Joy and Suffering

Friday 4/17/2015 7:03 AM

W. Paul Jones asks a poignant question in his book Joy and Religious Motivation, “Why is this word joy, so frequent in scripture, so absent in our modern vocabulary?” He goes on to show how the joy described in the Bible is often linked with suffering. My assigned scripture today includes James 1:2, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, …” Paul rejoiced in his suffering in Colossians 1. David speaks of his weeping lasting for the night but rejoicing coming in the morning in Psalm 30. Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. The list could go on.

In his essay Something Bigger than All of Us, Paul Lynd Escamilla writes, “When Dante was making his ascent to heaven in the Divine Comedy, he heard what sounded like ‘the laughter of the universe’. Such sublime laughter – the joy of a world completely transformed by the healing, reconciling work of God – is beyond our ability to comprehend, or even fully imagine. It is a joy that, in J. R. R. Tolkien’s words, lies ‘beyond the walls of this world.’” A world transformed by the healing and reconciling work of God is what I long for.

As Christians we often isolate ourselves from suffering. We surround ourselves with “happy” people and if something untoward arises we distance ourselves from it as quickly as possible. We close our eyes to the pain and suffering we see around us and usually blame those who suffer for their problems. We live in a world of false happiness and never experience true joy.

However, when we enter into a suffering world and wrestle with the messiness and pain we experience ourselves and also that which we see in others, then, when the grace and power of God’s mercy and love enter the picture and transforms our own life and the lives of others, bringing peace, healing and harmony, we are filled with unspeakable joy that spills out of us and into the lives of those around us. That kind of joy can only be experienced when we have experienced suffering.