Lent series: Suffering, part 1

In Feb 2025 two British citizens were arrested by the Taliban, moved to a high-security prison, and separated. They were interrogated over twenty nine times, although no charges were brought against them.

Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, both devoted followers of Jesus, were detained as they travelled to their home in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan.  They had lived there and served its people for the past twenty years, teaching parenting skills to women, and running school training programmes with the knowledge and blessing of the Taliban government.

Pete and Barbie were unexpectedly released after nine months of incarceration in the country’s most notorious jail.

They describe their imprisonment as hell on earth.

It seems to me that it is almost taboo in the western world today to speak positively about suffering. We have all been conditioned by our culture to believe the opposite. Most of us do all in our power to avoid it, we run from any situation that might inconvenience us, interrupt us, or demand something from us.

I believe that a collective attitude that exalts comfort has blurred our perspective as Christians, and the Church has swallowed the lie that knowing Jesus somehow vaccinates us against sorrow and heartache. 

CS Lewis said: "We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, 'Blessed are they that mourn,' and I accept it. I've got nothing that I hadn't bargained for." 

​​Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

At the time of writing, James, Jesus’ half brother, along with all the other Jewish believers were experiencing great difficulties and intense persecution, many, by then, having fled Jerusalem.

The Roman authorities treated those early Christians brutally, as did the local Jewish leaders. Many lived in poverty, having had their land, jobs and possessions confiscated. They were threatened, driven from their homes and dispersed.

On top of all this, amongst the new believers there was much disunity, discord and corruption.  As the early church succumbed to pressures from without and from within, these various trials were tearing the community apart, and it’s into this situation that James writes.

Those new first century Christians were tempted to rebel, to protest, to whine and to compromise their faith. Many were angry and wanted to take action against their persecutors.

The circumstances of our lives in the twenty-first century are different, of course. But in our response to trials and pressures, we are often much the same.

So, James gets right to the point in the opening lines of this little letter, by calling us all to choose another way in our response to suffering. To consider the possibility of navigating our trials differently to how we might naturally want to respond, and certainly, to how everyone around us would expect us to respond.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

Before we go on, let me just say, this is not about grinning and bearing pain, whether emotional or physical. That is not what James is talking about here. We are not to deny the suffering or pretend everything is ok when it's not - we have to be real - it's ok to grieve and weep and lament - it's right to do so. It's healthy to do so.

James is not saying that the trial itself is “all joy”.

So what is he saying? And what does he mean?