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Ah, we find ourselves this February meandering toward Lent. We have little side junkets here and there on the road of faith, but eventually we find ourselves with dirty foreheads and our spirits a bit more serious in demeanor.

The Lenten trail ends at the cross with the suffering and death of the one come to bring hope to a people both occupied and oppressed. An innocent one, the only truly innocent one who was to lead these people out of their oppressed circumstances was arrested, tortured, and put to death.

You and I often question why bad things often seem to happen to those whom we deem innocent or good. If we take the gospels seriously, then you and I also need to realize this should not at all surprise us. In fact, we can go so far as to say this is the founding principle of the Christian message. An innocent one, proclaimed God’s Son, was arrested, tortured, and put to death. In First Corinthians Paul writes, “I decided to know nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

This is not to criticize our questioning of suffering in this life be it ours or another’s. It is not to classify this or similar questions as whining or being unappreciative. It is instead to put ours and all suffering in perspective. Suffering is very democratic. It happens to all, though admittedly in differing proportions.

Andrew Hodges Hart writes in his book, Knowing Darkness, “The cross of Christ is especially shocking because it’s not a religious answer at all, but a divine answer that is luridly profane in nature. An instrument of torture and capital punishment, reserved for the slaves and dregs of human society, becomes the means of salvation right here ‘under the sun’ – and in fact the sun itself is darkened by it.”
That is, the problem of evil is solved neither by Jesus nor scripture. But it can be lived through and overcome because of the Jesus whom we know through the Bible; the Jesus who lived through, overcame, and lives still among, in, and through those who follow, those also are acquainted with suffering.

Traveling through Lent does not make one a Christian. Neither does it earn points with God or favors in this life. It does not enable us to escape pain and suffering. It might even cause us to engage more pain and suffering. Traveling through Lent can make us more trusting as we trudge along in hope. We trust our suffering is not some judgement on us from God but an unescapable part of living. We hope in Jesus that this will not be life’s final judgement on us. We can get through it, beyond it, and live again.

Don’t be afraid to get your foreheads dirty. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty in service for one another. Don’t fear unclean places. Don’t give up in dark places. A time of cleansing is ahead. Light awaits. Keep trudging.