The Mystery of Suffering

The problem of suffering is a mystery. Logically speaking, suffering seems to be incomprehensible in human terms. However, Christian witness draws on Biblical and tradition experience, particularly the life of Christ, to affirm the ultimate victory of God’s love in spite of evil. God never causes evil, but only permits it, whether it comes in the form of natural disaster or through the actions of people who wish to inflict harm on others. God has built laws into nature and freedom into people, and God respects that freedom. Often we may be tempted to ask “Why didn’t God stop that person from sinning, from hurting others?” If God did such a thing, we would all live a “programmed” life..as robots. God gave us free will so that we could choose to love and do good. Evil is the misuse of this gift. On the other hand, even when evil is pervasive, God’s patient providence permits it only within limits, always seeking the ultimate salvation of his children who are open to his invitation of love. Christ said of the last days “If God did not shorten these days, no one would be saved”. Refer also to Job whose suffering, although great, was limited by God’s mercy. We are assured that, even when evil comes our way, God will not permit a trial greater than what we can withstand. Even when evil or suffering comes our way, God draws good out of it. Oftentimes when there is a tragedy in a community or a crisis in a family, we see people come together to support, to care for, to reach out to others in a way previously not thought possible. This is God’s grace prompting people to choose good over evil, life over death, giving over taking. The death and Resurrection of Christ is our great example of how God draws good from evil. By his death, Christ redeemed us, and by his Resurrection, he was glorified. Tragedy can help us clearly understand what is of greatest value in life: love. We put love in action by caring for people, and by responding in love to God’s love. Suffering is not a punishment from God. Our God is rich in mercy! He loves us and longs for us. He even suffers when we suffer because we are his children. We must always remind ourselves of this. It is true that our sinful actions have consequences that make us suffer, but we can’t regard these consequences as being willed by God. The father of the prodigal son knew that his son would suffer if he left home, even when the son would attempt to fulfil himself with external pleasures. His father still let him go out of respect for his freedom. The suffering of the son - his hunger - was a result of his action. Yet this father was also suffering, longing to see his son, and always on the lookout for him. And when he saw his son, the old man ran to receive him, embraced him and celebrated his return! God, our loving father, runs to meet us like the father of the prodigal son, even when we are still tainted with sin. Seen from another angel, suffering and trials can be considered eye-opening experiences and opportunities for us to purify our hearts, grow in wisdom, and realize how vulnerable we can be and how much we need our Father. If the prodigal son did not suffer, he would not have probably realised the need to return home, and he would be lost! Now let’s put together the above points: God never causes evil. Even when evil is pervasive, God’s providence permits it only within limits, always seeking our ultimate salvation. Even when evil or suffering comes our way, God can and does draw good out of it. Suffering is not a punishment from God. Our God loves us - He even suffers when we suffer because we are his children. Suffering can be an opportunity for us to purify our hearts and realise our need for God our Father. How love endures in sufferingLove itself involves suffering in this imperfect world. Growth and maturity, whether physically or spiritually, involve suffering and sacrifice. God’s grace prompts us to open ourselves to his love. As we grow in love towards the ‘other,’ we experience a longing to the beloved and this involves suffering. As we grow in love, we sacrifice of what we have for the good of the beloved, and this involves suffering. The more I love, the more I trust and become unselfish, and the more I die to myself in order to give more space for the beloved. We see this love perfectly in the life, suffering and death of Jesus Christ. His life was full of love. This is why he endured a lot of suffering and rejection and still accepted it. He went around healing people - even the enemies and the wrongdoers. He was misunderstood by his own disciples but he chose to love them further. He even called Judas, who betrayed him, a “friend”! Yet, he was rejected: his miracle that cured the lepers was not acknowledged, his listeners - amazed at his wisdom - still questioned his authority, his disciples whom he chose were more interested in their seats in the kingdom rather than in his mission. His healing of people was not always welcome as when they wanted to throw him off the cliff. He suffered humiliation by Pilate, and was considered a criminal by the Jewish authorities who conspired against him to put him to death. He was even mocked by the Roman soldiers and tempted by the Devil. At the end even his supporters fled away. Despite all his suffering culminating on the cross, he still loved his people and asked his Father to forgive them! Jesus’ love for his Father is yet another eloquent example of love that endures suffering for the sake of the beloved. Jesus’ long dialogue with his Father expresses his love and trust of his Father to the point of death and beyond death. He is alone in prayer and all his friends are already asleep! But here, in the depth of his loneliness, he utters the word “not my will, but your will.” We hear Jesus to the last moment, even in his agony and anguish on the cross, calling upon his Father and talking to his Father with complete trust. In the end, he says “In your hands, I lay down my soul.” This is Christ’s redemptive love. His love does not allow him, on this earth, but to suffer, and his suffering redeems man. How do we share in the redemptive suffering of Christ? St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is the Church.” Pope John Paul II commented on it: Just what is the discovery that Paul has made? And from where does his joy come? The Passion is complete, infinite in its satisfactory power, for with the Lord there is plenteous redemption. So neither Paul nor anyone else could add to that. The secret of Paul’s joy is that he now understands the salvific power of his own suffering. The cross has a meaning. He knows that Christ suffered in order to establish the reign of God. He knows, too, that Christ in His incarnate divine Person has in some way united Himself to every man. Therefore, would not every man be offered the possibility of becoming a “partner” in the Paschal Mystery? Would it not follow that the sufferings in his own flesh would serve to help bring “completeness” to Christ’s Passion by “conveying” the salvific power of the Redeemer’s suffering to that little Christian community there at Colossae? In this way he would more fully become Christ’s felllow-worker for the Kingdom. So Paul rejoices in this discovery and shares it with others so that they, too, will come to understand the salvific meaning of suffering. Accordingly, through their suffering Christians can become “collaborators” in the divine plan of Redemption and thus help to bring “completeness” to the sufferings of Christ. At one level, when we see our beloved suffer, we suffer with them. We are in solidarity with them. And that brings us closer to each other with more consolation and bonding. At a deeper level, responding to our own suffering without bitterness helps not only our inner healing but also makes us partners in the redemptive act of Christ that brings out the resurrection from death. At a deep level, we were all partners in solidarity with Adam in the original sin of disobedience. We become partners in solidarity with Christ in his act of obedience and self-emptying love. For example, those that are terminally ill, can be partners in the redemption of people if they choose to find the meaning of their suffering and death and accept it with the same spirit of trust that Christ gave. Not only they reflect and convey their radiant peace to their relatives and friends, but they also conquer that fear of absurdity with their trust in the loving God. The mystery of suffering of the innocent begs many questions. However, in Job we find that even though God does not give an intellectual answer, he justifies Job and blesses him multiple times after his sufferings. The Taizé Community comments in one of its articles on the website: The last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, shows in chapter 6, a great vision of human history seen in terms of a book sealed with seven seals. The first four seals depict humankind left to itself—a downward movement heading inexorably towards death. With the fifth seal we enter into the opposite movement, that of God’s coming to save. And it begins with the cry of "the souls of all the people who had been killed…" (Revelation 6:9-11). We should not limit this group to Christian martyrs; it evokes rather "the blood of every innocent person that has been shed on earth, from the blood of Abel the just" (Matthew 23:35; see Revelation 18:24). In God, the blood of the innocent receives an effective power that counteracts the destructive effects of violence. Their apparent defeat inaugurates a movement of liberation that culminates in the cross of Christ. This is what is shown in the opening of the next seal, which leads to "the great Day of the wrath of the Lamb" (Revelation 6:17). In the Bible, God’s "wrath" or "anger" is a technical term that describes the divine response to sin in order to restore justice that has been flouted. Here, it refers to the act by which Jesus takes all human sinfulness upon himself by undergoing its consequences to the very end, in his own body (see 1 Peter 2:21-24). By giving his life to the end, then, Jesus shares the fate of all the innocent victims of inhumanity and in this way ensures that their torment has not been in vain. He carries their suffering within his own relationship with the One he calls Abba and, since the Father always hears him (see John 11:42), we have the guarantee that this suffering is not wasted. It brings about the disappearance of the old world order marked by injustice, and the appearance of "new heavens and a new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13). This is the definitive response, because it is a lived one, to Job. Far from tolerating even for a single moment the suffering of the innocent, in his beloved Son, God drinks to the dregs that bitter cup with them and, in so doing, transforms it into a cup of blessing for all.