Three Questions Suffers Ask Jesus; Three Responses Jesus Gives

As human beings, we have a difficult time understanding the meaning and purpose behind pain and suffering that we can’t (or couldn’t) control.

My wife is a nurse, so she has a lot of experience in dealing with those in pain. She told me about the following chart they use in triage to help people gauge their pain:

Where are you today? What’s your number?

I imagine there are very few, if any, who aren’t dealing with some form of pain or suffering during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Before I move on, let me offer a working definition of pain and suffering. Pain and suffering can be defined as the light-to-severe physical, emotional, and psychological discomforts we feel and/or experience when life doesn’t go according to our plans, dreams, intentions, and expectations.

According to sociologist Peter Berger, “[Every culture has provided] an explanation of human events that bestows meaning upon the experiences of pain and suffering”[1]

Berger definitely describes me. When I encounter some form of pain and suffering, I want to know why this happened. Was it my fault? Could it have been avoided? As human beings, we have a difficult time understanding the meaning and purpose behind pain and suffering that we can’t (or couldn’t) control.

Take for instance, the COVID-19 crisis. Because of COVID-19, hundreds of thousands across the globe have been laid to rest. Nations and states have been locked-down leading to the need to bailout businesses and offer stimulus checks. In the midst of shutdown, many have been furloughed and laid off, as well as having to make the tough decision to close their small business indefinitely.

In addition to the physical losses, there’s the emotional and physiological toil of being isolated from friends and family, the awkward feeling you have toward a neighbor while passing them on the sidewalk due to virus ...