Will it All Be Worth It?

There is a story in John’s Gospel which tells of a time when Jesus and his disciples were walking along a road and they came across a man who was born blind. The disciples saw the world in overly simplistic terms and associated this man’s suffering with sin. And so they turned to Jesus and they said, ‘Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?' Jesus, as usual, didn’t have a simple answer. He said... You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no cause and effect here. Look instead for what God can do. (John 9:3) Christianity isn’t primarily focused on explaining away or having an answer for why suffering happens… Instead, Jesus invites us to respond to suffering. A writer called Mike Yaconelli tells a story in one of his books about a time when his daughter was seriously ill and he found himself in a hospital waiting room. Behind one of the doors, he knew that his daughter was fighting for her life and that things did not look good. His natural response was to pray and, as he tried to, he couldn’t close his eyes and look away from the other people in the room. His child wasn’t the only one sick and suffering and he wasn’t the only parent who was afraid. As he tried to pray, he realised that he couldn’t just pray for his child… because faith is not just about making our lives better. Instead, he prayed for every parent in the room, every child behind the doors. Loving God and loving people means not just wanting God to change your situation but wanting God to transform the world. It’s not just about praying for an end to our suffering but rather praying, hoping and working for the end of all suffering. Christianity doesn’t promise us an escape from suffering. Instead, the Bible talks about how suffering can be of benefit to us… because suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces strength of character and strength of character produces hope. Later on, it says to ‘Consider it joy’ when we face all kinds of trials and challenges because it creates perseverance within us. And what the world around us is really crying out for is people of hope. People of good strength, people of good character people who have the perseverance to serve God and others the best that they can. We all long for a world without suffering, however, and this is a big however, those who have done the most for the world, often have been the ones who have suffered the most. Nelson Mandela for example. He was wrongly imprisoned for 27 years and on his release, he chose to forgive those who had put him there in the first place and spent the rest of his days bringing racial reconciliation to South Africa. Or what about Elizabeth Elliot. Her husband in the 1950’s was a missionary to the tribes in Ecuador. And on one of his trips, he was killed by one of the tribesmen that he was serving. And how did Elizabeth respond? She spent the next two years as a missionary to the very tribe that was responsible for her husband's death. Incredible! They shaped the world because of their suffering and how they responded to their pain. Instead of taking their pain out on others, they, like Jesus, chose to forgive which brought about healing, freedom and peace. And what also gives me hope is the eventual end that Christianity talks about. It talks about an end where there will be no more pain and no more suffering. In the final book of the Bible, called Revelation, the author John writes, And I heard a loud voice saying "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelations 21:3-4) A part of me wishes I had an easier answer to suffering. I’ve often wondered if there was no suffering at all would it be easier for people to believe? I’m also conscious that I may not have offered you the answer that you would have hoped for within this video. I’m more aware of it because I’m here in New York City at Ground Zero thinking back to when I was a teenager in 2001 watching the news watching this tragedy unfold as thousands of people lost their lives on that day. How could this happen? But as a final thought, all I can offer you is where I'm at myself. On the one hand, I trust God is good but on the other I still have questions that I wrestle with. Maybe I’ll carry these questions for the rest of my life. But I am inspired by the life of Jesus to serve those who are in need, to mourn with the brokenhearted, and to pass on the hope that one day God will make all things new.