John 15:18 – 16:4; 1 Peter 4:12-19; Job 1:6-22; Psalm 119:65-72
As Christ Suffered, So Shall We
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Humankind has struggled to understand the meaning of suffering since the Fall in the Garden. After the Fall women were cursed to bear children through pain and sorrow, man would eat bread by the sweat of his brow, the earth would bring forth thorns and thistles, and man and woman would struggle against each other for power and the upper hand. And then we die. This was not the LORD’s will or doing, but this was man’s fatal choice. Adam and Eve are the only humans to know what life was like before suffering, but still they freely chose to reject it and throw it all away. We can take small comfort that they were lied to and deceived, for now lies and deceptions are the air we breathe so that we struggle to even know the truth, and many deny that there is truth at all. For, the truth is, men hate the truth, for truth exposes our lies and deceits with which we have grown all too comfortable and at peace. We are slaves dining off the fleshpots of Egypt.
Nearly universally, humankind considers suffering bad, evil, and something to castigate, avoid, transcend, or escape. The Buddha taught that suffering is the result of desire and our insistence that we are permanent and distinct from other things that exist. The path of enlightenment is to transcend the physical, fleshly, material, and worldly, which are all deceptions of desire, and to discover that everything is nothing and nothing is everything. According to such a philosophy there is no good or evil, right or wrong, black or white, male or female, plant, animal, spirt, god, etc. But, of course, suffering continues because, try as you might to be content with nothing, the flesh covets and desires what others have, gets bored and discontent with what it has, and we are plunged back into even greater suffering. So, they invented reincarnation, an ancient precursor to purgatory, because we all need a second, third, fortieth, hundredth, etc. chance. After the Enlightenment, things were no better. The German philosophers Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and others continued to teach that suffering is the human condition and that the only answer is transcendent denial and escapism or to accept it and use it to one’s advantage in the exercise of will to power over weaker human sufferers.
Suffering is the result of sin, but that doesn’t make suffering bad or evil. Suffering is a consequence of rebellion against the good, God’s will, word, and law. Lucifer was the first to rebel and thus the first to suffer. Satan’s temptation of our First Parents is truly nothing more than a desperate attempt to alleviate his suffering by inflicting suffering upon others; after all, misery loves company. Nevertheless, suffering is from the LORD. What I mean is that God permits his people to suffer, sometimes he even sends the suffering himself, it is his will. I know that this seems outrageous, even sinful and blasphemous, and yet it is the consistent truth and teaching of the Holy Scriptures. If God permits it, if God wills it, then suffering is good. Scripture is replete with such examples.
Paul confessed that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. […] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Remember, suffering is the result of our sin, the wages of sin is death and everything that precipitates death. But death was as much God’s word and will as was life, for he attached his word and command to two trees, one that gave life and another that brought death. Further, “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.” All that Joseph suffered at the hands of his brothers, Potiphar’s wife, and his own arrogance and pride, though others meant it for evil, the LORD meant it for good so that many people would be saved. Job was a righteous man in the LORD’s eyes, and yet the LORD gave him into Satan’s hands to inflict suffering upon him, to strip him of all blessings of wealth, family, health, and joy, that the LORD’s righteousness might be revealed. Jesus taught similarly about a man who was born blind saying, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” And the list, and the examples, goes on and on.
Suffering is not evil in its own right, but it the result of evil and sin. Suffering is a result of sinful rebellion and disobedience under God’s righteous will and law. Humankind brought sin, suffering, and death into the world, but the LORD used sin, suffering, and death to defeat them: God gave his only Son who knew no sin to become sin for us; Jesus suffered for our sins; he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; Jesus died in our place as our substitute; the LORD laid on his Son the iniquity of us all.
Buddha and the philosophers weren’t entirely wrong: Life is suffering. We all suffer in one way or another, at one time or another. Suffering is the result of sin: Original sin, your sin, my sin, sin in general. But suffering has been sanctified in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We all suffer the result of sin in the world, in our desires, and in our flesh, but we can suffer for that alone, or we can suffer for the sake of Jesus who has suffered all for us. To be a Christian is to suffer differently than the heathen; it is to suffer for Christ, for our witness and confession of him. This is the suffering that St. Peter and our Lord Jesus exhort us to expect and even to rejoice in. Peter writes, “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings.” Our Lord Jesus says, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the word hates you.” We all suffer, but our suffering is sanctified in Christ. “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed,” writes St. Peter, “but let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.” “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”
When we suffer for doing good, we share in Christ’s sufferings. What a privilege! We don’t deserve to share in Christ’s sufferings. We are not perfect or holy. And yet, we are privileged or counted worthy of suffering for Christ and for sharing in his sufferings. This privilege is given to us by grace, God’s unmerited favor. If we share in Christ’s sufferings, we ought to rejoice. Suffering is a good thing because it means that God loves us. It means that the Holy spirit rests on you. It means that you are blessed. If you share in his sufferings, you shall also share in his glory when he is revealed from heaven on the last day to judge both the living and the dead. Suffering is not a bad or evil thing. Suffering is inevitable. But what you suffer for makes all the difference. You may suffer as a malefactor, or you may suffer as a benefactor. Christ suffered as a Benefactor, a do-gooder, and was exalted to the right hand of God. May we share in his sufferings as benefactors so that we might share in his glory by grace when he is revealed.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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