If Jesus Suffered and Died for our sins, why us?

The age-old question that many theologians can not answer exactly; why is there so much suffering in the world?  If there is a just and loving God why does he allow us to go through so much unanswered agony as innocent persons endure excruciating evil?

God is just and loving;  the very two adjectives we need to place first when seeking a response to an unanswerable question.  The justice that God allows us to receive is perfection that has cleansed our souls.  Yes, Jesus died for our sins that would have condemned any one of us for eternity.  A simple act of mercy wiped the stain of transgression that made one unclean and unable to stand before the Lord who is all holy and omnipotent.  

One word that describes who God is; Love!  Without his love there would be no creation, no purpose for humanity, and nothing to forgive because it is sin that brings his love to us.  Reflect on the words found in the Easter Exsultet;  “O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!  Most blessed of all nights chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!  Of this night scripture says:  The night will be as clear as day: it will become my light, my joy.”  

If our suffering is not part of these very words, where is the meaning of forgiveness for the sin of Adam?  Never would we understand the happiness of this night if wherein only the Cross of Jesus’ dying for our redemption gives us reason to rejoice.  It is in the Passion of Christ where we find redemption.  But it also is through personal suffering that we will find and welcome our own cross.  When we spend time, suffering and wondering why, see in this cross our own Exsultet, the evening before the dawn of Resurrection.  Jesus dying on the Cross was not the end, but new life, new hope, new meaning for God’s plan to redeem us.  It is also our passing from suffering to resurrection. 

Ralph B. Hathaway, Suffering 2021