We are continuing our Epiphany sermon series based on questions that have been submitted by the congregation. The question we are dealing with today is:
“I read in Baruch recently that he does say calamities come from God, I know you disagree with this, but do you think maybe they are done to test our faith?”
This is a question about suffering. Where does suffering come from? What is God’s role in the midst of human suffering?
There are different perspectives on this within the Bible.
The prophets will often draw the connection between sin and suffering. If the king or the people are sinful, then they may face an invasion by a foreign army, or be dragged off into exile, or face a locust swarm that eats the crops. … We see this with Pharaoh. Pharaoh ignored God’s command to release the Hebrew people, and the plagues are inflicted on Egypt in response to Pharaoh’s sin. In Baruch (from the Apocrypha) we read,
“It was not for destruction that you were sold to the nations, but you were handed over to your enemies because you angered God” (45:6).
So Baruch is an example of this kind of thinking that we find in the prophets. …
Sometimes this does seem to be the case especially when we think about drunk driving, hard drug abuse, or other criminal behavior. We can pretty reliably say that this is likely going to result in suffering. We can predict that a person’s health will suffer, they will damage their relationships with those around them, they might end up in jail, or find it hard to hold a job. Sometimes people experience these consequences as a punishment from God.
There is another voice, though. We see this in the book of Job, for example. Suffering isn’t always a punishment for sin. Job’s friends seem to be suggesting the prophetic idea that Job has some secret sin he needs to confess, which is the reason for his suffering. But we know, from reading the book, that Job is actually very good and has done nothing to deserve his suffering. His suffering is not a punishment for sin. He is never really given the reason for his suffering. (The reader knows that it seems to be a kind of test to see if human beings can be good without being rewarded for their goodness. But this is never made known to Job. And the book never seems to suggest this reason extends beyond Job as an individual.) … In John 9, the disciples of Jesus ask him about a man who was born blind.
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”.
Again, this is the thinking we find common in the prophets, that suffering is connected to sin. Jesus answers,
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned”.
Jesus seems to be saying that suffering is not always a punishment for sin. There are other reasons that suffering exists. In this particular case, it was to reveal the works of God. And Jesus then heals the man’s blindness.
We see something similar in Luke 13 where we read,
“… there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices [this probably means they were killed in the temple while worshipping]. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did’” (Lk 13:1-5).
Dying in a particularly tragic way doesn’t automatically mean that person is a particularly bad sinner. This type of thinking has more to do with the idea of karma. … We might also look at Jesus on the cross. Was his manner of death evidence that Jesus himself was a particularly terrible sinner? No, there was something else going on.
So, at the very least, we should recognize that suffering is complicated. It is not a 1 to 1 ratio where sin = suffering.
Suffering exists in the world. We get diseases. We can drown. We can have our house fall on us because of an earthquake. We can be bitten by a poisonous snake. We can be harmed by another human being. Why do we live in a world where these things happen?
Sometimes a difference will be made between God’s directive will and God’s permissive will. God’s permissive will refers to what God permits. God permits people to have free will, and some people use that free will to do terrible things. This is within God’s permissive will because He is allowing it to happen. God isn’t intervening to stop it. … In the garden of Eden story, God tells them to not eat the forbidden fruit, but they are allowed their freewill and they decide to reject God’s command and they eat the forbidden fruit. This is allowed to happen by God. It is in God’s permissive will. Nothing can happen without God allowing it.
God’s directive will is good. God doesn’t do evil things. God wills the healing of creation from the damage and infection of sin. God directs things towards good ends. God is the savior, the healer, the rescuer. God wills that people come to know and love Him. These are the kinds of things God wills directly.
So, on this view, the causes of suffering in the world exist within God’s permissive will. God allows these things to happen, but that doesn’t mean God is directly involved by pulling a string that causes someone to suffer.
It’s natural to then ask why God allows this suffering to exist. And this is a mystery people have wrestled with for quite a long time. Thinkers have come up with a number of answers. I think to some degree it comes down to what the point of human life is? What is the purpose of a human being? If you think that lasting happiness in this life is the purpose of human life, they you are probably going to have a big problem with suffering.
If, however, you say that human happiness in this life is not the point of human life, then you open the door to allow for suffering. God may have a very good reason to allow suffering, that we have no understanding of. We might not even be capable of understanding what those reasons are.
We can get hints of what those reasons might be though. … Say the purpose of human life is to cling to God, and to learn to become more like Jesus. (which is what I believe). Maybe God wants people to learn to be like Jesus, and to rely on the Spirit to help them. … How might they learn to be patient people? Can they do that without facing difficulties or discomfort? … How about learning to love an enemy, can we learn to become the kind of person who loves enemies without having an actual enemy? … Can we learn to be compassionate, like Jesus, without encountering people who are hurting?
Perhaps it is also important that we learn to deal with temptation. To choose God, to choose what is good, in the face of other options. Our reading from the letter of James says,
“Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”
Immediately following this line he is quick to say,
“No one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved.”
… So, the context for temptation is allowed by God. And we are called blessed when we endure temptation, but God isn’t directly involved in tempting us. Though, God desires people who are able to endure temptation.
… I’m not saying this answers every question about suffering, but it is the answer I go to most often in my own life.
We are left with the question, 'how should we experience our own suffering?' We are going to suffer. Our options are to
1. suffer with meaning or2. suffer without meaning.
Suffering without meaning is very hard to endure- that can destroy us. … Suffering with meaning is like birth pains- It is directed towards something good that can come as a result. Suffering itself is not good, but God can help us so that good can come out of our suffering, just as He brought a resurrection out of the suffering of the cross.
I don’t believe that God causes our suffering directly, but I do believe that God allows suffering to exist in the world. And God has reasons for this, even to the point that God was willing to endure the cross in His own incarnate life as Jesus. May God grant us resurrections to match all our crosses. AMEN
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