The Question of Suffering

Suffering. A subject we don’t generally talk about; at least we don’t like to talk about it. I mean, who likes to suffer or talk about the possibility?

There is a Jesus story that does discuss suffering. The thing is we often read right over the comments on suffering as we run our way through the Gospel account. Maybe we don’t know what to do with such thoughts. At the very least, there is a part of the account we struggle with processing. It’s found in Mark 10. Here is a brief sketch of the story…

The brothers, James and John, come to Jesus and ask if He could do them a favor.

Of course, Jesus responds with the obvious question, “What is your request?”

These two brothers want to know, when life got good in His kingdom, if they could each have one of the special seats of honor at his right and left.

Most of the time we kind of slap them for such a question just like the other disciples did when they found out. However, when we pause to think about the whole thing, it was fairly courageous to even go there. So, the brothers wanted to have a position of prominence in Christ’s kingdom. Who wouldn’t?

Jesus comes back with a reality check … “You don’t know what you are asking!”

Isn’t that the way it is so often when we are talking about things we really don’t understand? We reach way beyond what might have been appropriate because we simply didn’t know any better. Here is the cool thing; Jesus doesn’t rebuke the brothers for the bold question. Instead, He opens their eyes to see how big of a question they were really asking Him.

Then He explains the first question with a second question: “Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” This is foundational to the story and something we should pay attention to in our own lives.

These 2 guys responded way too fast to such heavy hitting questions from Jesus as they affirmed they were ready to go there. Okay, at least it was too fast in my opinion.

Here is the part we struggle so much with, where suffering comes into the equation … it’s Jesus’ response to how the brothers reacted. He doesn’t deliver a sermon or deep teaching. Instead Jesus replies, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. BOOM - it’s a “drop the mic moment” if ever there was one.

Face it, it’s not something you want to hear when Jesus has just been talking about the suffering and death He was about to go through. He was preparing them for the rough and difficult road ahead as they got to Jerusalem, and now He confirms the brothers’ suffering was in their future.

Suffering … popular theologies rarely include any good reflection on this reality in life. It just doesn’t play well to the rank and file who are listening.

Here is the reality in front of us. Sometimes great life-altering suffering takes place in our lives.

Yes, bad things happen to good people, and our faith has to carry us through these moments. When it’s not included in our worldview of life we can fall apart when it unexpectedly arrives. Suffering is as much a possible outcome in our lives as living in the promises of God can be.

Here is another important thought to consider. When suffering comes our way, it doesn’t always mean we committed a horrible sin for which we have to pay some sort of penance for doing the wrong thing.

We can be called upon to endure suffering simply because we choose to follow Jesus and not compromise on what He told us to do. Rejection sometimes comes from the very people who ought to understand and encourage us. It isn’t fun to suffer, and what is even more difficult is when we have to endure it alone.

Sometimes I think Christians offer “suffering avoidance” classes to help others find ways to escape this looming possibility. We think we can beat it somehow … as if our suffering or not is up to us or the enemy of our souls. Hear me on this: it is imperative to realize that we can do everything right and still be called upon to suffer for the cause of Jesus Christ.

Selah … pause and think on these things.

By the way, the two brothers, James and John, were given the business for asking such a boneheaded bold thing by the rest of the disciples. Most likely it was because it would have elevated the two above the other ten. Brothers always seem to fight for the top spot. Jesus knows what is going on and teaches the crew the classic upside-down leadership approach of His kingdom as He sets the whole thing straight.

It isn’t that any of us should hope for or in some sick way want to suffer … that would be completely weird. Even Jesus asked to avoid the suffering in front of HIm. The important thing is to be faithful regardless of blessings or the lack of them. It is for you and I to be found standing with Christ in the face of suffering, the accolades of other people, or the blessings of God.

What if we imagine how we would want to be treated in such seasons of life when suffering becomes very real. What if we treat them the same way we would want to be treated. Maybe the result would be we lose fewer family members along the path of such difficult times in life.

Suffering. Whatever the origin, It’s time for us to be the people of love Jesus called us to be. Let’s see what we can do to heal the suffering in our sphere of life and help bring people through it rather than let them be destroyed by it. We have a rescue mission to fulfill.

(Quotes in italics are taken from the New Living Translation of the scriptures)