GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE BAD NEWS

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'.

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Of course, the Christian message is that God has not only suffered with us, but for us, on the Cross. Our central image is one of suffering and death. In Jesus' vicarious death, the curse of sin is broken, the Kingdom of God has arrived, at least in nascent form and with Jesus' resurrection, we once again live in a world of unlimited possibilities. God himself has removed the greatest of all suffering, eternal separation from him. The effects of sin are being unraveled. It is for us to proclaim that 'Jesus Christ has saved you,' to learn to live ourselves in that liberating reality and to help others to do so. As with Job, God rarely answers our questions of 'why?' At least not directly. But in trusting him, there is a place of resolution because God is immediately present in human suffering. There is a deeper place than understanding 'why' that one can only appreciate as one journeys to it. It is the place of realizing that God has suffered much more than we, is always present with us transforming our suffering into joy for us and glory for him.

If we go back to Genesis 3, the story of the Garden ends with banishment so that Adam could not eat from the Tree of Life and thus live forever since he now knew good and evil, as did God. Of course, the result of banishment was death, which appears to be God finally cursing Adam. But Eastern Orthodox theology offers a different insight, one consistent with our reading of the chapter as the beginning of the redemption story. To live with such knowledge would have been the curse for Adam, as the variations of the Faust myth explore. Death was rather a gift to Adam, to spare him the ultimate horrors of his sin. It is sin that puts the 'sting' into death, which sting Christ removed. Thus while consequences of sin were immediate, intensive and extensive, God immediately began to ameliorate them, first with the clothes and then with banishment. The circle is closed with Christ's resurrection, the 'first fruits' of our resurrection: “for as in Adam all die, so all will be made alive in Christ” (I Cor 15:22). Even death has a redemptive purpose and in Christ is not the final word on a human life.

It is this over-arching view of suffering that is too often lacking in our theological perspective. A renewed emphasis on the Kingdom of God, a holistic understanding of God's redemptive purposes, the immediacy as well as the comprehensive nature of God's response, the relationship of joy to suffering and a sound biblical understanding of death will anchor effective ministry in our broken world. And it will propel us to those people and places where suffering is most evident as the places where God  suffers along with us. If we apply ourselves there too, that is where the Kingdom grows. Good news to the blind, the captive, the oppressed – and the dead.

CREATION IS 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'.

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The crux of the matter occurs in the Fall. The systematic theologies will note that God punished humankind – they like to talk about wrath. But Genesis 3 can be read not only as the fall into sin but the beginning of the redemption story. If we read it that way, God's righteousness is recognized but also his covenant love which ultimately means he is the one who suffers with and for us. Note that neither Adam or Eve is cursed. Rather, the serpent and the ground are cursed. The human pair instead hear God describe to them what it will be like for them in the new environment they created with their disobedience.

Sin first of all, offends God or rather is an assault on his character because his word reflects his nature. Sin is serious and God does not overlook it. The cross of Christ is how God satisfies both his mercy and justice. Erickson says God was not changed by the Fall and in the classic sense of immutability that may be so. But God responds to the new situation and he does so lovingly. He would have been entirely justified in carrying out the death sentence he had previously warned Adam about and starting over. But he doesn't do that in the way we might expect.  Instead, he seeks Adam out, tells him the consequences of what he has done and in sending him and Eve from the garden provides clothing to cover their shame. While a covenant is not mentioned here, it is evident that God is acting consistently as if there is one. God is committed to his creature.

Secondly, sin shatters the created order. Rather than living in a garden, we will live in a thorny place requiring struggle. Later biblical references elaborate this, most clearly in Romans 8:20f “for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (NRSV). This passage makes clear that God is committed to his creation, too. Sin bends it almost to the breaking point but God has a plan to get back what was lost and doing so in a way that his human creatures, guilty though we  are, can be part of it. This is the story of the rest of the Bible and it is the story of the unfolding and revelation of God's kingdom, the very thing Jesus announced had come with him. Evangelical theology barely knows what to do with kingdom, reducing salvation to personal escape from hell and entry into heaven. But the redemption story is God getting back, along with the people who he loves, his rule on the earth. So, the old hymns and the new choruses that long for escape from this old sinful world will have to go. What Christians are to be longing for and working for is the release of the creation from 'futility' and into 'the freedom of the glory of the children of God.' Ultimately, this is the new heaven and new earth: “The home of God is among mortals, He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes; Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away” (Rev. 21:3-4 NRSV).