Wrapped up in this miracle we celebrate at Christmas – the miracle of incarnation, the miracle of “God-with-us” – is the reality and legitimacy of suffering. It is part of the human experience to which a transcendent God made himself vulnerable. From the beginning of this story in which God moves to intimately involve himself with mankind, individuals must choose – or not – to believe and identify with His activity in a world that is at odds with Him – and this alone makes suffering inevitable.
Think of Mary, who is “highly favored” according to the angel Gabriel’s announcement. What did that look like for her? The consequence of this favor would be suffering: being misunderstood by the community, being initially rejected by her fiancé, giving birth to her first child far from the comforts of home and family, and some time later, fleeing in the middle of the night as a refugee. And when the baby Jesus is dedicated at the temple in Jerusalem eight days after His birth, the prophet Simeon tells Mary that in the days to come “a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:35) Usually when we think about favor, especially to be favored by God, these are not the things we have in mind. But one of the things that makes the Biblical account of Jesus’ birth so compelling and moving is the raw reality of faith grappling with hardship, poverty and disappointment, all mixed together with supernatural encounters and prophecies coming true. God shows up where we really live, more than He does in carefully crafted candlelight scenes.
Of course there would be hardship and suffering! The fate of broken, alienated humanity was at stake and the great struggle for reconciliation had begun. The battle for human hearts is fierce. I’m afraid, however, that American Christianity has little time or patience for suffering that cannot be quickly resolved, or for any other difficulty that drags on for more than a short season. We just don’t have the attention span for it. I think that at least part of the reason for this is that in America we have reshaped and retold the Gospel in a way that reflects American values of material prosperity, political dominance, and physical strength. It’s not necessarily Good News to the poor and oppressed, but rather ‘good news’ for those who have seized opportunity by the scruff of the neck, worked hard and come out on top … and if you have enough faith and get it right, you can come out on top too. It’s a false gospel that scorns those who don’t manage to win the prizes of wealth, health, and positions of power. It’s their own fault because they didn’t work hard enough or believe hard enough. Suffering has no place in such a landscape, except for maybe a brief interlude of hardship or self-denial as we climb the ladder to success.
All those New Testament references to suffering and hardship as we follow the way of the cross, (Acts 14:22), the pointed warnings and rebukes to those who are tempted to put their trust in worldly wealth and power (1 Tim 6:17; James 5:1-4), these are conveniently overlooked as we focus almost exclusively on verses that tell us about abundant life, promised victory, and the provision of all our needs. After all, who wants to be identified with “a man of sorrows, acquainted with suffering,” as the prophet Isaiah describes the Messiah? It’s just not shiny and attractive! Of course the wonderful promises in Scritpure of abundant life, victory and divine provision are all true – as are the promises of suffering and hardship – but experiencing victory is not as dependent on our material circumstances as we would like to believe. How and when did “abundant life” come to be defined as a nice house in the suburbs, two cars, and a surplus income to be spent on mass-produced stuff we don’t need? You don’t even need Jesus for that. And the real abundant life to which we are called transcends all of it!
I’m sure that most of you who are reading this know the difference between the biblical Gospel and the cultural counterfeit I’ve been describing. But it’s amazing just how much we are shaped by the surrounding culture and it’s values, regardless of our biblical beliefs. This has become all too apparent over the past few years as a global pandemic and political strife have continued to push, pull and stretch us in ways we couldn’t have imagined. It’s become obvious that many do not know how to bear up under hardship – or even the least limitation or deprivation – for more than a few weeks, without becoming cranky, petulant and inevitably, looking for someone to blame. If we don’t have a good biblical perspective on suffering and it doesn’t pass quickly, we will end up offended with God, because ‘how could He let this happen and why isn’t He fixing it yet?’ This is often where that American gospel of success bumps up against the hard edges of reality. Or if we’re too pious to blame God, we will find someone else, like the government or this or that group that we were never liked, to play the boogie man. It will have to be someone’s fault. We tend to do this because it gives us some illusion of control. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it assumes that human beings have a level of control beyond what we really have, and that we have the power to fix everything. If we stop to think for just a moment, we know this is a fantasy, but it’s a powerfully addictive one.
If you know me, you know that I’ve been dealing with an ‘incurable’ blood cancer, off and on, for the past 8 years. When I was first diagnosed, some dear people who truly love me expressed shock and confusion that this could happen to me – a missionary and pastor. How could it be? Well, missionaries and pastors are part of the human race and susceptible to all the usual pitfalls and hardships of life like everyone else. As time when on, others asked or suggested (gently and with kindness) that maybe it was some sin in my life or in my family line that had opened the door to this terrible disease… I’ll be the first to say that I’m far from sinless and yes, willful sin can open the door to a host of miseries. But in my heart I didn’t think this was the case. Others suggested that maybe I hadn’t eaten the right things or had somehow not taken care of my health properly, or that if I would start eating this or avoiding that, I could cure myself. The bottom line in all these ideas was that the cancer was my fault, and something I could have prevented or that I had some control over. Something or someone had to take the blame, because things like this don’t just happen for no reason! But the truth is, ‘things like this’ happen all the time for no reason – at least for no apparent reason that we can discern. And that scares people – so we like to create a story line that gives us a sense of control. (There’s an entire book of the Bible about this very problem). But this kind of magical thinking will not help you to deal with unexplained suffering, and we must all learn to deal with it, or we’ll make a hard time even harder!
We are creatures, made in the very image of God, but with limited powers. But this does not mean that we are at the mercy of random events in a chaotic universe! This is precisely why some thoughtful reflection on the Christmas story is so helpful for us. The characters in this story all go through suffering and struggle, without the benefit of the bird’s-eye view we are given as we read the story today. These were ordinary people – but people of faith – caught up in history-shaping events whose magnitude they couldn’t have imagined…
Luke begins his account with the parents of John the Baptist, who would prepare the people for the Messiah’s arrival. Zechariah and Elizabeth were both descendants of a priestly line, and we are told they were blameless – truly good people – ordering their lives faithfully according to God’s commands. But they were living the supreme tragedy for people in their day and culture – childless in spite of doing everything right. Public shame, private grief that never resolves. Enduring the community’s politeness to their faces, but knowing what everyone must have assumed underneath that veneer: if God has withheld this most necessary and basic blessing, they must be deeply flawed, or harboring some secret sin. When the angel Gabriel announces to Zechariah that his wife will conceive and they will have a truly special child in their old age, his initial response of unbelief – ‘how can I be sure of this?’ – reveals the pain of all those years of crushing disappointment. It wasn’t until this late season of their lives that they would finally see that all the disappointment, delay, and heartbreak would result mind-boggling privilege and serve a purpose far behind their own lives.
As we continue in Luke’s account, we can see how God is arranging and ordering events in both the big geopolitical picture, and in the lives of ordinary people who must figure out what to do next. Caesar’s decree only serves God’s purpose. It looked like Mary and Joseph were at the mercy of an emperor’s impersonal, sweeping decree about registering for taxes. Caesar didn’t know, nor would he have cared, about their particular circumstances and the hardship this decree is going to put them through. There will be suffering. They will not understand it all. But they will do what they have to do, believing that a good God is ordering their steps, and He does! The lessons for us are obvious. Can we believe in the overarching sovereignty of a good God who will direct our steps and who is actively working all things together for our good? Can we accept the fact that suffering and hardship are not anomalies, but normative for God’s people? Can we go a step further and accept that God might actually use our sufferings to advance his purposes in the larger world, as well as in our own lives? And even more than that – and greater than any answer to the question why – can we welcome the presence of Immanuel who comes to walk with us in every circumstance and season? Whatever you have walked through in the past year, He was there. Whatever awaits you in the new year, He will be there. Our pain cannot keep out His presence.
I didn’t write this piece to balance out your Christmas cheer with a hearty helping of gloom and negativity. I’m writing to encourage you, especially if you are going through a season of hardship or some kind of grief. Your suffering is not in any way an indication that the Lord is absent or far off, or that you’re being punished. It might actually be that you’re highly favored! You just don’t see the bigger picture yet. But you’re in good company and Jesus is present, not simply in spite of your suffering, but to reveal Himself to you IN and through it. “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means ‘God with us’. (Matthew 1:21). Merry Christmas dear ones!
Know This Love 