Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!
When you look at Christianity today, I think we largely see a Christianity that is deprived. It is deprived of something very specific. It is deprived of suffering. And by that I mean that most Christians will not recognize that suffering is part and parcel of our human experience - and doubly so - if not thrice more - for the Christian. What do I mean? Well, the Christian who has been born again by the water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism becomes a child of God and an heir of heaven. We know this. This is not a new thing. But at the same time, you also become new-born enemy of the devil. When we dunk an infant or splash an adult, it’s like we paint a giant target on that person, inviting the devil and his demons to attack. These attacks bring about much spiritual suffering to add to the ordinary suffering we normally experience in this fallen world such as health problems, money problems, relationship problems, government problems, etc. And so instead of preparing ourselves for suffering, modern day Christianity has shied away from it and pretty much all suffering.
In the big cities you will see what I mean quite clearly. Big, giant mega-churches filled with lots of people and massive budgets attract the masses with gourmet coffee or the flashy rock bands or the youth programs with helicopter bungee jumping or the amazing preacher in that church over there, or the valet parking offered at the big one around the corner. You get the drift. It’s all about comfort and consumerism. I was talking to some pastors one time and one of them said “I’ve yet to meet anyone who attends a church based on its correct doctrine and right theology!” It’s generally one of these other more commercialized reasons. And when they get tired of said reason, they move on to the next church or the next fad or the next big thing so they can feel comfortable. It’s a revolving door of consumerism and comfort.
But then, we run into the season of Lent. Lent, like suffering, isn’t very popular in mainstream happy-clappy Christianity. So when we encounter it, it hits us like a wrecking ball. Or, at least, it should. It should show us that the way of Christianity, the way of Christ Jesus, isn’t about creature comforts and coffee and consumerism. It truly is the way of suffering. “Oh, but Pastor, that’s such a drag! No one wants to hear about suffering! No one wants to be wrapped in that cold, wet blanket!” But this is reality of the world. The way that the Scriptures spoke of the long promised Messiah wasn’t in terms of cafés and rock bands. It was like this: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:3–4).
We know that in Christ our Lord, Who is the promised Messiah of old, the way has been made. And it is the path of “suffering”. The church should never sugar-coat suffering as the majority of TV preachers and feel-good mega-churches do. You often encounter such messages of the “prosperity gospel” - if you are a true Christian and have enough faith then God will make you rich and prosperous and good looking and you will be healed of all diseases and adversity! And this is attractive to most people. That’s why those TV types and mega groups have loads of people! But we remember the words of St. Paul to Timothy: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2Tim 4:3-4).
As we learn more about Jesus from the Scriptures, we see that He was completely opposite of this modern day prosperity comfort twist. He was poor. He had no fixed address. He wandered around. He embraced people whose lives were chocked full of suffering - lepers, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the deplorables. And, He embraced suffering Himself. We see this crystal clear today on this first Sunday in Lent. Right after our Lord is Baptized the very first thing that happens is He goes into the wilderness. Not the Radisson. Not the Hilton. Not the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa. The desert. The place of scorching heat. No shade. No water. Rough, hot gritty sand. Jagged rocks. Prickly cactus and stinging plants. Poisonous snakes and insects that want to hurt and harm you. It’s suffering incarnate! And that’s where Jesus goes, led by the Holy Spirit. And what waits for Him in the desert?
We know what lurks there in that haunt of demons. It’s none other than Satan, the ancient adversary. The tempter. He comes to tempt Jesus to do … what? Why, to relieve His suffering of course. End your hunger Jesus, break the fast! “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Relieve your suffering. End your earthly poverty Jesus, become the richest king of kings in all the world! “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Relieve your suffering. Throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the Temple “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. Relieve your suffering. But how does our Messiah respond to the temptations? Not today, Satan! Not today!
Our Messiah will readily embrace suffering. He will not shy away from it. He will not convert it into comfort, using divinity to deny humanity. He will walk the way of sorrows that ends with His own ultimate suffering: the crucifixion. And what does our suffering servant tell us who would believe in Him? “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (MT 16:24). Be deprived of comfort, not of suffering. This is a hard teaching, who can accept it? Only those who understand the Gospel. Only those who believe that through suffering comes victory. Only those who trust that God Himself will be their help and stay in the midst of tribulation. So many countless Christians have done just this and picked up their own crosses and carried them right to the grave, choosing to die for their faith in Christ rather than deny Him for earthly comfort and relief from suffering. And yet today our church buildings sit largely empty because people need to sleep in or do sports or go shopping or whatever else makes them feel comfy. Who will pick up the cross? Who will follow Jesus?
Truly this is a message for our time. The government is pushing MAID ‘Medical Assistance In Dying’ at every turn. Throw yourself down from the pinnacle! End it all. In fact, let the government push you! I’ve preached about this great evil before. It’s marketed as mercy. But in reality it’s all about money. The government doesn’t want to pay for your time of suffering and end of life care. It’s expensive. It’s a tax dollar and health care burden. It’s cheaper if you were just gone. But lest we forget what Job tells us “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:21). Not man. Not the government. Not the Saskatchewan Health Authority. God is the giver and the taker. And of course also the great commandment “You shall not murder” (Ex.20:13). ‘What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbour in his body, but help and support him in every physical need’ to quote Luther’s Catechism. Euthanasia isn’t Christian and it will never have God’s blessing. Ever. Whoever practices this, either as the pusher or the pushee, is going to have to answer to the Lord Almighty. And lest we also forget what Hebrews 10:31 says, here’s a reminder: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
So then, how do we embrace suffering as God’s people? First we see that it is not some kind of Divine punishment from God. This is always our first thought. Diseases. Losing a child. Poverty. “Why is God punishing me?” No. These are the thoughts of the demons in the desert. Instead we look to Jesus. His earthly life was one of suffering. We look to where that suffering lead. Certainly, it was to the cross. But it lead also to the resurrection. Our hearts and minds fill with hope and joy and comfort because the tomb was empty! The ultimate victory over sin, death and that dastardly devil is what awaits those who trust and believe in our Lord. For His victory becomes our victory by faith. His crown of life and victory He shares with all who believe His word and trust His promise of sins forgiven.
The path the Christian must walk through life, then, is a Lenten path. It denies self. It readily takes up the cross. It follows Jesus. It seeks not earthly comfort but embraces suffering and prepares for it. We follow Jesus who shows us that to embrace the word of God is to conquer the demons. “Man shall not live by bread alone” Jesus says to Satan, “but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Therefore read it. Learn it. Know it. Study it. Inwardly digest it! For we live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Where Adam and Eve failed at this point in their temptation, Jesus is triumphant. This is how we win. We walk the Lenten path and the path of all earthly life enduring suffering - especially suffering for Christ - for it leads to eternal victory, life and salvation. Let us journey to the cross. Amen!
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