To my brothers and sister, Why do you continue to believe?

My Brothers & Sisters

            This is my second letter to you. I am writing to ask you, “Why do you continue to believe and hold faith while you go through so much suffering? I look at my life’s sufferings and they pale in comparison to the sufferings I have watched you all go through. I have watched many of you lose wives, husbands and children. I have watched you also go through horrible diseases and afflictions. I watch all of this and I am in awe of how you have maintained your faith. I was recently sitting in the book of James. If you know my sister Kelly, she can tell you all about James. Anyone who has ever cracked open the book of James knows that he spoke often of suffering. I can imagine the survivor’s guilt that James must have felt after the crucifixion. Many soldiers go to war and do everything that they can to save their brothers and still return home with guilt. Meanwhile, we have no scripture that tells us that James was even present during the crucifixion. The mental struggles that James may have walked through would have been torture. The medicine that James needed to fight off this guilt and shame came from Christ coming to James after the resurrection. Christ revealed himself to James. In all of this pain and hurt, there was one thing that gave James rescue. Christ alone. James later became the head of the church of Jerusalem. There he no doubt saw the sufferings that Christians were going through after Rome burned in AD64. The burning of Rome was only one of the things that led to the massacres of AD66 that left more than 3,600 people dead in Jerusalem. Just two years later James himself would be stoned to death. While we think of being stoned, we remove ourselves. It can be hard for an American to picture being stoned in 2019. So, let’s picture it. Pick out your favorite prophet or teacher, or shepherd, or apostle, or evangelist. Don’t forget to think of their face. Now, picture them buried up to their chest with their feet shackled together under the weight of the hard ground surrounding them. Now, picture everyone you know throwing brick size rocks at them one by one. One to the back breaking a rib out of place. One to the shoulder, knocking loose the clavicle. One to the chest collapsing a lung. One to the same spot breaking a rib into the lung so it slowly fills with blood, essentially drowning your friend. One to the mouth knocking out teeth right at the gum line. This goes on and on until there is no life left in your friend. The sight is not the worst. The worst part is listening to the screams of your friend as he begs for mercy. The screams that will slowly fade to nothing. James watched this, over and over and was still able to write:

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.

While all of us have various trials, we all have the same rescue. Christ. There is no trial too great for the Lord. James reminds us:

As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

In suffering, how are you reminded of the Lord’s compassion and mercy? In suffering, do you call on the Lord for absolution?