Lent: 4/6/09
April 6, 2009
Lamentations 1:1-2, 6-12
2 Corinthians 1:1-7
Mark 11:12-25
“A Shared Suffering”
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, 4who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. 6If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering.7Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.
- 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (NRSV)
If there is a common theme for Holy Week in might be: “A Shared Suffering for a Shared Salvation.” Certainly the texts that we will meditate on this week are filled with suffering. In the coming days we will be narrowing our focus to Jesus’ words on the cross. But the suffering that we shall find is not suffering for suffering’s sake. It is the anguish of creation and the price of God’s coming to be with us. One of the central images is that of childbirth. We will hear words like “labor of love”, “deliverance”, “first born of the dead”, and “new birth”. We will even read about how the spear pieced Jesus’ side resulting in a flow of blood and water. This is suffering with the purpose of giving birth to a new people into a new creation.
But we do not care for suffering. We will go out of our way to avoid our own pain and distress. I once worked in a very stressful office setting and one day over lunch we discovered that every last person in that office was continually taking some type of antidepressant. We have come to see suffering as only a negative experience to be avoided at all cost. As a rule we do not fast. Most of the time we do not submit ourselves to extended seasons of prayer. We are not enthusiastic about sacrificial giving. And most certainly, we do not see the need of ministering to others to the point where it causes us any discomfort or uneasiness.
If we do not have the will or stomach for our own suffering, we certainly have no interest in the suffering of others. When we see others in distress, we want to be sympathetic but not empathetic. We might want to stand off in the distance and wish them well. We might even think to intercede for them in prayer, but to draw near and touch is too much. It is as if suffering is contagious and we fear becoming infected ourselves. Not only do we suffer in our culture, but also we suffer in isolation and loneliness. Further, the idea of entering into the suffering of others and taking it on as our own is just too horrific and repugnant.
However, we also miss the consolation that comes in the midst of human suffering. We lose out on the lessons of strength and wellness even in the brokenness and pain. We forfeit the joy of recovery and the creation of community that comes from sharing in each other’s suffering. We resign ourselves to superficial relationships and cling to the myth of individualism. We ignore the core of our faith that teaches us that we were created to be in relationship with God, creation, and each other.
In the place of a shared suffering with a purpose, we suffer meaninglessly alone. The Apostle Paul points us in a different direction toward a way of being in which suffering and consolation are shared in communion with God and the community of faith. When one member of the body of Christ suffers, all the members suffer. When one is comforted, all receive comfort. When one is built-up and sustained, all are beneficiaries. Beyond this is the call to endure hardship for the sake of the Gospel so people might come to know Christ. This morning in my congregation we sang, “Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone” and I heard the words differently than I have in the past. This is not about some sort of sadistic death wish or a neurotic compulsion to be punished for some deep dark secret sin. This is about suffering with a purpose. This is about sharing one another’s burdens and traveling through live together in solidarity toward the common goal of consolation and a realized salvation.
This day let us prayerfully meditated on the words of this hymn. Let us begin to open ourselves to the sufferings of Jesus and others so that in the process we too might acknowledge our own pain and begin the path that leads through but does not end in death, but consolation and peace…
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
and all the world go free?
No, there’s a cross for everyone,
and there’s a cross for me.
How happy are the saints above,
who once went sorrowing here!
But now they taste unmingled love,
and joy without a tear.
The consecrated cross I’ll bear
till death shall set me free;
and then go home my crown to wear,
for there’s a crown for me. Amen.
