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The cross and suffering
In the booklet, I left discussion of the crucifixion of Jesus to a later chapter. However, the cross is right at the heart of the Christian response to suffering.
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The symbol of Christianity. It’s what you see on churches worldwide – not the dove, not an empty tomb, not the Christmas scene – the cross. There Jesus suffered; he was brutally killed. So why is it the Christian symbol? Because in that death came victory (we’ll look at this in a later set of notes).
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God was in Christ suffering. When people complain to God about suffering partly they are reacting to a sense that it’s ‘alright for God, tucked away in heaven.’ An anonymous poem, The Long Silence, dramatizes this accusation against God. Read it at: The long silence
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The hope for transformation. Someone once said that God took the worst that humankind could do to His Son and made it the best that His Son could do for humankind. The cross offers the hope that suffering is not the final word.
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With us in suffering. When we are actually going through suffering, all the above can seem somewhat academic. We are not always ready for explanations. At least we know that Christ understands suffering. He is not far from us if we call on him.
Here is a song reflecting on the suffering of the cross:
You can use the email address below to give feedback / ask questions
to the author, whose views these pages reflect
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Six Big Questions Rev John Hibberd sixbigquestions@throughfaithmissions.org
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