Richard Davenport
May 21, 2023 – Seventh Sunday of Easter
1 Peter 4:12-19, 5:6-11
The age old question, “Why is there suffering in the world?” Watch the news and such of the larger world and you see the effects of wars and famines. They’ve been a standard feature of much of Africa for generations. Images of the on going conflict between Russia and the Ukraine, or over in the Middle East, particularly around Israel and Afghanistan. The devastation and slaughter are such that you see the lives of those who are caught up in the conflicts completely upended. They struggle to put what remains of their lives back together. Lost homes. Lost family. Many things they’ll never get back.
We see similar things here at home as natural disasters take their toll. Tornadoes flattening towns. Floods washing homes and fields away. The occasional hurricane that does both. There was a great deal of suffering here during COVID as well. It wasn’t so much the physical destruction as it was the emotional toll that was taken on all of those who were affected by it. There was the loneliness that we all faced to some degree, but many were so crushed down by it that suicide seemed like the only way out. The isolation kept many from visiting family and friends in their last hours. Those who most needed the human contact were often the ones who were the most isolated.
Of course, none of that accounts for the more individual, everyday kinds of suffering that go on all the time all around us. People contract painful, debilitating, even fatal diseases, or suffer terrible injuries. People face the effects of anger, jealousy, or spite as relationships fracture, jobs are lost, people are attacked and ostracized, the gloominess of guilt covers those who are at fault. Drug addictions, gambling addictions, or just about any other bad decision of that nature sends the life of a loved one spiraling out of control and visiting destruction on everyone around as well.
As Christians, we understand that sin is ultimately the culprit behind all of this. Sin disorders everything. Sin breaks everything. Sin brings everything crashing down and finally kills everything. We know, because of sin, that all of us will suffer and die someday. Some sooner, some later, but all of us will die.
That’s ok when it comes to our own problems. Our bad choices, our envy and jealousy, our conniving and manipulation all come back to bite us in various ways. We don’t like it, but it’s at least understandable that there would be consequences to our own bad actions. It doesn’t stop us from whining about it anyway, but it’s understandable. But what about all of those things that aren’t of our own making? Diseases are indiscriminate, striking the righteous and unrighteous alike. Sure, there are times when you make a poor decision that maybe puts you more at risk for this or that, but on the whole, diseases strike anyone. So do drunk drivers that smash your car. So do tree limbs that come crashing down on your house. So do uneven sidewalks that cause you to trip and break your arm. So may difficulties you face in life that have nothing to do with anything specific you’ve done and yet they all manage to make your life a whole lot worse. It’s bad enough to suffer. It’s worse when you’re suffering for no reason at all.
For as much as Peter discusses suffering here, the main point isn’t suffering, it’s glory. What is glory? We talk about glory when we talk about winning, about victory. We think of soldiers who defeat the great enemy. We think of Olympians winning the gold medal, sports teams winning the big game. There’s the fame that goes along with it. Suddenly everyone knows your name. Everyone revels in what you accomplished. Everyone joins with you in celebrating what just happened. You have the thrill of knowing you did it. You came out on top. Everyone else tried to do what you did, but you’re the one who actually managed it.
Thinking about glory, it’s really the opposite of suffering. It means the end of suffering. Maybe you were suffering as you fought, or competed, or labored to complete your grand project or masterpiece, or whatever the case may be, now that’s all done. In fact, if you have the glory, then any suffering that’s going on belongs to those who stood up to you. That’s why we call it, “suffering defeat.” Suffering is the loss of all of those things. If you have any fame, it is as a loser. No one remembers the losers except as disappointments and as warnings to others. Losers continue suffering the shame. Losers are the ones who get picked on and ridiculed. Losers are the ones who have to suffer.
Glory means different things to different people. Fame and adulation, pampering and praise, really all of the things that suffering is not. Those who suffer are sad and pitiable. No one wants to be like them. That’s why we all work our hardest to avoid all of that. We seek glory, we seek recognition, we seek fame, we seek achievement, we seek praise. We want all of those things, we crave all of those things because if we have them, then we can claim we don’t deserve being made to suffer. “Look at what I have! Look at what I’ve done! I shouldn’t have to struggle to put food on the table, that’s for the layabouts and slackers. I shouldn’t have to worry about having a stroke or heart disease, that’s for the people who waste their lives doing useless things and who haven’t earned the right to deserve better.
Seeking your own glory, how you go about that and what that glory looks like to you may vary a bit from those around you, but that common desire to not be one of the downtrodden is there for all of us. Do whatever you can, whatever you need to do to not fall into the pit. Don’t fall victim to suffering and, if you do, show God how you deserve better. There are plenty of others out there who should be on the receiving end of all of this. There are people out there who should be ridiculed, who should have all of the various afflictions a person can have. There are people out there who deserve everything God can throw at them. But that isn’t me!
And yet, what does it all get you? You might think you deserve more, deserve better, but that would only work if your glory outshone all of the seedier, dirty, more distasteful things you’ve done. Trying to avoid suffering in this world often means pushing someone else into it, or at least turning a blind eye to those who are caught up in it. If someone else is suffering, then helping them out may force you to confront and deal with their grief, their loss, their depression, their anger. That means at least a little bit of suffering for you as well. It brings you down a little bit. It makes things just a little worse. A real winner, someone with enough glory and accolades wouldn’t have to deal with this sort of thing. Maybe once upon a time, before you had the glory, but not now. Now all of that is behind you and no one and nothing should make you suffer all of that injury and injustice again.
When you think about it that way, it puts Christ into a new perspective. The Gospels share with us the humanity of Jesus, his life here with the disciples, among us, yet even there you see the glimpses of who Jesus was before that, and still is even in his humanity. Jesus displays it in his miracles as he commands creation and it obeys him. He displays it in his teaching, as he speaks with authority and the world listens to the one who knows better than anyone how things work. We think we’re hot stuff, but who’s the one who never falls into temptation? Jesus. Who’s the one who can order Satan around? Jesus. Who’s the one who can even conquer death? Jesus. We can’t do any of those things. What are we compared to him? Who is the one who brought the whole universe into being? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We aren’t mentioned in any of those things. We don’t even get credit as being a runner up. We just aren’t even on the list at all.
Why give up all of that glory? Why suffer all of the terrible things we suffer if you don’t have to? You wouldn’t choose to suffer, not if you could avoid the grief, sorrow, and pain. If you’re at the top of the world, why would you ever drop down to the very bottom? The answer that Peter gives is that you can’t do it. Maybe, maybe if we could somehow get our act together for a single day, then maybe, we would deserve some amount of glory for ourselves. But we can’t seem to pull it off. We can’t seem to avoid sinning for even one single day. We can’t seem to avoid all of the things that we know will bring suffering into our lives. We just keep doing it, over and over.
So Jesus comes here, to where we are. He enters temptation to bring innocence. He enters death to bring life. He enters suffering to bring glory. As he steps out of the tomb on Easter morning, his glory is visible. As he ascends into heaven, his glory is visible. As he reveals himself to John in a vision of the last days, his glory is all encompassing. He has triumphed and reigns victorious.
We suffer here because of sin, but already we are being glorified in Christ. You put on Christ in your baptism. You are clothed in his glory. In him, you triumph over sin. In him, you triumph over death. In him, you triumph over all of the suffering that fills this world. Christ suffered in order to give his glory to you.
We finish out the Easter season reflecting on the magnitude of what Christ has accomplished. He made himself the last, the lowest, the most humble, in order to become the first, the greatest, the most glorious. But he doesn’t do this just for himself. He does it for you. He becomes low in order to lift you up. Trust in him. See his suffering and how it led to his glory. Know that your suffering makes you more like him. Let him lead you through the suffering of this world into the glory of the world to come.