Embodying Suffering and Joy
Lent is a season of preparation and a time to remember Jesus’ journey to Golgotha so that we can celebrate Jesus’ resurrection with great joy. I observed a fast and other spiritual disciplines during Lent for many years. Yet, I’ve struggled to find a meaningful Lenten practice to observe this year.
In the three years of the pandemic, I have grown weary and unjoyful. I find it hard to deprive myself of the basic joy of food, and I wrestle with the idea of how I can observe Lent with joy. The Bible teaches that joy and suffering can co-exist. But what is joy? How exactly can we experience joy while suffering? Remarkably, the answer that came to me in my readings is simple yet profound: “In your presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11).
Psalm 16 is attributed to David as its author. The psalmist describes how David is willing to trust God as he confronts daily dangers and the possibility of death. In his first sermon (Acts 2: 25-28), Peter refers to this psalm as a prophecy pointing to Jesus’ resurrection as well as encouragement for the early church, who were facing persecution, to rejoice in God’s everlasting loving presence. God was with David as he engaged in numerous wars. He was with Jesus on the cross. God was also with the early church as they faced resistance to the Gospel and persecutions. Therefore, we should trust that God is with us in the suffering world. And in his presence, we have the fullness of joy!
This teaching is all true and good, but how can we live it out? What should I do in this Lenten season that can truly reflect the joy of God’s presence in the suffering world? Then, I came to Isaiah 58:5 (NIV), where God says,
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
Then, God answers his own question with another set of questions,
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Evidently, by phrasing what he desires for fasting practice in the form of questions, God indicates that he has already made his expectations known to his people.
Fasting is not simply a practice of self-control by giving up certain foods I enjoy. Giving money to the poor is good, but that should not be an end in itself. In the Isaiah passage, I see God’s loving care for those who suffer injustice, oppression, and poverty. He is calling his people to care for these people and share in their suffering. But as I read on, I see for the very first time how God’s call to share in people’s suffering can bring joy.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
13b if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honourable,
and if you honour it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14a then you will find your joy in the Lord,
God promises to be with us if we cry out to him with those who suffer, and we will find joy there. Pondering over these verses, I begin to see God’s leading for me to enter the lives of those who are suffering, to lament, and to experience God’s presence with them in this Lenten season.
Old Testament scholar Ann Fritschel teaches that we need to stand in solidarity with those who are suffering and bring their lament to God. In the depths of suffering, God may seem absent. The community that laments with them embodies the presence of the seemingly absent God to the sufferers, names the pain as their own, and brings them back to trust and hope in God.
Similarly, theologian Kelly Kapic talks about how the church should embody hope for people in distress. He says, “Seasons of physical distress challenge Christian hope, so the suffering saints lean hard upon other believers for spiritual sustenance. Fellow pilgrims strengthen us by embodying gospel promises.” When people’s lives are in turmoil, they may be unable to see beyond their current situations. The lamenting community that shares their pain also embodies Christ’s presence to them, restoring their joy and hope in Christ.
Putting the idea of embodying the suffering and bringing the presence of God to the sufferers into practice, John (not his real name), a brother in our church, is my model. At our prayer meetings, John often prays for people who are suffering. He enters the world of the sufferers and stands with them. Tears flow freely as John feels these people’s pain and joins his voice with theirs in prayers to the Lord. This Lenten season, I want to learn from him and invite the church to do the same – enter the hearts and minds of those suffering around us, locally and worldwide, together.
Today, I invite you, my sisters and brothers, to join me as one body in Christ to enter the dark and cold underground shelters in Bakhmut, Ukraine, and sit in prayer with the people there. My prayer is that the Spirit will make Christ’s presence felt by the people we pray for and bring them a sense of peace and joy that is beyond understanding.
Oh Lord, have you left Bakhmut?
Can you see the darkness here?
We have no water and no electricity.
Shelling is constant.
Death is waiting outside our door.
Yet we know you are near!
Protect us, O God.
Deliver us from our enemies.
Save us from those waiting for us.
Return them to their own country!
Listen to our cry, Oh Lord!
Be our help and strength.
You are our rock, our fortress.
We have no hope other than you.
Deliver us from the hands of our enemies!
We sing praises to your name forever!
Our hearts are steadfast, O God.
Yes, our hearts sing your praises!
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