Considering the Cost

Isaiah 44:6-8
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

I’ve often wondered if suffering is a requisite part of the Christian salvation story. It is easy to see that Jesus endured unspeakable pain on His way to Calvary, but was it a necessary, rather than an incidental, part of the Passion and did this pain in any way help to facilitate His Resurrection? I seem to recall reading from one of Billy Graham’s books in which he expressed regret for not having suffered “enough” in this life, but I also recall that both Rev. Graham and his wife made tremendous sacrifices all their married life in efforts to support his ministry. Considering the enormous success of his world-wide efforts to promote the cause of Christ, I would suggest that Rev. Graham and his family gave plenty of themselves and their time and energy that must have surely resulted in some measure of “pain”.

Biblical writers, especially St. Paul, are pretty clear that as we “share” in the suffering of Christ, we also share in the hope of the Resurrection of Christ. In other words, as we live in the totality of Christ in this life, including His pain and suffering, so shall we also live in the totality of Christ in the life to come. Such ideals of living don’t necessarily involve physical pain, but it does not mean that we should not strive for higher ideals to the best of our ability regardless of the risk. But I don’t think it means we should intentionally go looking for pain and misery.

So could suffering be subjective to what path we may choose to follow in our spiritual life and faith journey? It could if there is some measure of our discipleship, and thus our lives, that we would choose to withhold when the pressure of conflict intensifies and we find ourselves confronted with the apparent – and plentiful – ugliness of this world. The “cost” of our discipleship, our loyalty to the Lord, could come to require more than we are willing or able to bear.

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it – lest, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’.” Luke 14:26-30

It seems to me that suffering as we understand it does serve a purpose, but it should not be discounted as suffering for its own sake or as merely “incidental” to a certain harsh reality, evidence of the broken world in which we live, a portrait of the destructive nature and power of sin itself, and the conflict which is inherent when “good” and “evil” are in the same realm. Instead it must be, in the words of my dear friend and fellow pastor, Rev. John Farthing, “the inevitable corollary of radical discipleship”. The suffering Jesus endured was the direct result of this inherent conflict within the “corollary of radical discipleship” which will always exist when good (or Light) enters into the realm of bad (or Darkness), and we give of ourselves completely and hold nothing back – like Jesus.

The suffering to which St. Paul refers in Romans is better brought to life as we “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2) It is during this fellowship when we endure and bear the suffering WITH, and not because of, the “last”, the “least”, and the “lost”, those who have by some form or fashion become marginalized in our society and have been mistreated by too many, those who have lost their faith due to the utter and unspeakable pain of neglect and loneliness, and those who are suffering from genuine persecution for their faith.

It is a mistake to believe that happiness and contentment should be a source of guilt as if we are not suffering enough, and I don’t know that Paul is demanding that we go out and seek misery more than he is warning us that pain and suffering will find us sooner or later … get this … ACCORDING TO THE LEVEL OF OUR FAITHFULNESS, according to our will and ability to “take up our cross” – NEVER MINDING the cost or risk to ourselves - and follow Christ.

It is not unlike the night Jesus was arrested and Peter was confronted by accusers (“YOU WERE WITH HIM”). Peter had a choice to make, and his level of suffering had everything to do with his choice. Out of a sense of overwhelming fear, Peter “dropped” his cross and fled for safety thus avoiding perhaps the same fate and suffering as Jesus … for the moment, anyway. His conscience bothered him, of course, but notice that the “WORLD” left him alone even as he fled “into the world” and away from Christ.

Where does this leave us? In the middle of good things and in America where it is relatively safe to be a Christian, we must exercise our faith just like we “should” exercise our muscles so that when we need them - and I think Jesus and Paul are saying we will if we are faithful – our faith will be in good shape to perform. Otherwise, our choice might be to flee when we are called upon or “accused” of being one of Jesus’ disciples. And where can we flee? Into the world that may offer temporary – but NEVER-lasting - comfort and away from the spirit of righteousness borne of a life in faith, a life in and with Christ.

The true cost of discipleship is complete and total vulnerability. It means that when we love and give of ourselves totally and completely, without hesitation or reservation, we will be exposed for what we truly are: disciples of the Risen Christ in a world ruled by the prince of darkness, remembering that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the Glory about to be revealed to us …” Amen.