Christian Suffering, Pt. 2

When I think of the most painful things in my life, I do not think of physical injuries. I think first and foremost of the pain of emotions I have felt, bone deep sorrow and raging anger, and worst of all betrayal that makes you feel as if your heart has been ripped out from your chest, and you have become some hollow, lifeless doll. Offered the choice between having my fiancee cheat on me and being stabbed I would gladly choose to be stabbed. To me there is no comparison between them, the pain of the heart far surpasses the pain of the body. Then I think of the pain of the soul, the pain of sin. When I dwell on the sins I have committed, the pain that wells up from the wounds I have inflicted on my soul is incredible. And it too is tied into emotional pain for it is of the soul, just as our emotions are linked to the soul. Many Christians have seen the Passion, have witnessed what is supposed to be an excellent portrayal of the brutal physical pain of Christ's torture and death. But how often do we think of the other pains Christ had to endure for our sake?

What is pain to the Christian? To the person called by God to take up his cross and follow in the example of Christ? Our God suffered excruciating pain for us, both the physical pains of the nails, the thorns, the spear, the whips, the blows, etc., but also having to suffer the horror of having His best friends reject Him, the people He loves betray Him, and what seems like the totality of His existence turned upside down. And then add to that the horrible spiritual anguish of assuming all of Mankind's sins for all Time unto Himself, a being who had never known the pain of Sin, never known the alienation from God it brings. For Christ, who was God, to assume the full sum of all of humanity's rejection of God, the fullness of humanity's alienation from God, Man's rejection of Him, Man's betrayal of Him, must have been the greatest, most horribly unimaginable pain of all.

This is the God who died for us. But more than that, this is the God who accepted the betrayal of one of His chosen few for us. The God who accepted the three-fold rejection of His chief follower for us. The God who died with only His Mother, and a couple of His many followers to be there for Him. The God who bore the full brunt of humanity's pitch black sin while doing so for us. We Christians need to understand that pain is part of the Christian path. To take up our crosses and follow after Christ means not that we run from pain as Buddhists do, nor that we deny the pain and try to be strong, but instead that we embrace the pain, understand that we are weak, understand that we will be betrayed, hurt, attacked, and persecuted for our beliefs. And when we can understand that, we will truly be able to draw on the strength of God, to help us bear up in the worst times possible in our lives. It will be the truest monument of our faith, the greatest testament of our love. And when we can do that, we will know what it meant for Christ, and for the Apostles, to rise from the Dead, triumphant over sin, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

When you understand the gift of pain, when you can not only forgive, but THANK the person who attacks you, when you can smile through your tears at those who hate you: Then you will have become just a little bit more Christlike. And if everyone can become just a little bit more Christlike, maybe we can remove some of that pain from the world.