The Problem Of Suffering And The Panacea Of Our Savior Series

It’s not uncommon for people to ask the question, “why do bad things happen to good people?” Or to state it another way, “if God is good, why do bad things happen?” It can sometimes feel like the worst things in life happen to some of the best people. At times it can feel like God is out to get us.

We have all met people who have experienced suffering of some sort.

For example, one of Melody’s elementary teacher’s - her first born son was diagnosed with a rare kind of Leukemia (cancer) when he was a toddler. For the next several years they were in and out of hospitals, testing various cancer treatments. Just about the time that they thought they had kicked cancer, it would come back. Thankfully, he is now about 10 years old and cancer-free. While he may have wanted a childhood that was filled with more trips and fewer treatments, he and his family have seen the hand of God through it all.

But why do these things happen?

As we continue our study through the book of Luke, we are going to get to see Jesus’ interaction and influence in two different situations - situations of suffering. We are also going to consider how the cross of Jesus ties into our suffering.

If you have your copy of God’s word, go ahead and open to Luke 7. I’m going to read from the New Living Translation - since it’s a little easier to hear.

Luke 7:1–17 NLT

When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.”

So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.

Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people today.” And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding countryside.

Let me encourage you to keep these two little stories in the back of your mind as we reflect on both the problem of suffering and the panacea or solution that our Savior brings to our suffering.

While it’s not necessarily the joyous topic we might normally like to think about on Easter Sunday, let’s begin by reflecting on…

The Problem of Suffering

Suffering can take various forms - the cancer we discussed early, other sicknesses, death of a loved one, the loss of a job, mounting financial bills, betrayal of a friend or family member, a bad grade in school because we don’t simply understand the subject (no amount of study or tutoring seems to help). It can be easy for us to look at our suffering or pain as an all encompassing obstacle to our happiness or joy.

But where does suffering come from? What causes it? Is there a purpose to our suffering? Why can’t life just be happy and peaceful?

In our reading through various parts of Scripture, we’ll find that suffering is present in everyone’s life. It may take various forms, but we all will experience something that we might label as suffering at some point.