Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 1Peter4:12-13
The early church had a unique perspective on suffering. When they went to the lions or the gladiators, when they had to hide in the catacombs, when they were blamed for the burning of Rome and when they were executed for not bowing down to Caesar's statue they considered it a privilege to share in Jesus' suffering.
This is a unique perspective on suffering. Usually when suffering comes our way we say: "Why me Lord?" or "I don't deserve this!" We see suffering as an intruder and we do whatever we can to avoid it.
The early church recognised that Jesus suffered ultimately - both in the sacrifices He made in the incarnation and also in the agony of His death. They believed that their suffering was just a drop in the bucket of the suffering of humankind that He had ALREADY BEEN THROUGH.
They believed that the pain of martyrdom, the strain of persecution, the loneliness of rejection that they were going through had ultimately been embraced by Jesus on the cross.
They counted it a privilege to suffer knowing that Jesus had walked this road ahead of them. They were comforted in knowing that their suffering was a subset of His.
But the early church weren't masochists. They didn't get a kick out of pain. They weren't suffering seekers - they were just comforted by the fact that Jesus had been there. As they viewed it suffering isn't an unwelcome intruder ("something strange") but rather a reality that Jesus had addressed.
Their eyes were on the victory He obtained. Suffering had been defeated and when Jesus returns, the suffering that we shared in small parts with Him will be completely overshadowed by His glory.
There's a lot that we can learn from the early church!
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Theo Groeneveld theo @ emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at emmdev[dot]blogspot[dot]com/
