UNDERSTANDING SUFFERING IN LIGHT OF THE BODY OF CHRIST

Abigail Schogel
Theologies of Transformation
November 28, 2016
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Suffering, whether it is something we have experienced personally or

not is a concept that we as Christians should attempt to confront. It is an

issue that many shy away from, as benefit of the privilege of lack of

experiencing suffering, while others are forced to face it due to the direct

impact of suffering on their lives. It is this conflict of personal experiences

that often leads to a lack of empathy for those who are suffering from those

who are not. When there is lack of empathy within a society or among a

group of people, apathy for how others see the world becomes prominent

and selfishness takes root. Christians, however, must reject the temptation

to not understand those with differing experiences with suffering. This can

only be achieved by understanding the role of suffering in Gods plan for the

world, recognizing suffering as an ailment of a community, not of an

individual, and attempt to empathize with that suffering with the

perspective of the body of Christ.

As suffering is a constant in the world, one of the most important

aspects of attempting to understand it is first confronting the purpose of the

suffering we experience personally. Because we live in a broken and sinful

world, everyone will experience the ramifications of that brokenness in

some way. Though it may seem like something in our lives that has no

purpose, Oxfords Encyclopedia explains Christs suffering provides a way

for believers to interpret their own suffering for the faith. The suffering of

Christ serves as the pattern for what believers should expect in the world.1
1 "Suffering." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Ethics. : Oxford University
Press, 2015.
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In each persons life, the Lord uses the good and the bad to further His will,

something so perfectly exemplified by Christ. Though he was faultless, His

experience on earth was not easy or perfect. Christ endured every

temptation, relational pain as exemplified in the death of his friend, Lazarus

(John 11), and physical pain in his brutal death (John 19, Matthew 27).

Every instance of the difficulties he endured, something positive can be

derived from it. His temptation in the desert was endured to prove his role

as the Messiah, He allowed his friend to die and himself to feel that pain of

loss in order to emulate the power and glory of the Father, and to suffer

death on the cross for the sake of humankind. These few and simplified

examples of Christs hardships that lead to something greater give believers

hope for the outcome of good from personal suffering. The risk remains to

fixate too heavily on the hope or on the pain; Smith concludes, a focus

exclusively on pain and suffering risks becoming stoic and may reduce hope

of new life to a footnote. A focus only on the resurrection risks becoming

superficially optimistic and may avoid the reality and meaning of the cross.
2
Paradoxically, we must look at pain and the hope equally in order to grasp

the magnitude of Christs sacrifice and to comprehend the present or past

suffering we encounter. Without the perspective of both, one becomes

overwhelming and can skew our perception of the purpose of suffering and

how we are to endure it.

2 Underwood, Ralph L. 2009. "Hope in the Face of Chronic Pain and Mortality." Pastoral
Psychology 58, no. 5/6: 655-665. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost(accessed
November 21, 2016).
 Schogel, 4

As believers, we are never ensured that life would be easy or painless,

though we have a hope that gives suffering an eternal perspective. Though

suffering can come at the hand of another, as the result of a broken world

(sickness, death, etc.) or in the form of a trial to be used by God to shape us,

having hope for what is to come from the suffering is essential in relation to

recognizing that it is of this passing world. In a study of Second Corinthians,

Lambrecht rationalizes, the paradoxical situation of dying and behold we

live must end. Paul is convinced that momentary light (weight) of our

tribulation is producing a more and more exceeding and eternal weight of

glory for us (4:17). What is seen as transitory; what is unseen is eternal

(4:18). Suffering and death belong to this passing eon.3 Though we cannot

lose perspective of the present suffering in light of Christs, the

prioritization of focusing on the future will allow us to understand Gods

purpose through the pain. With an eternal perspective, we recognize that

suffering and pain are not part of Gods original, perfect plan, but they are

the consequence of sin brought into the world by man. This world is

temporary and the sin and pain that exists in it will not continue on into

eternity for followers of Christ. Despite this, God uses the negative

circumstances we face to further His kingdom. This perspective also allows

us to grow to contemplate and to emulate the God who embraces,

permeates, and suffers with both human and cosmic being, action for

restoration, transformation, and liberation will extend not only to abused

3 Lambrecht, Jan, and Daniel J. Harrington. Second Corinthians. Collegeville, MN:
Liturgical Press, 1999. Accessed November 22, 2016.
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and violated persons, but also to the abused and violated cosmos itself.4

Viewing suffering in light of Gods eternal plan and nature points to a

perspective that goes beyond our own personal experiences, and allows us

to commune more closely with God.

The ability to rationalize ones experience with suffering is essential in

order to understand it, but it is not sufficient for Christians in view of

sufferings presence in the world. We must recognize that suffering is not

just an individuals experience, but it is a communal and societal ailment.

This recognition does not require one to have experienced drastic suffering

personally, but can be gained through the changing of perspective.

Standpoint Theory, a communication theory developed by Sandra Harding

and summarized by Emory Griffen, explains that our perspective, or

standpoint is how we see the world. The theory works under the assumption

the society is set up as a hierarchy; those at the top of this hierarchy have

the power to name society (its problems, systems, strengths, ect.) but those

at the bottom have the most accurate view of society. These perspectives

are in conflict because of strikingly different life experiences, but the voices

of the marginalized are not heard. Because those at the top have the power

to name society, what is named often becomes beneficial to those at the top

and allows maintenance of power. While those at the bottom objectively

have a more accurate and clear picture of how society operates, their views

4 Schaab, Gloria L. 2006. "A PROCREATIVE PARADIGM OF THE CREATIVE SUFFERING

OF THE TRIUNE GOD: IMPLICATIONS OF ARTHUR PEACOCKE'S EVOLUTIONARY
THEOLOGY." Theological Studies 67, no. 3: 542-566. Academic Search Complete,
EBSCOhost (accessed November 21, 2016).
 Schogel, 6

are generally suppressed. Because their voices have much less power than

those at the top, their standpoints are not heard; societal problems that

allow the rich to remain rich and keep the poor in poverty are not addressed

or given equal platform.5

With Hardings theory, it becomes apparent that we cannot fully

understand the suffering of another without entering into their experience

through embodiment and relationships. This point is particularly poignant

when we consider the societal suffering that was inflicted by those at the

top of the social hierarchy on those who were marginalized. Racial injustice

has been spurred on by the implementation of systems that continue to

treat People of Color as second class citizens in the United States; our

society is one that blatantly encouraged suffering of people at the hands of

others, then continued to do so in less obvious manners. There can be no

healing of this broken society without the confrontation of the past, a reality

that many refuse to see with clarity. Schnabel explains that clarity is made

possible assuming that understanding power relations should start with

the lived experience of the marginalized6 and when those who experienced

the full weight of marginalization are given the platform to define what

occurred and how society interacts with the past today. History has proven

5 Griffen, Emory. "Standpoint Theory." In A First Look at Communication Theory, 444-56.

9th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Publishing, 2015.

6 Schnabel, Landon. "Toward a Standpoint Hermeneutic: The Case of the Evangelical

Gender Subordination Debate." Claremont Journal of Religion 4, no. 1, 86-112. Accessed
November 21, 2016.
 Schogel, 7

that those with the powerful standpoints are hesitant to change

perspectives, because the society that was labeled by the powerful also

benefits the powerful. As Christians, the response to this hesitation is two-

fold: for those who are benefitting from the system and are comfortable at

the top of the hierarchy, a recognition of privilege and a Christ-like humility

must be adopted in order to fully empathize with those who are suffering.

Secondly, those who are currently marginalized by society and have been

cast aside by those at the top must be willing to allow those with sincere

and humble intentions to understand the accurate portrayal of society.

Harding acknowledges that this intentional acceptance of perspectives and

people very different from ourselves in not an easy challenge to overcome.

But, with the acknowledgement that suffering is inevitable in our broken

and sinful world and to follow Christs example, we must allow ourselves to

enter into the lives and perspectives of those who are hurting or different

from ourselves. Underwood continues this thought, saying, Personal pain

and the process of dying have a way of compelling the sufferer to some kind

of confrontation with darkness.7 Confronting the darkness of not just our

own suffering, but the suffering of our neighbor, allows us to have a deeper

understanding of what it means to live as the Body of Christ.

As Christians, we are called to live as one body; accepting that each part

will have different strengths, will be used in different way, but ultimately

unified. When Paul writes about the church as a body, he says, If one

7 Underwood, Pastoral Psychology, 657

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member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice

together, (1 Corinthians 12:26). We are called to live in a way that is fully

aware of the needs to those around us and as the church and the Body of

Christ stretches across the world into dramatically different communities,

socio-economic positions, races, and traditions, it can be assumed that at

least one part of the body is suffering as other parts are being honored.

Christ embodied what Hardings theory calls for perfectly; He willingly

entered into the lives of the sick, sinners, and hated by the community and

eventually took on all of the suffering of the world in His death. Just as we

need to grasp Christs sacrifice to understand our own suffering, we must

follow Christs example in order to live out what it means to be one body as

the church. This requires the confrontation of what may be uncomfortable

or inconvenient for us, as Cone describes. He says, the lynching tree

reveals the true religious meaning of the cross for American Christians

today. The cross needs the lynching tree to remind Americans of the reality

of sufferingto keep the cross from becoming a symbol of abstract,

sentimental piety.8 For those at the top of society, a group easily recognized

in American society, it may be a temptation to allow the cross to become a

vague idea of general sacrifice without really grasping what that sacrifice

meant. It then becomes a choice to remain comfortable with the benefits

society provides to those at the top, without a firm understanding of

communal suffering and not confronting this idea that we are called to
8 Cone, James H. Legacies of the Cross and the Lynching Tree. The Cross and the
Lynching Tree, 152-66 Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011.
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recognize and feel the pain of our brothers and sisters. This choice adds to

the privilege of those at the top; those at the bottom have no choice but to

confront societal suffering. But despite societys enabling of this division,

we as Christians are called to overcome the norms and comforts of this

world and live with a higher purpose (Romans 12:2).

Being called to something greater than what society offers is a great hope

for both societal healing and for a more unified church in serving the Lord.

Unfortunately, history has proven that this is an idea that is easier said than

done and Hardings hesitations for suggesting an easy solution have been

supported. It is counter intuitive to conclude that entering into the suffering

of someone else would bring about healing, and even Cone confronts this

conflict. Regarding racial healing in the United States he says

Though the pain of Jesus cross was real, there was also joy
and beauty in his cross. This is the great theological paradox
that makes the cross impossible to embrace unless on is
standing in solidarity with those who are powerless. Gods
loving solidarity can transform uglinesswhether Jesus on the
cross or a lynched black victiminto beauty, into Gods
liberating presence. Through the powerful imagination of
faith, we can discover the terrible beauty of the cross and
the tragic beauty of the lynching tree.9

It is with an imagination of faith, as Cone coined, that this paradox of

encountering pain in order to find hope could be overcome. Cone also

argues that it is a necessary step in the faith in order to fully grasp the

crossas Smith explained, focusing only on the beauty of the cross would

9 Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, 162

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do it an injustice and to only focus on the brutality of the cross would lead

to hopelessness. This beauty and brutality permeate into every aspect of

suffering in society, so we must be willing to delve into it to have a greater

understanding of Christs sacrifice.

When considering suffering in the Christian perspective, everything

ultimately points back to the cross. Without the cross, we are unable to

rationalize our own personal pain. If we cannot understand our own

personal suffering, we are unable to sympathize whom those who are

suffering. The only means of fully grasping the experiences of others pain,

particularly the suffering of those who are experiencing worse than what we

have seen in our own lives, is to recognize suffering as a ailment of whole

communities and to be motivated by Christs example on the cross to

willingly enter into anothers pain. Cone concludes that if we want to

understand the cross, the understanding of suffering is essential. The

argument is cyclical, just like many ideas in Christian faith, but as

understanding in one aspect grows, the desire and ability to have further

understanding in other areas will grow simultaneously. As we grow closer to

Christ, we learn to love those He loves; Paul encourages the body to avoid

division through the same care and regard for others as one has for him or

herself. (1 Cor. 12:25). Standpoint theory gives us direction in how to

empathize with those who we have yet to understand and can only be

motivated by the example of Christ. The humility and willingness of Christ

to enter into the suffering of the world is explained in Hebrews 4:15: For
 Schogel, 11

we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our

weaknesses but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet

without sin. American society today points to the idea that the majority of

people, particularly those with power, have accepted the status quo and

maintain the comfort of only experiencing personal suffering. As Christians,

we must reject this. In order to imitate Christ, to love others as the body of

Christ and to fully grasp the magnitude of the sacrifice on the cross, a

personal sacrifice and standpoint shift must take place. Confronting societal

and communal suffering through the perspective of the marginalized and

giving voices to those who have not been heard is not an undemanding task,

but to accept the sacrifice and take part in the body of Christ, empathy for

others is a concept that cannot continue to be overlooked.

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Bibliography
 Schogel, 13

Cone, James H. Legacies of the Cross and the Lynching Tree. The Cross

and the Lynching Tree, 152-66 Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011.

Griffen, Emory. "Standpoint Theory." In A First Look at Communication

Theory, 444-56. 9th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Publishing, 2015.

Lambrecht, Jan, and Daniel J. Harrington. Second Corinthians. Collegeville,

MN: Liturgical Press, 1999. Accessed November 22, 2016.

Schaab, Gloria L. 2006. "A PROCREATIVE PARADIGM OF THE CREATIVE

SUFFERING OF THE TRIUNE GOD: IMPLICATIONS OF ARTHUR

PEACOCKE'S EVOLUTIONARY THEOLOGY." Theological Studies 67,

no. 3: 542-566. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed

November 21, 2016).

Schnabel, Landon. "Toward a Standpoint Hermeneutic: The Case of the

Evangelical Gender Subordination Debate." Claremont Journal of

Religion 4, no. 1, 86-112. Accessed November 21, 2016.

"Suffering." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Ethics. : Oxford

University Press, 2015.

Underwood, Ralph L. 2009. "Hope in the Face of Chronic Pain and

Mortality." Pastoral Psychology 58, no. 5/6: 655-665. Academic Search

Complete, EBSCOhost(accessed November 21, 2016).