THE MEGAPHONE OF SUFFERING

Rev. Douglas Whitelaw, M.A. is the executive director of Ark Aid Mission in London, Ontario. This post is from his paper 'Toward A Theology of Suffering'.

SECTION 7/9

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God does not curse humankind or abandon us but lovingly uses the consequences of suffering that we have wrought to redeem. And God suffers with and for us. He enters history in the person of his Son, experiencing the full panoply of human experience. The story of his life surely shows he was 'a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity.' (Isa 53:3) and thus 'we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin' (Heb 4:14). We do not suffer alone – God has been there first and knows – feels – our pain. Nor is suffering meaningless, as our culture suggests. As C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world” (The Problem of Pain).  Suffering is the seedbed of empathy, compassion and tolerance. Suffering refines character. It is a dialectic, whose new synthesis can sometimes even unlock the meaning of one's life. We may not want to revisit the pain, but the destination makes the journey worthwhile, or to change the metaphor, the end justifies the means. That point may seem callous in the face of severe suffering, especially of 'innocents.' This is often the point where faith is 'lost.'  We still live in a broken creation, with unequal degrees of suffering. Sometimes our view is too short, not understanding the redemptive good God may yet bring. Sometimes we must cling to the eschatological hope that justice will prevail. And we must not be quick to make a judgment regarding the value of suffering for another, as we cannot presume to know how another person finds meaning and purpose even in their trials. This is an important ethical point in considering quality of life and euthanasia.