This was not earth-shattering grief: no one had died. I had thought God was healing me, inviting me to not believe my fears, but now all the fears about myself that had hung around the periphery of my vision were coming true, and I was devastated. ![]() Parts of myself that I had hidden for years and then tried to bring out into the light had been beaten back by a broken relationship. Three years ago, I rubbed up against an internal seam that left me in deep pain. Sometimes, we call for Jesus through our tears, and he does not come. This is the first reality with which Christians must grapple. But this time, when his closest friends cry out, he waits. But then comes a stunning non sequitur: “So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was” (John 11:6). The text claims, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5). But the sisters are lucky: they are close friends with a miracle-working healer, so they dial 911 for Jesus. In John 11, Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus falls sick. And it offers an entry point to a whole biblical theology of suffering. It’s a story of Mary and Martha, whom we first met in chapter 8, when Martha was serving, while Mary sat at Jesus’s feet. Rather than focusing on philosophical arguments, we will start with the Gospel story to which I have most often clung in the face of suffering. ![]() 1 Arguments address different kinds of suffering, from suffering caused by human sin (e.g., Nadia Murad’s rape) to suffering by natural causes (e.g., motor neuron disease), and suggest that inability to see a reason for any given experience of suffering does not mean a reason cannot exist. Philosophers through the ages have offered defenses for the idea of a loving, omnipotent God in the face of suffering. There are many possible entry points to a discussion of Christianity and suffering.
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