Standing in places of hurt

Last updated on: July 9, 2016 at 5:29 pm by Brad Roth

Standing in places of hurt 2016-07-09T17:29:45-05:00 Brad Roth

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:10-11).

Why does the Apostle Paul want to share in Christ’s suffering?

I mean, pain and suffering are bad. They destroy our capacity to live and love and do things that matter. We have surgeons and anesthesiologists and thermostats for a reason. Suffering sucks. But suffering will come our way, and we won’t always have a door out or around it.

Stuff happens. Then what?

The Apostle Paul was familiar with suffering. He had lived the good and the bad. He knew “the secret of being well-fed and of going without” (Phil. 4:12). He made sense of suffering–and of life–through the cross of Christ. Thus he told the church in Philippi that he wanted to share in Christ’s sufferings and become like Christ in death. He claimed that without this sharing, there could be no resurrection. He wrote in another letter that he wanted only to boast in the cross of Christ, “by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). He said that he wanted to know nothing “except Jesus Christ and his death on the cross” (1 Cor. 2:2).

This is potent stuff, a theology rooted in Paul’s lived and prayed conviction. It’s good theology. But like all theology, it’s all fine until somebody gets hurt. You see, hurt shakes our convictions. Hurt rattles our capacity even to be convicted–about others, about ourselves. About God.

We accompanied a church member on her first day back to work at the Excel lawnmower plant in Hesston, KS. We walked quietly through the plant with her as she pointed out details of production. It was a kind of prayer tour. And then we came to the paint line, where the killer had squeezed death’s trigger. Pistons of pressurized air hissed above us. Powdered paint substrate lay piled on the floor like industrial turmeric. We put our arms around our friend and stood with her in that place of hurt.

What does it mean to know Christ crucified in these places? Without becoming glib, I believe it is possible to understand our suffering as being drawn up into the suffering of Christ’s cross, and thus also tugged toward his resurrection. To pray our way into this sort of understanding of suffering doesn’t make the hurt go away, but it changes it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it like this:

The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value. (1368)

All of life becomes offering, including suffering. The meaning of the hurt is transfigured.

This is holy ground. We must never shoe-horn anyone’s experience into an easy redemption. But what the Apostle Paul testifies to in his letters, generations of the faithful have recognized in their own lives: the cross changes things.

The cross means that even in suffering, our lives can become an offering. It means that Jesus is with us. The cross means God puts his arms around us and stands with us in our places of hurt.

Uncategorized

Hesstonstrong

Previous Post

March 14, 2016

Next Post

March 31, 2016 Resurrection seeing

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month January 2023 November 2022 May 2022 April 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What famous prayer did Jesus teach his followers?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Prayer of Jabez The Lord's Prayer The Hail Mary The Jesus Prayer

Books by This Author Books by Brad Roth

See All Titles »