Luke 19:28-38; 22:1-6

The question is a very real and important one to every human being. It is based on the reality of so much pain and suffering in life and is related to whatever our basic assumptions about God may be. There are those times when we would like to believe someone is "pulling for us" with resources greater than our own. Often, it is not evident that this is so.

THE NATURE OF GOD
Primitive ideas about the nature of God have often given God human-like characteristics in terms of moods and responses. Typically God, or "the gods," have been localized in terms of geography or realm of power, and sometimes both. Old Testament Judaism often depicted God as God of the mountain, God of the wilderness, or God of the promised land. He was viewed as a God who demonstrated some of the same emotions and responses as human beings. As is true with human beings, He was believed to be capable of being jealous. Furthermore, when He was angry He could punish in unloving and extreme ways.

It is from this generalized conceptual background of God that conclusions are often drawn in relation to the involvement of God in the suffering of humanity. There tends to be an assumption that God is all-powerful, capable of controlling anything and everything, and is therefore directly or indirectly responsible for both the good and bad things that happen to human beings.

From this image of God's nature, it is only a short step to an assumption that if we please God, God will reward us with a successful, comfortable, joyful, and wonderful life without pain. If this assumption is embraced, then it is consistent to further assume the opposite, i.e. that when we are not living as God wishes, God punishes us with any part of an arsenal of possibilities which can make life miserable, even to the point of causing us to wish for death.

This understanding makes the primary goal of life quite simple. Human behavior and attitude should represent an attempt to please God, or the gods. Please God and prosper! Displease God and die!

The simplistic image of God which was taught in the earliest times of the Judeo-Christian tradition made sense in relation to the broader view of how things were in the world then. It does not make sense in relation to the general understanding of how the world works today. We may ask some of the same questions today as were asked by our ancestors. The answers, in many cases, should be quite different. The typical answer is at the heart of the reason for most religion. Find a way to please God! How do we do that? With ritual and sometimes with self-abuse. Ritual is believed to please a God who loves adoration. This is much like bringing flowers to a girlfriend. Self-abuse is intended to show God just how remorseful we are and from sympathy regain a favorable status with God.

DIFFERENT ANSWERS FOR DIFFERENT TIMES
For many of us, these kinds of answers are not satisfying. There are some other questions that need to be asked and answered if we are to come closer to truth in this matter of human suffering as it relates to a God whom we want to believe is "a loving God."

First, where is God? Inasmuch as the totality of God is not fully comprehensible by the human mind, there is no need to talk about who or what God is beyond the idea that God is spirit. That very general idea, which seems to have been accepted by Jesus, and which makes sense for us today, removes the need to localize God. That explains the assumption that God is everywhere, i.e. within us and all about us. That makes God very available at all times to all people everywhere in the world--or out of the world.

Second, who are we in relation to God? We are God's children! All of us! Everyone! Regardless of race, nationality, religious affiliation, or anything else that makes us different, we are all and each children of God. There is only one God and God is the Creator, i.e. parent, of us all.

Third, why has God made us, his children, so subject to pain and suffering? Many people suffer all their lives. Everyone experiences pain at some time, and very few get through life without experiencing suffering. Sometimes the suffering is excruciating, unrelenting, and seemingly with no good purpose. This may be the most difficult question of all. Its answer is complex because pain is complex. There is "pain," and then there is excruciating pain to which we are most likely to attach the word "suffering."

Pain is often a warning of some possibility that is worse than the pain. Pain in the gut may be telling us we need to change our diet or, if it persists, it may be telling us something far more ominous. Pain in the tooth is probably telling us we need some remedial attention and that we have not given our teeth sufficient preventative attention. Pain lets us know that something is wrong. This knowledge that something is wrong often makes it possible to remedy the wrong so that a permanent negative result does not occur.

Suffering comes in two main areas. Physical suffering typically comes as a result of health care needs of either prevention or remedy. It may come as the result of an accident. It may also be the result of imperfect hereditary traits. But there is also suffering of the emotional variety. It may come as a result of a loss in relationship, which has been very important. It may come as a result of falling short of self-expectations. Emotional suffering, however, is just as real as physical suffering.

Typically when we think of suffering, whatever its kind, we think of pain that is unrelenting and for which we have no helpful antidote. Emotional suffering may be brought about by a sense that God is punishing one and with no understanding of why this would be so. The entire Old Testament book of Job is based on the premise of unjust punishment. As a "righteous man" who had lost everything, including wealth, family, friends, and health, Job raised the question "Why?" He never really found or received an answer that was completely satisfactory. We won't either! We can come closer than Job, however, to an understanding of this ancient and contemporary question of human suffering.

What we can say is that there are several causes of suffering. Some suffering we bring on ourselves. Those who begin smoking at an early age and smoke heavily for many years should not be surprised if suffering comes as a result of self-abuse. God has nothing to do with suffering brought about in that manner.

Some suffering is caused by others. Persons who insist on driving while under the influence of either drugs or alcohol should assume that sooner or later they will cause suffering--someone will likely be maimed or killed in an accident caused by them. They will also suffer when, in a sober condition, they realize the terrible thing for which they are responsible. God has nothing to do with suffering brought about in that manner.

Some suffering is caused by disease or ailments over which it appears we have no control. It may be that we just have not yet learned how to control the cause. It may be that we know how but have not applied the preventive measures about which we know. Unavailable or unused knowledge should not be credited to God.

Some suffering is caused by violent acts of nature. Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, and fires take their toll. This cause of suffering, along with diseases which we neither know how to cure or prevent, are the kinds that we may find most difficult not to attribute to God. As was once true with many diseases from which we now know how to protect ourselves, the challenge is to learn how to protect ourselves from the overpowering violence of nature.

Most causes of suffering have to do with human behavior. Those causes that are not related to human behavior in their cause have to do with human ability to learn a means of avoidance or protection.

PAIN AND SUFFERING AND THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS
As was true in the story of Job, we must ultimately accept the fact that we are part of a life and environment for life in which pain and suffering exist. There is no need to question God about this. There is no need to question the nature of God because of this fact. It is a fact of life, for whatever reason. We spend our time and energy better by seeking ways to alleviate or respond to it positively than when we waste time wrestling with the unanswerable question, "Why does God permit suffering?" We may as well "get over" our dislike of the fact of pain and suffering! It is a fact in the nature of life.

What we have learned, however, that the character Job had no way of knowing or discovering, is that the creativity of God is not demonstrated with instantaneous intervention, i.e. a snap of the finger or by merely speaking things into existence. With our longer perspective and more analytical tools, we have come to learn that God works through a process of evolvement, which is both very slow and often very painful. The process of gradually moving from one condition to another happens so slowly that a single human experience cannot detect it with the "naked eye of experience." The ability to look back enables us to see the bigger picture and thus to discover many wonderful kinds of adaptation, i.e. the evolving process of change. Every event is related to many other events, and the complexity is such as to "boggle" the mind.

Inherent in the nature of evolution, whether natural, physical, intellectual, emotional, or relational, is a strong likelihood of pain. If the earth has nerves, it must hurt to experience an earthquake! It certainly hurts us human beings! What we know is that we cannot change this aspect of "how things are." This evolving process is reality. Inasmuch as we can't change it, then we must learn to adjust to it.

RESPONSE OPTIONS
The common sense questions, which need to be asked have to do with how we can cooperate more fully with the evolutionary process and in a manner that prevents or remedies as much pain as possible.

Pain and suffering are realities of life that we must accept. That doesn't mean that we should then "roll over and play dead." In fact, we should make an effort to respond to this reality in one of three ways. First, we find it easy to attempt to prevent pain. That is among our primary desires as human beings. Second, if we are unable to prevent it, then we seek to neutralize it after it occurs by taking remedial measures. Third, we have learned that we can help each other in our response to the issue of their and our pain.

The wonderful thing about how God has made things to be as they are, is that we human beings can respond to each of these three possibilities in relation to human suffering.

What about this matter of prevention? Much suffering comes from disease. Much disease that once brought excruciating pain to millions of people has been reduced dramatically. Two examples will illustrate the larger story.

During the fifties and sixties, polio was a major threat in our society and brought crippling, fear, and death to millions. The late wife of my older brother, who was a school teacher by profession, became ill with three kinds of polio simultaneously during her pregnancy with twin boys. She gave birth to the boys while confined to an iron lung. She went on to live a meaningful and productive life with respirators, rocking beds, and wheel chairs for over forty years after the birth of the boys, one of whom is now a dentist and the other a contractor.

In this case, efforts at prevention failed. Remedies succeeded to the point of preserving her life and the lives of the babies. The rest of her life was one of adaptation, being helped by others, and by her helping others through a wonderful demonstration of the potential that God has given us in the human spirit.

Was polio punishment for something done or undone? Was survival a reward for "getting her house in order"? The answer to both questions is "no." God had no direct involvement in the contracting of the disease. God was directly involved, but only as she tapped into the resources made available to everyone by God and appropriated them to her own need. She wanted to live and thus directed every ounce of her strength to that end. But she also wanted to live meaningfully. Once the immediate threat to her life had subsided, and she had reasonable hope of living for some period of time, then she directed her energy through the physical, intellectual, and emotional resources she still retained, into making her life both meaningful to her and productive for others.

At the time of Jesus, leprosy was a disease which was greatly feared, quite common, and brought both physical and emotional suffering. Not only did people suffer from the physical disease but also from social ostracism. Through measures of prevention and remedy, which human beings have acquired through much effort, leprosy is one of those dreaded diseases that is no longer a major concern in modern times.

Does this mean that God had "a score to settle" with folks in that day that he does not have today? Does it mean that he loves us more today than he loved them then? Certainly not!

Keep in mind that what we human beings have learned along the way indicates that God works in a very slow non-intervening way. It took much effort and a long time for medical science to learn how to prevent polio. This knowledge was a gift from God, always available, which we had to discover through great effort. It took much effort and a long time to discover treatment that would both prevent and be a remedy for leprosy.

The great thing about the connection of the human potential for learning, and that about which we can learn, is that both are creative gifts from God that humans can only acquire through much effort and commitment. They are just as much a gift from God, however, as they would be if God responded through instantaneous and loving intervention. God is just as surely involved in the slow way as he would be in what is often thought of as the miraculous way. We tend to insist that God must do God's work our way, while it is clearly evident that this is not the way it has been, is not now done, or ever shall be done.

A HELPFUL ANALOGY
The analogy, which Jesus is reported to have used in regard to God as Father, is certainly applicable in relation to the larger question of where God is when his children suffer. Among the frustrating aspects of parenting teenagers is that they sometimes insist on behavior that is harmful to them but which parents are helpless to prevent. Parents caught in this situation suffer in love. That must be the way it often is with God. God suffers in love as we stumble and struggle along, not seeing what we might see, and insisting on doing so much that we ought not do or refraining from doing what we ought to do.

How can we tap into the resources God has provided to deal with this matter of human suffering?

One answer is evident. We must learn all we can as fast as we can! This applies to both that which is preventative and that which is remedial. A case can be made for the idea that we are doing that. Learning ought to be viewed as a means of enhancing our religious experience and expression. Unfortunately it too often diminishes religious appreciation because of failure to relate God to our capacity as human beings. Why does this happen? Because of the great chasm between our general understanding of "how things are" and a religious belief system that is generally and embarrassingly outdated. Every new bit of information we gain about our universe that can be used in a positive way for good among human beings, ought to be a reason for both reverence and gratitude. In other words, the more we learn, the more genuinely religious we ought to be.

PLAYING GOD?
There is a tendency for divisions to be created among us because of differing opinions related to creation, evolution, and "playing God." Who cares about the means by which God created thousands or millions of years ago? To whatever degree we "care" about the past, it is more important that we have an understanding of how God works, i.e. creates, today. There is a basic need for us to recognize God's involvement in creation today, as well as in the past. Without that recognition, we are either not able to work as a partner with God, or we do so without a realization of the significance of what we do. God's creative activity is an eternal process to which our involvement is invited for a temporary period of time.

As to the matter of playing God, who is "kidding" whom? When we use that phrase, we tend to apply it to that which is not commonplace among us yet. Such things as genetic engineering and euthanasia are classic examples of what is often meant when the phrase "playing God" is used. In fact, if we are comfortable with the generally accepted meaning of the phrase, "playing God," we must realize that in reality we "play God" in some manner most days of our life. That is to say that we manipulate what appears to be the natural flow of things. Preventing conception while participating in sexual activity is playing God. Preventing the birth of that which has been conceived, by abortion, is playing God. Extending life beyond that which would occur without medical treatment is playing God. Keeping persons alive when, if left alone they would surely be dead, is playing God. When we take an aspirin or any kind of medication we are playing God.

The idea of "playing God" is an unfortunate use of terminology because it suggests that we are doing something that we really ought not do. A much better term would be some form of "partnership with God" or "working with God." This is in fact, what we are learning to do increasingly well. Both human satisfaction and potential good are diminished or prevented when the authentic religious factor is left out. Who is to say that God hasn't given us the capacity to learn, and that about which there is to learn, as gifts designed to make life both more challenging and more meaningful? Without a doubt, common sense in our day suggests that this is, in reality, a major truth that we need to embrace.

AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION
That means something very important in relation to the whereabouts of God when his human children suffer. As we learn, we are able to help one another. What child does not often ask for a bandaid unnecessarily, not because it is needed for the wounded body, but because the love expressed by its offering is needed for the human spirit. As we learn more about working with God, we also learn more about helping one another. As we help one another, three good things happen in relation to suffering. First, the cause of the suffering may either be neutralized, or the pain may be diminished. Second, God has an opportunity to work through one human being (or a group) in helping another. Remember the analogy used by Jesus of God as parent--we like it when someone can help our children in ways that, as a parent, we cannot do by ourselves. Third, at least two human spirits are enriched. The spirit of the one whose suffering is diminished or removed, is enriched through gratitude. In addition there is no longer a need to direct energy and attention toward coping with suffering. That goal can now be transformed into that of helping others through what has been learned and experience. Furthermore, the one who has been instrumental in providing whatever is needed in a response to the suffering of another, finds their own spirit lifted. The knowledge that we have been helpful to another can provide a real sense of partnership with God.

WHEN THE "MAGIC" DOESN'T WORK
What about those times when through choice or inability, suffering is not prevented, diminished, or neutralized?

This is the situation Jesus found himself in during his last week on earth. He walked into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday morning feeling as though he was "the king of the world." The acclamations of those who followed and went before were encouraging and wonderful. By the end of the week, he had been frightened, challenged, physically and psychologically abused, spit on, rejected, abandoned, betrayed, lied about, and finally crucified to death. That is suffering--real suffering!

His response to what either he would not or could not change is both instructive and inspirational. Hopefully none of us will ever have to endure the intensity of the suffering he endured. It is desirable that we never have to endure any severe suffering for a long period of time. But in the event that we do, we need to receive both instruction and strength from the example left us by those who told the Jesus story.

Jesus found the options, which were available for preventing the suffering, that was clearly before him, to be unacceptable. Given this, he was then faced with two alternate options. The most obvious would seem to have been the most natural. He could whimper and whine about the unfairness of life and of God, a process that would cause him to die a bitter and defeated person. The second option was the most difficult, but most rewarding for him and for others who would choose to embrace his philosophy of life. He could endeavor to find some way of making good come from this terrible ordeal.

It is clearly the second option that Jesus chose, and the world has never been the same as a result of his choice.

The Jesus story clearly teaches that he believed God was with him, and within him, both in pleasant times and during times of suffering. It was this belief that made it possible for him to accept the suffering with an effort to make some good come from it.

You and I have the same need, right, and reason to embrace the same assurance as that which enabled as Jesus.

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