Suffering

I guess the worst physical pain I've ever suffered was acute appendicitis.
I was taken to the N. Middlesex hospital in an ambulance. And after an assessment in A&E was put in the back of what I can only describe as a modified milk float to be driven to theatre.
It was a cold day, and the porter piled half a dozen blankets on me, and, as his mate drove, he discovered that I was a student vicar.
Then, as I lay there, still curled up in absolute agony, he asked me what I thought of women vicars.

It's easy to joke about that. But real, long-term pain – whether mental or physical - is no joke.

It's pretty much certain that we will all suffer in some way, at some point, and we'll deal with suffering much better if we've thought about it and prepared ourselves before it hits.
You can't think rationally when you're in the middle of terrible pain or emotional turmoil.
And so, if you're in the middle of suffering now, you may well find some of what I say very difficult.
We're dealing with a complex issue very briefly with the broadest of brushes. And in doing this, it's entirely possible that I'll say something that seems blunt, harsh or insensitive. If that's so, I beg your forgiveness in advance.

But in the summer Tuesday evening Bible studies, we'll be giving this a lot more thought, and I urge you all to come to those.


We all ask questions when we suffer, 'What have I done to deserve this?' 'Why me?' 'Why is life so hard?' 'Why, if God loves me, does he allow it?' 'Why? Why?'

The Bible doesn't duck these questions. But it doesn't present easy or simplistic answers.

It recognises that sometimes good people suffer, and sometimes evil people get away with it, and prosper.

But as we look for answers, we find that the Bible deals with the problem, not like a philosophy textbook, but as a narrative – the history of God and his people – and suffering is included as and when it occurs, not as a separate topic.
So the Bible describes suffering as it occurs – what happens, how people feel, what they say, how they pray, and how God answers – or doesn't.
But there's no book called, 'Answers to the problem of Suffering'.
Instead, we have to enter into the history of God's dealings with people, listen in on lives of real people, see how God interacts with them, and then see how we today fit into God's plan for the world.
When we do this, we see the big picture of suffering. We see what God has done about it and what God will do about it.

Will we answer every question tonight? No – far from it. But we'll set the context for further exploration.
We'll see the big picture so that we can explore the details further. If we try to look at the detail first, we'll go badly wrong – as all to many have done.

So let's go back to the beginning of the story.
In Genesis 1 & 2 God creates the world – don't need to worry for now whether he does it in 6 days or 6 billion years – the point is that at the point when the first man & woman walk the earth, God declares it to be very good.
There is no suffering. There is no pain. There are no natural disasters.

But then something goes horribly wrong.
Adam & Eve turn their backs on God – they twist what he said and disobey his one command.
They decided that they knew better than God.
They wanted to rule their lives and God's world.
In short, they wanted to be God. They didn't want God to be God.


This rebellion immediately broke their good relationship with each other, with God and with the earth.
And suffering erupts into God's good world.

So let's turn to Genesis 3 – page 5 – and see what happens when humans reject God.
We join the story after Adam & Eve have eaten the fruit of the tree God told them not to eat:
Read v 7: disruption of relationship between Adam & Eve – ashamed in front of each other. Hide from each other. Here is the beginning of the suffering and pain of broken relationships.
Read vv 8 – 10: Here is the disruption of man's relationship with God – ashamed & afraid of God. Hide from him.
Verse 16 – God's curse on Eve.
Verse 17-19 God's curse on Adam. Disruption of the earth.
And, v20, we see that we're all children of Adam & Eve – we all twist God's word & disobey his commands. We don't trust him. We hide from him.
And we all suffer the same consequences of this rebellion against God.
So suffering – of all kinds – is the general result of our general sin against God.

Now I know that this seems terribly harsh. That God permits – or even causes – untold human misery because people reject him.
But, as I said before, we mustn't jump to conclusions before we've seen the big picture.

Much – I'd even go as far as to say most – of the suffering in this world is the direct result of human wickedness & rebellion against God:
the drunk driver who smashes into a group of children at the bus stop
the evil men of Eritrea who syphoned off 95% of the Live Aid money to buy guns & bullets.
The crooked Italian builders who built sub-standard buildings that collapsed in the earthquake a few years ago.
The greed of the rich nations which leaves us with an obesity crisis while the majority of the world starves.
Or closer to home, we know that sexually transmitted diseases would be wiped out if we followed God's teaching on sex & marriage.

And we can't blame God for the consequences of our own irresponsibility and rejection of him and his ways.

Nevertheless, we come back to those instances of suffering that are not the direct result of specific sins.

We come back to earthquakes and floods. To cancer and alzheimer's. To death and bereavement.
All seemingly caused by man's inability to live under God's rule.

It seems a desperate situation, and we're still left with the question, if God is a loving God, why doesn't he do something about it?

And the answer is, he has and he will.

First, God has done something about suffering
God does not remain detached from our suffering.
He himself entered into this world as God the Son, Jesus Christ.

In John's gospel, we read about the death of Jesus' friend, Lazarus.
It's in John chapter 11, and you might like to turn to it. Page 1077.

We begin with the tragic illness and death of Jesus' dear friend, Lazarus.

At the beginning of chapter 11, Lazarus is sick, and his sisters, Martha & Mary, sent word to Jesus, 'Lord, the one you love is sick.'
But Jesus stayed where he was for 2 more days – he did nothing to help Lazarus.
When he finally announced that he was going to see Lazarus, the disciples were afraid, v8, 'a little while ago, the Jews tried to stone you there'. Jesus knows what it is to be threatened with violence.
But he goes anyway.
When he finally arrives, v17, Lazarus has already been dead for 4 days, and his friends have begun to mourn.

When Jesus meets Lazarus' sisters, Martha & Mary, he's greeted with the same comment by both of them – but each has a very different meaning.

First, Martha says to Jesus, 'If you'd been here my brother wouldn't have died'.
And then there's a conversation in which Martha says that she believes Jesus can give eternal life even to those who have died.
Martha has hope in face of the death of her young brother.

Second, v32, through her tears, Mary says to Jesus, 'If you'd been here my brother wouldn't have died'.
Perhaps she's angry with Jesus for not coming sooner – you could understand it if she was.
And then, v33, with Mary crying her eyes out, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, Jesus is deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
They take Jesus to the tomb, and then we have the shortest verse in the whole Bible.
Two words: “Jesus wept.”
And the Jews said, 'See how he loved him.'
But one of them said, 'Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?'
Do you see what he's saying?
If Jesus is so powerful, why didn't he stop this suffering? Why did he allow Lazarus to die? Why did he allow Martha & Mary to suffer this bereavement? Why?!

And then, v38, John tells us again that Jesus was deeply moved.

God does not sit in heaven unconcerned by suffering.
He came down to this mucked up, disease-ridden, dying world and he felt the pain that we feel, he cried the tears we cry.
But God is not just sympathetic. He does something.
Jesus ignores the objection that Lazarus' body will stink by now, and demands that they open the tomb.
And out walks Lazarus bandaged up like a comedy mummy or the invisible man.

Martha was right. Jesus has power over death. He can raise the dead.
And we realise that Jesus wept, not because of Lazarus – he knew what he was about to do – Jesus wept because they had no hope.
He wept because they didn't trust him to raise Lazarus to eternal life. And so he raises Lazarus to this life again to demonstrate what he's come to do.

And having raised Lazarus from the dead, the rest of John's gospel is taken up with Jesus undergoing a false trial; being punched, spat on and whipped to within an inch of his life; and then crucified.

And we see that God himself knows what it is to suffer. He is not aloof. He is involved. And he has done something to solve the problem of our sinful rebellion.

The OT prophet Isaiah tells us why Jesus dies:
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed...
After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Do you see what happens at the cross?
God has done something about the root cause of suffering – sin and its consequences.
He takes upon himself our sin and the punishment for sin.

And because God has done this, so we know that God will do something more.

Turn with me to the last book of the Bible. Revelation 21. READ vv1-5

Do you see what's happened here?
It's a reversal of Genesis 3. Now we're back to Genesis 1 – only better. The curse has gone. Everything is very good.

Martha knew that even if Lazarus died, it was not the end.
She would miss him dreadfully. And she mourned. But not without hope.
She knew that there was a resurrection, and the Jesus was the key to this new life.
And so she had hope in the midst of suffering.

And seeing suffering in this eternal perspective – with the cross in the past and resurrection and new creation in the future – is the beginning – just the beginning – of understanding and being prepared for suffering.

I used to play golf with a wonderful retired clergyman – George Swannell. George had a stroke, and was left unable to speak for several weeks.
During that time he held a small wooden cross in his hand. He knew that the death of Jesus on the cross was his gateway to eternity with God and to the new heavens and the new earth.

I remember the funeral of Paul (names changed for privacy). He was killed in a car crash leaving his wife, Jane, and two young boys.
Jane was seriously injured, but at his funeral someone quoted her. 'No more hankies. No more hospitals. No more hearses.'
That's the hope that enables Jane – and millions like her – to live with tragedy and suffering and still praise God.