Suffering With HopeShembull

One For Us

In his incarnation Jesus became one of us so that his life, death, and resurrection would apply to us, destroying our sin and death, and replacing it with new life. Thus we live by faith in union with our risen King. 

The church, which serves as the body of Christ on earth, now expresses God’s transformative presence and love in a cross-centered way. As the body of Christ we now understand suffering corporately: when one hurts, we all hurt; when one struggles, we all struggle; when one falls short, we all fall. This is our pain, our challenge, and our ache because all of this is included in why the Son became incarnate and was willing to face even death on our behalf.

As the body of Christ we “complete the sufferings of Christ” by living from his life in his confrontation with our world. Our present sin and sufferings are part of what he died for. Jesus continues to touch the wounded and bring healing through us. These episodes in his ministry, and ultimately as accomplished by the cross, provide us with a true taste of shalom.

As the body of Christ we participate by the Spirit in God’s present work: through our entering into one another’s sufferings he rekindles our longing for a time when shalom will be unhindered, when sin and suffering will be no more. Empowered by the Spirit we bear one another’s offenses and sorrows, bringing words of encouragement and grace because we are secure in the shadow of the cross (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11).

Because God comforts us in our suffering we are able to extend his comfort to others. As the “love of Christ controls us” (2 Corinthians 5:13-15), we point the wounded to the incarnate and risen Son and to our unity with him. So now we experience our physical suffering as linked to the sufferings of Jesus—his life and death mean that these painful afflictions will not be the final word.

Our sufferings must always be understood through his. Thus our anguish can return us to grace and healing; by faith we see these pains point not merely to brokenness but to a good creation that has been compromised, and to an even better Creator who has come to renew creation and set it free.

From Embodied Hope by Kelly M. Kapic.