The Unsettling Power of Suffering
The perpetual struggle with human suffering is a sign we are meant to see through it not obsess over it.
Sometimes, the scriptures say things that really unsettle me.
But I’ve learned that when that happens, that’s a clue that I am approaching a place in my own heart that needs attention.
And it’s beginning to dawn on me that most of the time, the wisdom of the Faith unsettles me; it’s because this wisdom touches on suffering.
Take, for example, this quote from St. Isaac the Syrian: If you would be victorious, taste the suffering of Christ in your person, that you may be chosen to taste His glory. For if we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him. Blessed are you if you suffer for righteousness’ sake. Behold, for years and generations the way of God has been made smooth through the Cross and by death. The way of God is a daily Cross. The Cross is the gate of mysteries.
Suffering is that mystery that unsettles us, confronts us, and reveals us for who we really are. And the Faith invites us to honestly face this mystery in a way that redeems our suffering.
It’s why the Gospel, a message that has a Beating, a Crucifixion, and a Burial, ends with a Resurrection and an Ascension. If I am going to rise with Him, I am going to suffer with Him as well!
Now look at our lesson for today in Colossians 1:24-29, 2:1:
BRETHREN, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ. For this I toil, striving with all the energy which he mightily inspires within me. For I want you to know how greatly I strive for you.
It takes a massive leap of faith for us to move from a constant state of avoiding suffering at all costs to a more eternally minded attitude on suffering that causes me to “rejoice” in my suffering.
And yet, this is precisely how St. Paul describes his attitude toward his suffering to the Colossian parish.
Of course, this suffering he is enduring is all because he is living a purposeful, focused, and unwavering life of a Christian, and he is being persecuted for this life.
There is a vast difference between the suffering imposed on us by the outside world, which hates the Faith we live in, and the self-inflicted suffering resulting from selfish choices and short-sighted decisions.
But even the suffering resulting from my bad choices and foolish priorities CAN be helpful to me IF I learn from them!
However, this isn’t what floored me in this passage. No. It was when St. Paul said that his sufferings “complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church…”
Hold on a second, did Paul say what I thought he said?
Yes, he did.
And this insight is the key to the absolute transformation of your attitude toward paying the price to be a faithful Orthodox Christian, even when modern society calls you crazy for holding to these timeless truths. And it begins with the revelation that the Church IS the Body of Christ.
The Church is the continuation of the miracle of the Incarnation to all of humanity. And the Church continues the sufferings of Jesus in this present, fallen world as a continual witness of God’s love for His creation.
The Church completes what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions by continuing to be present in a world still turned upside down by sin and the fear of death.
While in this present life, we will suffer the negative attitudes and responses of a society that has rejected Jesus as Lord. We will also suffer the struggles of our own hearts rebelling against the hard work of faithfulness and consistency. We will suffer the misunderstandings of others who don’t get why we Orthodox are so “different” than them. We will suffer even the broken relationships of folks who can’t stand the message of the Faith. We may even suffer as Paul suffered, and as many of our brothers and sisters have suffered even in this age, the actual physical dangers and death at the hands of a twisted ideology that believes they are serving God by killing Christians!
Many people don’t realize that the Gospel of Jesus Chrst spread past the borders of the Roman Empire and touched the pagan Goths before they invaded Rome. St. Nikitas was from a high born family of the Goths and embraced the Orthodox Christian Faith in the 4th century. The pagan Goth leader Athanarick had him arrested, tortured and martyered for his Christian faith. St. Nikitas name means “victory” in Greek, and his witness even beyond the “civilized” Roman Empire invites us to see temporary suffering as unworthy of our fixation when compared to eternal victory in Jesus Christ.
Today, are you willing to participate in the Body of Christ, His Church, in the ministry of completing the suffering of Jesus for His world? Are you ready to love others that much? Know beyond any shadow of a doubt that an active practice of the wisdom of the Faith will cost you, but the price is worth it to be a Normal Orthodox Christian!
P.S. Destroying the might of error by your firm resolve, and taking the crown of victory through your sufferings, O Nikitas, namesake of victory, you rejoice with angel-kind, and with them, O glorious one, you ceaselessly pray to Christ God for us all.
Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV
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Thank you Father, so well explained and appropriate after last wks tragedies. I will focus...