Of Marx and Me

Scanning The Communist Manifesto this morning I was suddenly struck by the thought that Karl Marx produced one of his most famous works out of struggling with an age old question about God. At least this is my theory. He may not have framed it in his mind in those terms but tell me what you think. Isn’t the quintessential human struggle with a simple question about the nature and character of God? One doesn’t even have to be a believer of anything to struggle with this question. Athiests just frame the debate a bit differently. But if your feet walk the dusty roads of earth very long one question is bound to surface. It goes something like this, “if God is good, then why did __________happen?” If you happen to fall into the minority of those who claim to believe nothing (which is a discussion of which I shall not attempt today) then there is no framework for claiming order and therefore the word “good” might be a bit arbitrary. But for most of us, who claim to believe something/Someone is ultimately in charge of the universe and beyond-- sooner or later-- we are going to grapple with the “why question”. Job did. The disciples questioned. I have. Maybe you have as well. Seems only those who reside in the heavenlies don’t struggle the way we do. Maybe therein lies the answer. Maybe part of the reason our ‘whys’ often go unanswered is that we simply can’t see with these “fallen eyes”. Our egos have convinced us that the truth of the Bible which claims that God's thoughts are not like our thoughts and His ways unlike ours--indeed worlds apart they are (Isaiah 55:8)--is somehow untrue. Surely, we reason, I could do this better than God. I've certainly voiced the doubt. I've even said that I would definitely do things differently, given the chance. . . which hasn't happened and that alone is enough for a thank offering.

I’ll admit I was a bit condescending when I was looking over Marx’s work. I didn’t read it very closely, mind you. But I did judge the man. Thought about making him and his philosophies the “enemy”. I do that sometimes before the Holy Spirit whispers into my soul-- reminding me that I am just like those I judge. Then I feel a kinship to them. I ache for them, like I’ve ached in my own struggles. You see, this morning it occurred to me that Karl Marx was the son of parents who had converted to Lutheranism. I'm thinking that surely he was at least briefly familiar with the God they worshipped. Perhaps, he had heard his parents speak of the “Sovereignty of God”. I’m sure his parents would have worshipped and praised the God who is “good all the time”. . . “Yes, oh yes he is a friend of mine”. . . wait that was a jingle that ran through my mind, of which I’m sure Marx had never heard. That alone would have made him bitter. Kidding. Major digression. Yet, when Marx and his family lived in London later in his life—he lived in abject poverty. In fact, his friend and later the one who helped him pen the works for which he is famous, Friedrich Engels, gave his family money so that they could survive (A World of Ideas, pp. 219). Perhaps this is a bit simplistic, but do you think it is possible that Marx was so hurt by the thought of a good God allowing him and his family to suffer-- so much so-- that he concluded that a good God--maybe even a God at all-- was simply untrue? I've thought it before. How could a truly good God allow . . .(fill in current world atrocity). Therefore, with a mind as brilliant as his, he formulated a way for the government to keep the atrocities that he was staring at each day from happening to others. The idea was noble even if it proved impractical. I am tearing up at the thought. Not at the thought of communism-- I’m not arguing whether there is more merit to capitalism, communism, socialism or feudalism (smile). I’m simply hurting for a man who had struggled with our common humanity. I have been there, and my guess is you have, too.
My confession is that I sat smugly at the end of my bed with book in hand and thought, “Oh, if he had just leaned in and listened for God, perhaps he could have moved from the why questions to relationship then to redemption. . . Yes, my own smugly pious thoughts nauseate me as well. It was a condescending thought. And faithful that He is, the Holy Spirit whispered to my soul, “so Joy how well did you 'lean in and listen' during your seasons of deep pain?” Uh. . .ahem. I fell flat on my face. Hard. Embarrassingly hard. I couldn’t “lean in and listen”, to quote myself; because I was too busy flailing my arms amid a fit that would have rivaled a three-year-old. Seriously. Just.ask.my.mother. Better yet, just take my word for it. It has taken a while to even believe—wait, I don’t believe it yet—to consider, yes that’s where I am—that what I thought surely God meant for my harm, in fact He meant for good. In ways I don’t yet even know. Okay, I’m not going to cry.
My thought is that Karl and I might have a lot in common. Okay, not so much. He was after all brilliant. I sorta border right at or below average. He actually came up with a Manifesto to “help God out” in running the universe. All I can come up with is a red-face, snotty-nose and accusations about why God is not doing exactly what I want. But we both, along with everyone else, will feel pain. Of course, our struggles will vary in intensity throughout our live—but if we live—we will have trouble. Jesus said so. I so wish Marx would’ve had men and women in his life who deeply knew God, who knew His Son. The very God-man who tasted and felt all of our struggles—and then offered us peace. I wish he could have had someone to hold his hand and walk with him through those seasons of pain until he could get to the other side--- farther along down the road—far enough to look back and at least consider that what he was sure God had meant to be his undoing was actually the mercy, grace and Love of God. I wish the same thing for myself. Wait! It occurs to me that the Bible speaks to this when it talks about God giving us comfort so that we can give comfort to others when they struggle. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2Cor 1:3-4).
Friends, this is why the Body of Christ is so important. We are essential in each others’ lives. You have a role to play in comforting, encouraging and spurring me along. And I, you.
Talk to me,
Joy