“ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good,” the opening verses of Genesis tell us. No sickness, no pain, no suffering, no sin. That certainly is not how that created order looks today. What happened?
Through the sin of Adam and Eve came pain, suffering, and death. The devastating effect of sin is described by St. Paul when he said, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22). Pain and suffering is not part of God’s intention; it results from living in a fallen world.
So how do we deal with pain? How do we make sense out of suffering in this world? Contemporary culture tries to remedy or explain it, to deal with any kind of suffering as an evil to be avoided or alleviated at all costs. This attitude can lead to all kinds of abuse, ranging from dependence on drugs to cries for euthanasia. The Christian, on the other hand, has other options for thinking about suffering.
God Did Not Intend Suffering
First, we must emphasize that human suffering was not God’s original intent. The presence of suffering in our world is the direct result of sin, of living in a fallen world. As we live in that world, however, we must remember that we are creatures—God alone is the
Creator—and we are called upon to live our lives within the limits appointed by God. We highly value the life God has given us, but we dare not value that life or any part of it higher than God himself. Thus suffering, even death, is not the greatest evil that can befall us. The greatest evil is disobedience to and disbelief in God—refusing to live within our creaturely limits.
In addition, the suffering of Jesus instructs us how to deal with our own suffering. The person who suffers willingly stands in the same place Jesus stood. He bore his suffering, not because it was desirable, but because it was given him by the Father as part of his lot in life. As Christians who have been joined to Christ in our Baptism, we share in his strength in the face of suffering. It is not recommended that Christians seek suffering or call it unqualified good. Rather, we see it as a cross that, when endured faithfully, will give way to glory.
Two Sides to Suffering
The presence of suffering in the life of a Christian has two sides. At times, God calls us to be caregivers. The unfamiliar world of profound suffering may prompt hesitancy or fear in the Christian. Patience, tenderness, and affection as a response to suffering do not come naturally. But here again we can draw upon God’s strength.
His presence with us in the face of pain and suffering is the compassionate presence of one who suffered for us and now suffers with us. His suffering and death for us gives him the power “to wipe away every tear from our eye.” And when we minister to others who are suffering, this care enables us to maximize our care, even when we cannot minimize their suffering.
At other times God calls us to be “care receivers,” providing opportunities for others to serve God by caring for us. Richard Neuhaus observes that “to entrust ourselves to the care of others is to abandon preoccupation with our own dignity and to allow to others the greatest human dignity, which is caring for those who have no claim upon us other than the claim of human need.”
This yielding ourselves to the care of others can teach us in turn how to better care for others. St. Paul reminded the Corinthians that our heavenly Father “comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians 1:4). God thus turns suffering into the school where we learn the complementary relationships of serving and of being served, of caring and of yielding to care.
We Are Never Alone
Whether we are giving or receiving care in the midst of suffering, we are always comforted by the fact that we are not alone in our suffering or in our care. As Paul reminded the Christians in Rome who were faced with suffering, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Romans 8:26-27).
Human suffering is indeed a difficult and perplexing issue. If we limit our investigations and explanations to the wisdom and philosophy of the world, we are likely to surrender to desperation and despair. But if we consider human suffering in the biblical context of how God loves us and cares for us, we see new possibilities.
As Christians, we are empowered by our baptismal union with Christ to immerse our suffering in his suffering for us. We who have been united as one in the body of Christ continually have that oneness strengthened as we share in his body and blood. Thus we are moved by the love of Christ to serve other members of the body when they are suffering. By faith, we learn to put our suffering in the context of his suffering for us. By faith, we learn to put our caring for others in the context of his caring for us. That faith enables us to confess with St. Paul, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).