Ultimately, why do we remain so confused about suffering?
Is it because of a somewhat misunderstood notion we’ve inherited or developed that presumes that something like the resurrection should eliminate suffering, as opposed to redeem it? It’s almost as if the acceptance we maintain about redemption is predicated on a kind of a pass that we think we should receive because of it. When the reality of things may more closely be to what redemption enables in us, rather than what it eliminates.
We so often want to see things in an either-or frame of reference — it has to be one OR the other, for us to understand the truth of it. But, this seems to contradict so much of the way things actually are; even the simple observability of things indicates that we are much more accurate by describing things in terms of both-and. We just have a hard time with paradox, with more than simple binary options for our understandings of the nature of things.
Even in the context of Easter, I’m afraid that we still ended up somehow with the sense that because of resurrection there should be no more real death. But, the reality is that there now is both — things will continue to die and, because of Easter, that is not the end of the matter. Now, things also come back to life. Death is no longer final. But, we still seem to end up complaining about the necessity of death — as if the reality of resurrection should somehow reverse the reality of death itself — when in reality we now have 2 realities or one that more simply includes both.
Perhaps, our confusion comes from misunderstandings we acquired about the nature of curses and blessings. That one should supplant the other. When perhaps it is more helpful to understand these polarities in a frame that one is not wiped out by the other, in an ultimate sense. In other words, unification with reality is not achieved as much by the absence of suffering, as it is by the acceptance of it, and the joyful surprise that it is not the end as much as it is about an opportunity for new beginning.
A day like today (Holy Saturday), gives us the pause we need to actually...consider the real connection between life and death. It takes a moment (or a life-time). The amazing news of the Resurrection is not yet here, but it takes days like today to have our socks blown off when tomorrow comes.
If God is not confused by suffering, perhaps we shouldn't be either. Love wins not just because it is better in life, but also because it is stronger than death. In fact, it appears to be perpetuated by it — after all, it was Jesus who said, "unless a seed falls into the ground and dies…".
