EDITORIAL: Does suffering have a true purpose?_40405

Posted: 4/01/05

EDITORIAL:
Does suffering have a true purpose?

Listen, and you'll hear the soundtrack of human existence–a chorus of sighs and groans synthesized by suffering.

That sounds pessimistic. Not so. Call it realism.

Since Adam and Eve bit the forbidden fruit, humanity has clasped hands over ears to shut out the wailing song of suffering. At times–notoriously during wars and amidst calamity–shared suffering of gargantuan proportions dominates societies, like an symphony reverberating off the walls of a concert hall. More often, suffering afflicts only a few people and occasionally floats past others, like blues wafting from an open window.

Occasionally, we can't help but hear thundering tones of suffering. An earthquake or tsunami. A terrorist's bomb. A teenager on a rampage. Other times, we barely notice. The latest home fire recounted on the evening news. Another drunken husband beating a wife. A late-night wreck fueled by alcohol.

Of course, some suffering never makes the news. But its bent notes ring in the ears of friends and family. A stillborn baby. The “C” word flying from a doctor's lips. A once-happy marriage draining into dissolution.

During the past weeks, suffering's discordant melodies mesmerized all who would hear. Our listening has felt almost clandestine. Under normal circumstances, such sufferers and their families play the final notes of their pain in private. But one is a young woman whose end-of-life decisions have been made in courtrooms and legislative halls. The other is an aged man called “father” by hundreds of millions of Roman Catholics worldwide.

So, we have absorbed the slow, sad dirges of suffering for Terri Schiavo and John Paul II. We cannot seem to shake their notes of agony. They play in our minds. We rehearse them over and over, hoping to find a phrase of understanding, a passage of illumination for our own suffering.

Human nature beckons us to find meaning in suffering. What's suffering for if it doesn't mean anything? And so the talk-show pundits and news analysts have discussed these cases for untold hours. Frankly, most of their talk has sounded tired and familiar, like the camp songs of our childhood, which no longer move us, but we can't forget. In contrast, a Vatican lawyer said something startling and unfamiliar. Seeking to validate the agony of John Paul's steadily deteriorating health, he theorized that perhaps the pope's suffering serves a purpose because he is suffering for the church.

Catholic and Baptist theology differ at many points. Our understanding of the pope is one of those points. Catholics believe he completes an unbroken line of succession from the Apostle Peter, whom they claim was the first pope. In certain circumstances, they believe, his word is infallible. Baptists believe all Christians are priests, both privileged and responsible to relate directly to God. So, no one–pope, priest, preacher or pew-sitter–holds a superior or authoritative position over other Christians.

This notion that John Paul might be suffering for the church also is a foreign notion. It implies the pope's suffering has a redemptive purpose for other Christians. The only One whose suffering ever redeemed others was Jesus. He sacrificed his life to provide eternal atonement for our sins, to bridge the chasm between human brokenness and divine wholeness. Human suffering pales in contrast; it serves no redemptive purpose.

So, what do we make of suffering? What purpose can come from suffering? You can think of many answers; three stand out:

Suffering enables us to identify with Jesus. When we suffer spiritually and physically, we more closely understand and identify with his lament at Lazarus' tomb, his anguish in Gethsemane, his agony on the cross. If we ask God to guide us, we can turn suffering into a meditation on Jesus' love–he would accept such suffering to identify with us and free us from our sin.

Suffering can help sanctify us. Sanctification is the part of salvation that the Apostle Paul refers to as “being saved.” It is the process of spiritual progress, of becoming more Christlike. Suffering crystallizes what is truly important. It eliminates distractions, helps us focus. Suffering leads us to seek a right relationship with God, to purify our souls.

Suffering reminds us we are not alone. As we ponder the Christ of the gospels and read Romans, we understand that God suffered in Christ because he already suffered the estrangement caused by our sin. God suffered for us before we knew to suffer ourselves. When we suffer, God is the first to grieve. God feels the sting of every tear, the ache of every broken heart. Ultimately, God will refine our sorrow into pure, distilled joy.

And that is a song for the ages.