing more than prison, this life is but a place of residence, not an eternal home.15 Therefore, the main point of suffering is to rise above, the only way to endure tribulations is first to look away from this present life and look ahead.

“When others rob us of earthly goods, God gives us the kingdom of heaven. When the world no longer tolerates us, heaven opens wide to receive us. When the men of this world drive us away, angels reach out a hand and embrace us as their companions in heaven. When people curse us, their words are blown away by the wind... When we are deprived of our offices and positions, Jesus Christ gives those that are far more excellent. He makes us kings and priests to God his Father. When our

10 Taffin: The Marks of God's children, 79-80.

11 Taffin: The Marks of God's children, 130.

12 Calvin: Institutes, III.9.4.

13 Taffin: The Marks of God's children, 33.

14 Partee: The Theology of John Calvin, 220.

15 Calvin: Institutes, 111.9.4.

138 Sárospataki Füzetek 21, 2017-2