Regrettably, the American Church continues to fall short in its understanding of the significance of suffering. Our claims of suffering have little to do with that which Christ calls us. We are unpopular, political scapegoats, unkindly labeled as Jesus Freaks or disdainfully spoken of at office parties as closed-minded Christians, often deservedly so. Is this the cross Christ calls us to bear? Surely the Sermon on the Mount speaks of more than just bruised egos, characterization, tarnished pride, or chastisement.
Extrapolating from the rest of New Testament teachings on suffering provides insights into the relationship of those who do face persecution for righteousness sake, and those who are not, on a regular basis, systematically or institutionally persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. Observing so far that Christ calls his followers to suffer as he did, Peter and Paul illustrate in their New Testament writings that suffering together is a mark of discipleship. How should this affect the way we view the global, suffering Church? Supporting the local, indigenous Church as they suffer shows the love of Christ to the world, unifies the Church in her sufferings, and heeds Christ’s call to suffering.
The essential union of the Church as One Body under Christ is the key element to wrestling this issue. It would be tragic and incorrect to say that because we do not suffer, we do not truly believe. This would, in a very real sense, be the opposite mistake of the prosperity gospel. Yet, if one part of the body suffers, we should sense that pain enough to join in the sufferings. Paul illustrates the beauty of this mystery in 2 Corinthians:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.[1]
This sharing of sufferings and comfort is, as stated above, how the Church body experiences the resurrection power of Christ. This is a call to be unified in all things, as Christ prayed in his High Priestly Prayer in John 17. He calls us to suffer, together as one holy Church, for righteousness and his namesake, granting us the kingdom of heaven, because it is through this selflessness and love that the world will be drawn to him.[2] “The Spirit binds the church together in the unity of a common life. At the same time, the presence of the Spirit of Christ, through a foretaste of glory, also joins the church to Christ in his suffering, and shows us the glory of the cross. The Spirit who groans in yearning for the glory to come joins us to Christ in our present suffering,” Clowney describes.[3]
Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus illustrates the proper response to suffering within the Church. In the parable of the Sheep and Goats, those who inherit the kingdom are rewarded because they helped “the least of these brothers of mine.”[4] In Galatians, Paul writes, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”[5] Elsewhere Christ reminds us that we will always have the poor with us; this does not mean that we should not work to alleviate poverty. Our first response should be to aid the suffering Church, our brothers and sisters in our family.
There continues today an assumption among the Western Church that the value of religious freedom is inherent in all countries and cultures. The lack of recognition that Christians still face persecution is detrimental to the life of the Church, and clearly not obeying the call of Christ.[6] Christianity Today reports “that the majority of Christians in the developed West – and in the United States in particular – have shown either ignorance or indifference about global Christian persecution.”[7] Nina Shea, former director of Freedom House’s Puebla Program on Religious Freedom, asserts “Christians are in fact the most persecuted religious group in the world today, with the greatest number of victims.”[8]
The numbers are often startling. As of 2002, there were1.7 billion Christians worldwide, but they are a religious minority in 87 countries and territories.[9] As many as one in ten face daily persecution of some form. They are often legally or institutionally persecuted because of their identification as Christians. This may mean job, heath care or education discrimination. The local Church may have difficulty obtaining building permits or gathering to worship without being monitored, afraid of arrest or worse.[10]
We are not called to suffer alone. Christ is near in our times of suffering; his representative body, the Church, should be near as well. Christians are called to boast for one another, to share with those in chains for the gospel, and to remember the mistreated.[11] Barclay believed that it is not individual man’s duty to raise issues of conscience in a society, but that of the Church. He does not follow this to the logical conclusion that when the Church in one part has stood for Christ, the whole Church must stand with her.[12]
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[1] 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
[2] John 13:34
[3] Clowney, The Church, 53
[4] Matthew 25:40
[5] Galatians 6:10
[6] Kim A. Lawton, “CT Classic: The Suffering Church.” n.p. [Cited 1 April 2002]. Online: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/aprilweb-only/4-29-44.0.html
[7] Lawton, “CT Classic: The Suffering Church.”
[8] Lawton, “CT Classic: The Suffering Church.”
[9] Lawton, “CT Classic: The Suffering Church.”
[10] Sookhdeo, Patrick, ed. “The Persecuted Church,” Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 32, 2005.
[11] 2 Thessalonians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:8, Hebrews 13:3
[12] Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, 118
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