Suffering has been a part of the human condition since the very beginnings of our existence. It was certainly a part of the existence of Christians living in the late first/early second centuries, when it was en vogue to kill Christians simply because they were Christians. There are stories that the Roman emperor Nero used Christians as human tiki torches for his backyard parties. Thousands were martyred in the coliseums of the day. Christians are still being martyred in modern times such as in China and Uganda in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and in Thailand in the 1940s. Unfortunately, there is a very popular sect of Christians, most of whom are on television, called the Word of Faith movement, who would rather ignore martyrdom and other sufferings and instead focus on becoming a better you or enjoying everyday life. If you are suffering, the general message from Word of Faith is that you do not have enough faith, have not "positively confessed" your desires enough, or have not allowed God to work in your life. This particular theology is new to twentieth-century Christianity, and is uniquely American. But, rather than deconstruct Word of Faith and expound at length on what Christians have historically believed about suffering, I thought I would let the historical Christians, and Christ himself, speak for themselves....
Jesus: Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. [Matt. 24:7–9, New International Version.]
They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). And they crucified him. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice... "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" [Mk. 15:22, 24, 35, NIV.]
The Apostles: Then the high priest and all his associates... arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. [Acts 5:17–18, 40–41, NIV.]
Paul: To keep me from becoming conceited... there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." [2 Cor. 12:7–9, NIV.]
John: After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count.... They were wearing white robes and were waving palm branches in their hands. And [one of the elders] said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. [Rev. 7:9, 14, NIV.]
James: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.... Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. [Jas. 1:2, 12, NIV.]
Clement of Alexandria: But why are we not helped when persecuted? say they.... So that each one of us may with confidence say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear: what shall man do to me?" (Ps. 118:6). "For the souls of the righteous are in the hand of the Lord and no plague shall touch them" (Wis. 3:1). [Stromata, XI.]
St. Augustine: If the ordinary language of the Church allowed it, we might more elegantly call these [martyrs] our heroes. [It is they] whom the city of God esteems as all the more illustrious and honoured citizens, because they have striven even to blood against the sin of impiety. [City of God, X.21.]
St. Faustina: Jesus was suddenly standing before me, stripped of His clothes, His body completely covered with wounds, His eyes flooded with tears and blood, His face disfigured and covered with spittle. The Lord then said to me, "The bride must resemble her Betrothed." I understood these words to their very depth.... My likeness to Jesus must be through suffering and humility. [Diary, I.268.]
Suffering is a great grace; through suffering the soul becomes like the Savior; in suffering love becomes crystallized; the greater the suffering, the purer the love. [Diary, I.57.]
