The Evolution of Suffering

Suffering has evolved and moved into the spotlight, but what about our intentions behind hard work?

We pick up this coming Sunday where this past Sunday’s Gospel lesson left us. Peter correctly answered Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” with the Messiah, and now we hear what it means to be the Son of the Living God. Namely this week, we discover that to be the Messiah one must undergo suffering and death and only then after complete surrender does God overcome death. At some point this week I am sure I will turn to Peter’s response to this statement, but to-day I am captivated by suffering.

When I was a child I can remember being captivated by many other things not at all related to suffering. One such mesmerizing figure of my youth was Michael Jordan. His three NBA championships before moving to Birmingham of all places to try out baseball for a couple of years, his place on the Olympic “Dream Team” in 1992, and his emblematic free throw line dunk all fascinated me. Perhaps it was solely his giftedness, but I think it also had to do with the “If I Could Be Like Mike” Gatorade commercial from 1992. I recall both wanting to be more like Jordan and consuming a lot of Gatorade as a result of that advertisement. As I look back though, something else stands out.

If one were to watch that commercial several times over one might not pick up on something that seems so glaring in light of modern commercials. The “Like Mike” spot featured kids playing joyfully and Jordan himself smiling and laughing, as well as performing at an ultimately high level. We miss in that minute-long advertisement the behind-the-scenes perseverance and practice that it took to achieve such a high standard of athleticism. At the time, the public was seemingly not ready to consume commercials dedicated to the suffering that it took to get to Jordan’s level. Fast forward twenty-five years and the landscape of suffering has evolved.

Today, our view on suffering—at least in pursuit of some goals—has changed. A 2014 Gatorade Ad entitled, “Hard Work” depicts athletes waking up before dawn to chase down their greatest ambitions. Other commercials from sporting goods companies, headphone makers, and even smartphone manufacturers show both professionals and amateurs pursuing difficult goals by making big sacrifices. So what happened in the last twenty-five years to bring suffering to the forefront?

We as a society have become more accustomed to seeing people work terrifically hard to achieve their personal ambitions. As our ideals shift from working our-selves to the bone to climb the corporate ladder to working ourselves to the bone for some sort of personal achievement, getting into shape, or improving overall health, we seem more ready to endure something painful or difficult; however, we undertake these challenges for goals that fade as quickly as the grass on a field of competition which gets no water. Do not get me wrong, I am one of the first to run after a hairy ambition that is nothing more than a personal goal, and on some level this pursuit is noble and worthwhile. Still, the betrayal, suffering, and death Jesus undertook was not so that he was personally better, faster, or stronger. No, Jesus' work on the Cross was and is about something else entirely.

The question that I must ask myself in the shadow of the Cross is why am I willing to undertake selfish, personal sacrifices, but I struggle to extend myself in the same way when Christ asks me to suffer with him? I have seen an evolution of suffering as it has moved from the shadows into the limelight of commercial America, but when will I notice a shift in the intention of why I undertake the challenges that lay in front of me? Christ willingly withstood the pain of the Cross in part so that I would not have to face the agony of death, but I believe he did this also to show me and us our own path forward.

We do not have to achieve our way into God's love. It is a free gift to us all. Somewhere within God's unconditional love though is a calling. We are called into selfless suffering, as Jesus calls us to take up our own crosses to follow him. This is not a pursuit of self-improvement, but rather a task of self-denial as we relinquish everything, so that Christ may live fully within us. This is the giving up of the cloak and coat, the walking the second mile, and the turning the other cheek that Jesus teaches. As I continue to contemplate this coming Sunday’s Good News may I be even just a little more willing to walk with Christ even when it is into the pain of suffering.