On Suffering

“I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”

Colossians 1:24

The season of Lent prepares us for the gladsome festival of Easter. To be prepared, however, we first must pass through the dreadful agony of Good Friday. Our Lord endured the cross, the shame, and the suffering. Isaiah said of our Suffering Servant: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4).

Humans instinctively seek reprieve from suffering. We prefer instant gratification and superficial relief to suffering. Human intellect deems suffering inherently evil. We avoid suffering and its manifestations. Yet this reaction may be inadvertently harmful. The impulse to shun all suffering does not resemble the path on which our Suffering Servant trod, and the natural inclination to hate suffering may be the cause of our inability to deal with it.

I have been reflecting recently on suffering and hardship. I have observed in my own experience—and those of so many dear friends—that the impulsive zeal to shun suffering can be invariably harmful. The notion that suffering must be avoided is well-intentioned; we hate to see those we love suffer, and the burden of bearing our own crosses is exceptionally difficult. Out of love for others, we consider suffering an inherent evil, and out of selfishness for ourselves, we find no value in suffering.

Yet Christ would have us think differently. We ought to be familiar with His command to take up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). The Christian life is predicated on the denial of oneself for the sake of Christ. We shun our own desires, flee from self-gratification, and abhor what is evil in God’s eyes. Necessarily, therefore, we must also take up all that our Lord commands—including suffering.

Our Lord declared that “in the world [we] will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). We do not lose hope amid suffering and hardship. All the things with which we are burdened will be set right on the Last Day. The tribulations which God gives us produce a necessary endurance, without which the Christian life is made impossible. It certainly does not please our heavenly Father that such tribulations must befall us; nevertheless, out of love for His fallen Creation, He allows the fruits of endurance to come forth in us through suffering and hardship.

Indeed, the fruits of Christian faith are brought forth in us when we mirror our Suffering Servant. Only as we walk on His sorrowful path will true endurance and living faith be found.

Lent prepares us well for this task. Before we sing the gladsome Easter song, we must first sing the miserable ballad of Christ’s death. The path to new life first passed through death. Spring lilies spring forth only after the melancholic winds of winter. The Gospel itself takes us first through the necessity for Christ’s suffering, following on His insufferable road, after which we are brought to the overwhelming joy of Easter. The tomb must first be filled if it is to be emptied.

This quotidian pattern is the life of the Church, and it has been from the beginning. The Apostle Paul dealt intimately and intentionally with suffering. Many of Paul’s epistles encourage Christian churches to endure suffering. For Paul, suffering is not only merely a necessary natural consequence for sin; it is a blessing from God. Suffering is purposeful. Though our natural impulse is to avoid suffering at any cost, Paul notes that suffering produces numerous blessings. He writes in Romans:

“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Romans 5:3-4

Suffering is also linked to our salvation. Only through pain and suffering—by means of the agonizing and dreadful cross—could Jesus win salvation. Our suffering is not needless. It points us to the central instrument by which Christ won salvation. The suffering of our Lord on our behalf is brought to remembrance through suffering and hardship. It is therefore a consolation for Christians, especially those who are fearful or doubtful. Paul writes:

“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.”

2 Corinthians 1:5-7

Suffering is uncomfortable, agonizing, and often unbearable. Human beings were not created to suffer. God’s created order prohibited such an offense against our humanity. Man’s fall into sin, however, perverted God’s created order. Creation was thrust into cosmic chaos. From that moment, suffering not only became a reality, but a necessity. God declared that man would work the ground through pain. Childbearing would become an insufferable nightmare. 

When these realities changed, God did not watch idly. The Father turned the evil that we had wrought upon this world in the Fall into the singular means by which salvation would be won for us. Our suffering, therefore, is not only given to us, but furthermore we are made to be partakers of Christs’ suffering. When we walk the lonesome road of despair, we do not walk alone. Christ walks with us. The crosses we bear Christ also carries. 

What shall we make of those who suffer—and what of those who provide aid, counsel, or support to them? Our suffering is not in vain. Trial and tribulation are provided for our benefit. In His infinite, heavenly wisdom, the Father knows well when we must endure times of pain or pleasure. He protects us with His watchful eye. His careful hand guides and directs us—even amid suffering.

We must not always default to avoidance. We must always turn to endurance. The sufferings with which we are encumbered in this life point us to the cross. Suffering does not uproot us; it plants us firmly near the River of Life. In the waters of holy baptism we are adopted as sons into God’s kingdom, and we are crowned as heirs of His eternal glory. The fruits of this sonship come to light in suffering. We must not shun that which reveals Christ’s glory. We must rejoice that in those insufferable moments, His glory is being revealed to us:

“But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”

1 Peter 4:13

Suffering is the true revelation of God. The Father is revealed through Christ. Specifically, we see only in Christ’s suffering our God’s love for us. In His cross we are assured of the hope we have in Him. Without this tormenting sacrifice, our hope would be lost. Apart from suffering, our road would be dreary. Though our momentary afflictions may be dismal, suffering is working in us an insurmountable weight of eternal glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). 

It is expedient to seek relief; it is felicitous to offer reprieve to those we love. The relief we seek and the reprieve we offer must be rooted in Him whose suffering wrought our salvation. Apart from Him, whose cross was borne for our sake, and for whose sake we must also bear our own crosses, hope is lost. We therefore must find relief in the Father’s loving and merciful hand, confident that He will provide pain and pleasure as befits our needs. We must offer reprieve by encouraging one another to persist, endure, and trust amid suffering. 

I’d like to leave you with a few stanzas from a marvelous hymn by Paul Gerhardt, of whom the Lutheran soul cannot have enough. This hymn is doubly appropriate. It is particularly suitable for the Lenten season, yet also speaks well to Christian suffering. We see in Gerhardt’s hymnic gem an image of our Suffering Servant, through whose death we are emboldened to live as His image-bearers. We therefore walk on His path, follow in His steps, and shun not the trials He endured for us. 

1. A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth,
The guilt of all men bearing;
And laden with the sins of earth,
None else the burden sharing!
Goes patient on, grow weak and faint,
To slaughter led without complaint,
That spotless life to offer;
Bears shame and stripes, and wounds and death,
Anguish and mockery, and saith,
"Willing all this I suffer."

2. This Lamb is Christ, the soul's great Friend,
The Lamb of God, our Savior;
Him God the Father chose to send
To gain for us His favor.
“Go forth, My Son,” the Father saith,
“And free men from the fear of death,
From guilt and condemnation.
The wrath and stripes are hard to bear,
But by Thy Passion men shall share
The fruit of Thy salvation.”

3. “Yea, Father, yea, most willingly
I'll bear what Thou commandest;
My will conforms to Thy decree,
I do what Thou demandest.”
O wondrous Love, what hast Thou done!
The Father offers up His Son!
The Son, content, descendeth!
O Love, how strong Thou art to save!
Thou beddest Him within the grave
Whose word the mountains rendeth

4. From morn till eve my theme shall be
Thy mercy's wondrous measure;
To sacrifice myself for Thee
Shall be my aim and pleasure.
My stream of life shall ever be
A current flowing ceaselessly,
Thy constant praise outpouring.
I'll treasure in my memory,
O Lord, all Thou hast done for me,
Thy gracious love adoring.

5. Of death I am no more afraid,
New life from Thee is flowing;
Thy cross affords me cooling shade
When noonday's sun is glowing.
When by my grief I am opprest,
On Thee my weary soul shall rest
Serenely as on pillows.
Thou art my Anchor when by woe
My bark is driven to and fro
On trouble's surging billows.

—“A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth,” TLH 142, sts. 1-5.