Only A Suffering God Can Help Us

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.   Philippians 2:5-8

[Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor, was condemned to death on April 8, 1945 in Flossenbürg concentration camp by SS judge Otto Thorbeck. There were no witnesses, no records of proceedings nor a defense at his court-martial. He was executed there by hanging at dawn on April 9, 1945, just two days before soldiers from the United States 90th and 97th Infantry Divisions liberated the camp. Within three weeks the Soviets would capture Berlin and within a month Nazi Germany would capitulate.]

“Only a suffering God can help us.”

Recently I have been talking with people who are going through particularly horrible times of suffering — for themselves and for their families — and they are looking for a word of consolation and comfort.  Sometimes all one can do is give a warm embrace and speak a word of love into their spirits.

But then I thought of Bonhoeffer and his quote (see above) and realized that he is so on target.  It is only when we consider that God entered this world to suffer along with us that we can even bear to think about suffering and God together.  His life, in Christ, is the greatest comfort.  He was not immune to suffering.  He lived in it and with it for other people.  He took suffering into his body and bore the pain, rejection, and death that is part of this world.

Christ is the High Priest who sympathizes with us because he is with us in the suffering, dying, and the establishing of life for all who would place their confidence in him.  Without suffering we would never know his love; the love that led him to lay down his heavenly powers and take up residence in human flesh.

Yes, only a suffering God can help us.  And such is the God we worship.  The God who is ultimately good.  The God from whose love we can never be separated.  Bonhoeffer knew suffering — it was all around him and, finally, it was his own.  All the while he helped others to live and believe.  Oh, he sorrowed but he kept faith in the goodness of a suffering God.

Keeping faith is our profession of confidence in the work and presence of Christ.  Keeping faith is our trust that the goodness of God will prevail over all evil.  Keeping faith is living life with Christ in this present moment without regret for the past or anxiety for the future.  Keeping faith is not always easy but the alternative is to live in darkness or to attempt to satisfy our deepest longings with the most shallow of comforts.

We read in Romans 5:1-5 that the greatest comfort comes from God's love poured into our hearts through His Spirit. May such comfort be our ultimate sustenance.