Suffering as Proclamation
“There are two ways a Christian, and especially a Christian minister, can promote the gospel and the kingdom: by work and by suffering. And who is to say that work is more effective than suffering, if suffering is one’s call and is borne in union with Christ? It is part of the mystery that Jesus redeemed the world ultimately not by his preaching, teaching, and healing, but by suffering unto death. To the flesh, promoting the gospel by suffering seems nonsense, a waste, a diminishment, a defeat. To the Spirit, it is God’s secret weapon. But it takes faith to use it.” [G. T. Montague, First and Second Timothy, Titus (CCSS; Baker, 2008), 163.]
Comments
Naomi Rolofson • 01/12/2012 at 3:51pm
Thanks for posting this article. Embracing a theology and practice of suffering is one I shudder to own and practice. It goes against my very desires to have peace….but not against my search for joy. The more suffering I endure the more sorrow and joy co-exist. The more they co-exist the more I love Christ (and all the rest). Its a strange phenomenon, but there it is.
Jeff Gerdes • 01/13/2012 at 11:56am
You’re welcome. Yes, Christ-likeness is both appealing and repulsive to us as fallen human beings. It is appealing because giving oneself in love for others is the proper way to be human; it’s what we were created for. At the same time, it’s repulsive because we have inherited the desire to serve and preserve ourselves, rather to give ourselves selflessly (i.e., sacrificially) in the service of God and others as the expression of the image of the triune God which we bear. Nevertheless, the latter is what brings humans joy, despite the sorrow over our own disfigurations of the divine image and the present brokenness of the rest of the world in which we seek to embody God-likeness.