Suffering in the Kingdom of God

The Dalai Lama, in his book The Art of Happiness makes a very interesting comment. He says so many people, when suffering comes, ask the question, “Why me?” A better question, the Dalai Lama says, would be to ask, “Why not me? What great thing have I done that I deserve not to suffer?”

Here’s the fact: Jesus Christ, the only human being that has ever existed who was perfect by his own merit, suffered…and died…on a cross. What makes me think, when suffering comes, that I deserve anything less than He? St. Paul “strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying ‘It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Suffering comes to us. In this life, it is unavoidable. We suffer because of that original sin, which is passed on to us, and separates us from God. That original sin is the source of all suffering. So many times people ask, “If God is all-powerful, why does he allow suffering?” And, frankly, it’s offensive to me when people ascribe to God the cause of suffering. That happens in a lot of ways. The fact is that we suffer because we are separated from God, and that was not by God’s doing. Humanity as a whole chose to be separated from God, a choice that is symbolized in the story of Adam and Eve and that forbidden fruit. We, as a whole, have chosen not to obey God’s word of life to us. Suffering is the consequence of that separation from Him.

Here’s the good news. Our God did not and does not leave us in our suffering. Instead, through Jesus Christ’s suffering and death, God transformed what was the consequence of our separation from Him into the doorway through which we are united to him eternally in bliss. “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.’ The One who sat on the throne, said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’” (Revelation 21: 3-5).

“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” Why? First of all, because it’s unavoidable. Suffering comes whether we want it to or not. It’s the consequence of humanity’s choice to separate ourselves from God. Some might think, “I’ve never wanted to be separated from God.” Honestly, which one of us has never sinned?

But secondly, because it is through suffering that we are united to Jesus on the cross. When we unite our pain and suffering to the suffering of Christ, then we go through the suffering and deaths that we experience in life and are raised with him. “The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him” (2 Timothy 2:11).

How do we do that? The 100 billion dollar question, isn’t it? I know saying the answer is a lot hard than doing the answer,

We unite our suffering to the suffering of Christ first by the grace of acceptance. We accept that in this life, we are going to suffer. I think that a lot of sin that we commit is committed because we are trying to avoid suffering in some way. We lie because we see the suffering the consequences of telling the truth. We gossip because if we don’t, we might suffer by not being included with the ones who doing the gossiping. We hold on to resentments because we have suffered, and it makes us feel a little bit better to hate the ones who have caused us pain. I think it’s natural to avoid suffering. Some suffering cannot be avoided. I think the hardship of being faithful is a source of a lot of our unfaithfulness. When we make the commitment to prayer, how often do we hit the snooze button? How often have we missed church on vacation because making time to worship with the community would interfere with our good time? There's a grace that comes with spiritual maturity: the grace of acceptance of suffering, the grace of meeting life's on life's terms, not on ours.

In this, I’m not saying that if we get sick, we should say, “Oh, well, I can’t avoid it so I’m just going to lay here at let the sickness get worse.” That would be dumb.

When we get a headache, we can say, “I’m going to take aspirin to get rid of this, but until it goes away, I’m going to accept it and not let it make me grumpy towards my family.” My grandfather was recently diagnosed with cancer. His attitude is one of total acceptance, even while undergoing treatment. “This isn’t going to kill me,” he said, “and if it does, my number’s up. What can I do?” He’s undergoing treatment for it, and understands that the treatment is going to hurt. He has accepted this, too. If only we can accept that we are going to suffer, I think the suffering gets a little easier to bear because we stop fighting the suffering.

After we accept in grace that suffering exists, we can make a conscious decision to love in our suffering as Christ loved. Like I said, I may take aspirin to get rid of a headache, or chemo to try and get rid of cancer. While I’m waiting for my suffering to end, I will act in love toward those around me, rather than taking my suffering out on them. I will love as Christ loved on the cross, when he prayed for those who nailed him there.

And we can say a prayer in our suffering. “Lord, I really want our home to sell, so that I can provide a more appropriate place for my growing family. It’s not. Help me to endure with patience this situation over which I have no power, and unite it to your suffering for the good of my family.” Our suffering can become a prayer in itself, when we consciously make it so.

Our suffering, which was originally the result of our separation from God, can be the doorway by which we are more fully united with Him in His Kingdom. I know “the saying is sure: if we have died with him; we also shall live with him.” And “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.” He has made all things, including our suffering, new.