Pain and Joy
by Tom Corbell
“A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” (John 16:21-22 NIV).
Think about today’s verses. Often, God brings joy to our lives not by substitution, but by transformation. His illustration of the woman giving birth makes this clear. The same baby that caused the pain also caused the joy. In birth, God does not substitute something else to relieve the mother's pain. Instead, He uses what is there already—but He transforms it.
Jesus spoke these words to His closest friends on the night before He died. He had just told them He was leaving them, and they were filled with grief. They loved Jesus so completely that each of His friends had left everything—their homes, their families and even their safety—to follow Him. Now, Jesus has told them He is leaving them. Jesus could tell their grief felt immovable, and certainly not like a path towards rejoicing.
Cancer often feels immovable. Its fatigue, fear, and pain can weave their way through your days, leaving little anticipation of rejoicing.
How can your cancer be transformed into joy? As a woman passes through labor with hopes of holding her newborn child, so too, you can look past the pains of cancer and see what it cannot touch. The poem “What Cancer Cannot Do” shares this idea beautifully:
Cancer is so limited …
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot destroy peace.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot suppress memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot invade the soul.
It cannot steal eternal life.
It cannot conquer the spirit.
- author unknown
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, He did indeed return to His friends triumphantly. Why? Jesus had spent His weekend conquering death, sin and even cancer, not just for His friends, but for you, too. Can you see that His victories have turned your sorrow into rejoicing, and nothing—not fatigue, or fear or pain and especially not cancer—can take away this joy?
Pray: Jesus, I thank you for your victories on the cross so I can face cancer fearlessly and filled with your joy. Only You could transform my season of cancer into a season of hope. In Your name I pray. Amen.
Your Turn: Take each line of the poem above and place one line on each of the next ten days in your calendar. Pause each day to thank God for what cancer cannot do. If this is helpful, repeat for the next ten days and the next.
Tom Corbell, Hospice Pastor
Tom is a Lutheran pastor who has served Jesus in both North and South Carolina for 49 years. Six of those years he worked as a Hospice Chaplain, and he encountered cancer daily. The privilege of praying, working with and supporting cancer patients and their families is an honor.