A Suffering Assessment

A Reflection on the Gospel for August 30th, 2020:
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Matthew
16.21-27

Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

And Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are thinking not as God does, but as humans do.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit anyone to gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will anyone give in return for their life?

“For the Son of Man is to come with his Angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each according to their work.”
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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

There are times when we are going to suffer and we’re going to sacrifice. That doesn’t mean we’re going to enjoy it, but it is the reality of the human condition. There are times when it is right and good to avoid suffering and relieve pain, but we always have to be wary of the cost.


We live in a society that wants to avoid suffering at all costs: we euthanize children in the womb for having a disability or for being born into a poor household; we euthanize the sick because they fear loneliness or pain, rather than managing their loneliness or pain. Much of our society is willing to accept the fact that the cost of avoiding suffering is eliminating the person who would experience it.


A friend recently told me that we need to decide what kind of mistakes we’re willing to make. Are we willing to avoid all suffering at all costs? Are we willing to end an innocent life so we don’t have to raise an “inconvenient” child? Are we willing to forfeit a death at the proper time so that we can have control over all the timing and circumstances at end of life? When I choose the convenient and easier path, what am I sacrificing?


Because at the end of the day, Jesus did not have to go to the Cross. As Peter bemoaned and Satan enticed, Jesus had the power to avoid it all. He could have washed His hands of us and ascended back to Heaven, leaving us in all the muck and mire of our own making. But our God is a God who keeps His promises — and so Jesus accepted the suffering.


Jesus knew the price He was going to pay, but He also knew that His suffering had a purpose and a meaning. Without His suffering, death, and resurrection, God’s plan for the redemption and salvation of His children would not be accomplished. The cost of avoiding suffering and pain was too high. As people called to be imitators of Christ, it’s important to carefully discern how we approach suffering. It’s important to know when suffering can be relieved and when it should be endured.




Stephanie Potter

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