A lack of reason or logic torments us. Our minds are such that we cannot stand the irrational. That is the point of Job’s mental anguish in the biblical book named after him. Job has suffered but he knows that there is no reason to it. Although the book’s opening scene tells us that. Job’s sufferings are a test visited upon him by the Lord who was egged on by a crafty Satan. Job’s friends advise him to confess the hidden sin that surely brought this tragedy upon him. Job protests his innocence and finally turns to God with the question that irrational suffering always prompts in our hearts: “why?” The answer Job receives is little comfort. Basically, the Lord tells him to mind his own business! No human being should dare question the divine decisions. Still, our minds are not satisfied with the explanation of suffering offered Job. We continue to look for reasons, and our religious traditions have even managed to create a perspective that turns tragedy into triumph.

For instance, Jewish legends tell us that every human generation contains a certain number of “just persons” (the number being 12) whom God selects to bear in intense fashion the suffering of their time so that the world may not be overwhelmed by evil and destroyed. These “just ones” are Isaiah’s suffering servant extended through time. In both Jewish and Christian spirituality, there are strands of thought that see suffering redemptive not only for oneself but for others. At the heart of Christianity, of course, are the redemptive sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul did not take his suffering personally; he saw them as part of the sufferings the church must undergo in imitation of its head, Jesus Christ. Once in a while, in times of stress or trouble, when we face a burdensome task or distasteful duty, we may jokingly advise each other, “offer it up”! But where does our pain go when we hand it over to God? This universe is such a marvelous complex of physical exchanges that it is not difficult to image a spiritual system along the same lines. We human beings inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide; trees take in carbon and release oxygen. In similar fashion, those who take on suffering in the spirit of Jesus Christ are opening an exchange with the rest of humanity. We who gather this weekend are marked in Baptism with the cross of Christ. We live under the Lord’s command to carry that cross everyday. This suffering is meant to benefit ourselves but also others. Each of us is a “little Christ”, spreading God’s gift of redemption to that portion of the world we touch. In a few weeks we will begin the season of Lent. The 40 days of the season will give us a chance to discover our personal reasons for suffering. Being a Christian means living with suffering as we changer to better ourselves through the lesson of Jesus’ cross.