Suffering

Once when the comedian Bob Hope received a major award he responded, "I don't deserve this, but then I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either." The problem of suffering is one which has affected people throughout the course of history. Much of it is man-made; some is more difficult to account for. One thing is certain though and that is that Christians are in no way exempt from this suffering.

At the Nicene Council meeting in the 4th century A.D., at which the Nicene Creed which we use today in the communion service was agreed, of the 318 delegates attending, only 12 had not lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg lamed by torture for their Christian faith. They of course were following in the footsteps of so many of the early Christians, persecuted for their faith.

In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles (14:8-20) we heard of Paul, first of all being involved in the healing of a man, but then stoned, stoned until his torturers thought he was dead. But he wasn’t, and we’re told he got up and went into the city… Sometimes you see boxers hopelessly beaten getting up off the floor to go back for more punishment, and Paul was a bit like that, with the difference being that he knew his victory was already secure – a victory won for him by Jesus, through his suffering on the cross and through his resurrection.

Many people use the excuse that suffering is a good reason not to believe in God, others will say that it is the very reason why they believe in God, as it was at times of suffering that they found it easiest to connect with him.

Whatever people’s experiences of suffering are though, we can be sure that Jesus understands, because he’s been there. There’s a story told in the TV programme The West Wing, by a former alcoholic and drug addict, to his assistant who is going through some problems.

A man has fallen into a very deep pit. As he’s shouting up a doctor walks by. He looks down, writes out a prescription, throws it in the hole and carries on walking. The next man to walk past is a Priest, who looks down, offers some kind words, and says a short prayer, before walking on. But the third man who comes past looks down into the hole, and jumps down into it.

The first person in the hole says how stupid that is – now rather than 1 person to rescue from the hole there are 2, but the second man says, ‘don’t worry I’ve been in the hole before, and I know the way out.’

Jesus has been in the hole that is suffering in the world. He has done it all. He has watched humanity at its worst from close-up. He has suffered pain and torture, he has suffered rejection, even humiliation, but he has got out of that hole… and he will lead us out of any hole we find ourselves in, if we will let him.

When Paul suffered he knew that his suffering would end in the greatest victory of all, a lifetime in eternity with God, in that place of no pain, no mourning, no suffering, no tears – that heavenly kingdom which is pictured in the Book of Revelation.

And we can be sure that our suffering, hopefully on a much smaller scale than that of Paul or certainly Jesus, will also end. Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’ (John 6:35)

Jesus wasn’t speaking of physical hunger or thirst, but of spiritual hunger and thirst, something much deeper and even more long lasting. Jesus came to satisfy need in whatever form, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but certainly for eternity.

But this can sometimes give the picture that we must live for tomorrow, and simply endure today, but this isn’t the gospel message at all. Jesus believes in life here and now, life for all people. Helen Keller, the incredible American author who became deaf and blind following a childhood illness said, "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”.

There are many who adopt the glass half empty idea of life, but it isn’t the way of Jesus, who in the midst of the greatest suffering knew that victory and new life was just around the corner. In fact, the cross has been described as a symbol reminding the world that God is at God’s strongest when God seems to be at God’s weakest(Choan-Seng Song : Taiwanese theologian).

And that is the situation for every one of us as well. Even at times when we are at our weakest, we can actually be at our strongest if we are willing to cast our troubles to God.

Driving through Texas one day, a New Yorker collided with a truck carrying a horse. A few months later he tried to collect damages for his injuries. "How can you now claim to have all these injuries?" asked the insurance company's lawyer. "According to the police report, at the time you said you were not hurt." "Look," replied the New Yorker. "I was lying on the road in a lot of pain, and I heard someone say the horse had a broken leg. The next thing I know this Texas Ranger pulls out his gun and shoots the horse. Then he turns to me and asks, 'Are you okay?' Of course I was going to say I was ok !"

When God asks us to cast our troubles to him, he’s not tricking us, he’s not seeking to control us, but he is doing so because he loves us, and because he can help us.

When the psychiatrist Victor Frankl was arrested by the Nazis in World War II, he was stripped of everything - property, family and possessions. He had spent years researching and writing a book on the importance of finding meaning in life. When he arrived in Auschwitz, the infamous death camp, even his manuscript, which he had hidden in the lining of his coat, was taken away.

"I had to undergo and overcome the loss of my spiritual child," Frankl wrote. "Now it seemed as if nothing and no one would survive me; neither a physical nor a spiritual child of my own! I found myself confronted with the question of whether under such circumstances my life was ultimately void of any meaning." He was still wrestling with that question a few days later when the Nazis forced the prisoners to give up their clothes.

"I had to surrender my clothes and in turn inherited the worn-out rags of an inmate who had been sent to the gas chamber," said Frankl. "Instead of the many pages of my manuscript, I found in the pocket of the newly acquired coat a single page torn out of a Hebrew prayer book, which contained the main Jewish prayer, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one God. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.’

Frankl wrote, "How should I have interpreted such a 'coincidence' other than as a challenge to live my thoughts instead of merely putting them on paper?"

Later, as Frankl reflected on his ordeal, he wrote in his book Man's search for Meaning, "There is nothing in the world that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions, as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one's life . . .'He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.'"

As we go though life, with all of its sadness and all of its joys, may we remain ever mindful that whatever we face, we are loved, and a victory has been achieved for us that can provide a strength which nothing can ever overcome. AMEN