Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.
I have been reading "A Jeeves Omnibus," a four-hundred-page collection of P.G. Wodehouse short stories. If you've never read Wodehouse and need a belly laugh, hurry down to your library and search him out. Last night I read about poor Bertie's distress as he was forced to live in an expensive New York hotel without his man Jeeves. Reflecting on the ordeal, he admits that suffering is good for the soul. It gives one compassion for those who don't have a valet to assist them with their wardrobe, morning tea, and a cure for hangovers.
Wodehouse, Bertram Wooster, and Jeeves were enormously popular in England and America in the early 20th century as the author gently mocked the idle rich and their slacker sons. The author had found the right tonic to amuse harrassed readers with deep, rich laughter. He also alludes to scripture once in a while although neither Bertram Wooster nor Jeeves seem to know of religion.
The Letter to the Hebrews reflects on the necessary suffering of the Messiah, a theme discovered in the passion narratives of the Gospels. Twenty centuries later, even as the New Testament is read and proclaimed throughout the world, we quarrel with that doctrine. Is suffering necessary? Is this suffering necessary? Must the innocent suffer? What about the suffering we bring upon ourselves? Isn't that pathos bordering on bathos?
The disciples on the road to Emmaus discussed that mystery and found no resolution until the Lord himself appeared and explained it:
"'Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?' Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures."
I like to wander the steep hills and creeks of Mount Saint Francis and I sometimes have to recall Tom Sawyer's practical advice for getting through a briar patch. Just push through it as fast as possible. If you try to avoid every thorn you'll only suffer their prickles and never get through it.
We can quarrel with the fact of suffering or we can offer it as a prayer in communion with the Lord and his church. One thing is certain, there is no avoiding it. Even slackers must face it sooner or later and later is always worse.
And having been tested we are prepared to be with those who are being tested. As Saint Paul wrote,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.
For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow. If we are afflicted, it is for your encouragement and salvation; if we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement, which enables you to endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement. (1 Cor 1:1-7)
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.