When we find that suffering is not what we expected

When we find that suffering is not what we expected

How did Jesus have any idea that the suffering he endured would become so intense that no mortal could hold out to the end?  The fact is, as written before, his suffering began the very moment he was born and his Mother is the one who experienced it first with the journey to Bethlehem, the swaddling clothes his only protection from the cold, and the movement to Egypt to avoid a certain dictate from King Herod to kill all male children under two years of age were just the start of a life filled with disappointments from non-believers.  Skeptics may announce this was all a writer’s dream for another top seller in fictional prose to excite the non-believers, then and now.

Luke’s Gospel dispels all hope of his announcement of Isaiah’s teaching as the people in the synagogue questioned the words from Jesus after the reading saying, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”   (Lk 4: 21).  Already the word of God is the truth that God sent his Son as Messiah to fulfill the prophecies from earliest writings of the Old Testament. 

If we look into the pattern of the reason for the Incarnation which ended with the resurrection of Christ that would only become a fact with the Cross.  To reach the Cross for Jesus took many events that we call suffering and are the required vestiges needed to lay out a path to victory.  One may believe that there are other ways to reach a successful end to earning a goal that only fools will believe is not true.

The premise that seems to be prevalent in society is unless we can see the results of what anyone is promoting we will not accept whatever this person or printed philosophies tell us to take as gospel.  Jesus came to a world that was already finding the truth was not for them since it has no sustenance that holds our attention.

In the past of Church history we find the remnants of prejudice that martyred many saints.  St. Joan of Arc who was burned at the stake because she was led by divine providence.  St. Thomas More was beheaded when he would not support the king’s decision to marry his brother’s wife overlooking the Church's rule on marriage (God’s rule).  

When Jesus stood before Pilate and he said, “You say I am a king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”  (Jn 18: 37 - 38). 

Truth be told is an expression society uses now and was also an idiom from the past that this must be the truth otherwise we would not say that.  

Watching the scene of the Son of God hanging on the Cross after 3.5 years of suffering is Truth be told.  The Cross is the only way we will find our way to heaven.  And no one will reach their cross unless they undergo suffering.  It isn’t as though suffering is a series of points that add up to what we call a cross.  It is the day to day events that we never expect that teach us that the cross is made of simple yet sometimes tragic interludes brought about by our closest friends or successes that mean little in the end. 

Surgeries or a body cast to correct a broken limb can assume a normal period of pain but they never compare with suffering for a righteous willingness to stand for the truth.  Here is where the truth lies in the holiness of individuals who stand for the righteous word of God and why the Passion of Christ stands for all who follow the Suffering Lamb of God; Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Ralph B. Hathaway