V Sunday of the Year

RESPONDING TO SUFFERING… THE JESUS WAY

Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23; Mark 1:29-39

Readings for the V Sunday of the Year

Leonard Sweet writes: “I visited an eight-year-old girl dying of cancer. Her body was disfigured by the disease and its treatment. She was in constant pain. I was overcome by her suffering: unjust, unfair, unreasonable” (cf. Postmodern Pilgrims).

We can identify with Sweet’s experience. Suffering—our own or of others—overwhelms us, and we often ask “why?” 

The Book of Job raises this question. Job is beset by immense suffering: he has lost his family and his possessions; he has terrible sores. What has Job done to deserve this fate? His friends think he has sinned. But he is righteous and innocent; he has not sinned.

Job never receives an answer to the “why” of his suffering. Perhaps, there is no answer to this question! 

But there is a response to suffering… the response of Jesus. 

When Jesus is confronted with suffering, he does not answer the question; he responds to the suffering person: he grasped Simon’s mother-in-law’s hand and helped her up; he “cured many who were sick”… In fact, the incarnation is God’s response to suffering: his comforting-caring presence amid our suffering world.

We are called to continue Jesus’ response. Often, the “why” is not an intellectual question; it is a cry for empathy. So, when confronted by suffering, we need to reach out:

- by grasping the suffering person by the hand;

- by allowing him/her to feel what his/she is feeling and express those feelings (like Job did!);

- by not giving false explanations or false hopes, or denying the reality/extent of the suffering;

- by helping them find moments of solitude;

- and above all, by an empathetic and silent presence.

Sweet continues: “Even more overpowering was the presence of her grandmother lying beside her embracing this inhuman suffering… she never spoke while I was there. She was holding and participating in suffering that she could not relieve, and somehow her silent presence was relieving it.”

I do not have an answer to why people suffer. I can seldom do anything to relieve their suffering. But I can respond to their suffering!

Will I give them my presence and help them up? Will I give them space to feel their feelings and to express them? Will I care for them?