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LESSONS OF JOB
(Part 25)
REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING
November 18, 2009
Today’s scripture (2 Mc 7:1-31) always makes for fascinating
reading. It is about the martyrdom of a Jewish mother and her seven
sons, all in one day. The seven sons are subjected to gruesome and
horrible torture. The book was written to encourage God’s people in
times of persecution. Indeed, the book was popular among the
Christians of the early centuries, who were subjected to persecution,
and many of them were martyred.
Today Christians are still persecuted in many places in the world.
Today there are still martyrs for the cause of Christ. But today, many
Christians, especially those living in the First World, live a
comfortable Christianity. They avoid pain and discomfort. And when a
little affliction comes their way, they easily wither away.
But there will always be pain and crosses in life. It might be a
devastating typhoon with severe flooding, like what Ondoy wrought. Or
it might be so many other different things. For Christians, what is
important is how they endure and persevere.
One thing that will help a lot is to understand a bit more why God
allows such suffering, especially in the lives of the innocent. In a
word, such suffering is redemptive.
First, suffering can be purification from sin and wrongdoing. “We,
indeed, are suffering because of our sins.” (2 Mc 7:32). Many people
will not turn away from their sins unless something drastic happens to
them. Perhaps a serious illness, or an accident, or the loss of a
loved one, or bankruptcy, or a devastating flood. But such events,
painful as they are, are God’s way to get our attention, to teach us
our lesson, and of course to turn us back to Himself. “Though our
living Lord treats us harshly for a little while to correct us with
chastisements, he will again be reconciled with his servants.” (2 Mc
7:33).
Second, such suffering can be redemptive not only for ourselves but
for others. As there are many who do evil but do not know how to be
otherwise because they do not know Christ, then it is left to those
who do know Christ to make reparation for their sins. We then become
sacrificial lambs, but in being so, become mediators and intercessors.
“Like my brothers, I offer up my body and my life for our ancestral
laws, imploring God to show mercy soon to our nation” (2 Mc 7:37a).
The suffering of a just person can be redemptive for the unjust.
Third, such suffering brings us, who are all sinners, back to God and
back to His eternal plan for us. It is the way of the cross, the very
way God Himself chose. Jesus won salvation for us by going to the
cross. There is no other way. Certainly not the gospel of prosperity,
or the gospel of going to heaven in first-class comfort. “Through me
and my brothers, may there be an end to the wrath of the Almighty that
has justly fallen on our whole nation.” (2 Mc 7:38).
When we understand how suffering can be redemptive, then we no longer
disdain suffering (that is, if suffering is for the sake of
righteousness). We endure and bear suffering “courageously because
of (our) hope in the Lord.” (2 Mc 7:20b). We endure and bear
suffering, even unto death, without giving in to the ways of the world
that can relieve our suffering, because we put “all (our) trust in
the Lord.” (2 Mc 7:40).
We hope and trust in God, because He is merciful and He has a great
and wonderful plan for us, which He wants fulfilled in our lives, but
which our sins prevent from happening. So as a father to his child,
God disciplines us in order to bring us back to the right path. Such
discipline is often through affliction and pain. But even in the midst
of the most terrible suffering, we are assured: “He never withdraws
his mercy from us. Although he disciplines us with misfortunes, he
does not abandon his own people.” (2 Mc 6:16).
What is our life on earth after all? It is preparation for our life in
heaven. We are pilgrims merely passing through. We invest ourselves
not in this life but in the next. We may suffer deprivation in “this
present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again
forever.” (2 Mc 7:9a).
Given all these, we not only do not disdain suffering, but we embrace
it with joy. Eleazar, a venerable old man also martyred, when he was
about to die under the blows, uttered: “The Lord in his holy
knowledge knows full well that, although I could have escaped death, I
am not only enduring terrible pain in my body from this scourging, but
also suffering it with joy in my soul because of my devotion to
him.” (2 Mc 6:30).
Redemptive suffering. Suffering that leads to redemption. So very
different from the wisdom of the world. So very challenging for us, to
be able to take on God’s own wisdom, and see the value and blessing
of suffering in life.
We suffer but for a moment, but we reap the joy of everlasting life,
according to God’s plan for us. “My brothers, after enduring brief
pain, have drunk of never-failing life, under God’s covenant” (2
Mc 7:36a).
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