March 12, 2023 - Third Sunday in Lent
The biggest question that I receive as a priest is how our loving God could let bad things happen to us. The grand mystery is that a life of faith is not free of pain and suffering. Because joy, peace, and love are present too. Our problems don’t mean that we are outside of God’s love, just that we are human – still today. Even if we do all the right things, even if we clothe the naked and feed the hungry, even if we work really hard, suffering is a painful part of every one of our stories.
Even Jesus suffered brokenness, grief, hunger, anxiety, and pain. And Jesus still suffers alongside us. When we are faced with suffering, we often react by fighting our way out – overworking, solving our own problems instead of relying on faith – or by burying our heads in denial – I’m fine, you’re fine, we’re all fine; grin and bear it.
But our reading from Romans today tells us that those aren’t the only two reactions we could have. Paul writes that we could “boast” in our suffering. Perhaps a better way to phrase this is to use the word “confidence” – we can have confidence in our suffering. But how?
God has already endured unthinkable suffering by sitting beside Jesus, his only son, as he died on the cross. It truly is amazing that even Jesus did not pick the first two options. Jesus chose not to fight on his way to the cross or to destroy his enemies (though he had the power to do so). Instead, Jesus said to put down the sword. Jesus didn’t run away and take the easy way up to heaven, riding on a cloud. Instead, Jesus chose to stay present and to acknowledge the pain of being human. Jesus chose to have confidence that God loves him enough not to leave him alone in his suffering.
It is in this love that we can suffer in hope. It’s not a hope based on facts, medical technology, or psychology. It is hope found in the absurd love that God has for us – each one of us. The love that can never leave us. It is this love that transforms us into loving others – offering us the courage to sit in the hospital room as our loved ones take their last breath. It is this love that allows us to stay present through the sobbing and to hold a hand as the test results come through. It’s this love that urges us to call and check on someone during their first holiday without a loved one near.
My friends, we are not exempt from suffering, but through the confidence in Christ’s death and resurrection, we can suffer in hope, offering one another the love and the presence that we have received from God.
Eugene Petersen relates it this way: “By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next” (Rom 5:1-3).
Blessed are those who suffer because they do not suffer alone. Thanks be to God.