How happy are you who are poor: yours is the kingdom of God.
Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied.
Happy you who weep now: you shall laugh. (Luke 16:20-21)
People may sometimes challenge us with the tough question: If God is a loving God why does he allow people to suffer?
It is a tough question, because for all our reasoning, faith begins with the movement of the heart, and when we witness suffering, our heart is troubled.
And in that insight is the answer to this question.
First, we say Yes! Exactly. Suffering troubles us, upsets us, disturbs us. Why? Because we feel for those who suffer, we care about those in difficulty, we are moved by the pain of others, even if they live on the other side of the world. This is true for all human beings, but especially for people of faith.
That is how God has made us. He has made us to care. To be loving and compassionate. To feel the pain of others.
So, secondly, ask yourselves this question:
Which are the first organisations of the scene of natural disasters? Many if not most of them are inspired by religious people - Oxfam, Cafod, Christian Aid and many more.
Which non-governmental organisation runs more hospitals and schools than any other in the world? (The Catholic Church)
Why do you think female nurses are still called “sisters:? Why is a chief nurse called “Matron”?
Which are amongst the first organisations to collect funds for those in need?
And which groups are still - even in our very non-religious society - still the largest group of volunteers which help those in need.
Think of the food banks, soup kitchens, adoption services, groups for the elderly - they include many people from many different backgrounds, yet more often than not.
Yes, it may trouble us to explain why there is pain and suffering and evil in the world. But we might just as well ask why there is compassion and empathy and self-sacrifice? Why are people prepared to give their lives in caring for others? Why are people altruistic, to point of risking their own lives, if God has not made us this way?
And thirdly, this brings us to ask what it means to say we have a loving God.
God gives us, in himself, in the Word made Flesh, the example of perfect humanity. God is love, because he cares for us to point of sharing our suffering.
What is the most obvious, most recognised, most visible symbol of the Christian faith? It is the Cross. The crucifix. Actually, much more than a symbol - it is a portrayal of an event of suffering, a moment of sorrow and suffering.
To say “God is love” is only a problem
if we think he is loving in spite of suffering:
but that is not the the case
God is Love because of suffering.
God is not the cause for suffering,
but the remedy for it
And the proof of that is in his love.
And finally, we need to recognise that Life is a struggle.
In our world and society, especially for us with material comforts, pleasure and leisure, long lives and excellent health care, we see suffering, ill-health, evil as an aberration some unusual, a sort of failure of how things are supposed to be.
But this is wrong: Life (as we soon realise when we think about it) is a battle: for good, against suffering, against sorrow, against evil. Love’s victory does not come easy, but it is hard. Love, Truth, Goodness IS how things are supposed to be - but there is also a negative power which frustrates at ever step.
And it is faith, God, his love, which provides the hope and the remedy.
And we see this again and again.
It may be hard to answer these most difficult questions in words and ideas, but if you believe there is no answer, no remedy, then there his no hope.
We know this. We see this with our own eyes.
I remember 9/11 - nearly 20 years ago now - when we opened the Church in the evening, and people just came in to light a candle, sit in silence, and perhaps even to pray.
And then years later, when the Tsunami hit Indonesia, and people came from all over the city to give donations for our church to pass on to the aid agencies working to repair and heal after such devastation.
When people are sick, or bereaved, or anxious they frequently find some comfort in music and candles and readings and prayers, even if religious faith is something unfamiliar or unusual to them.
Happy you who weep now: Jesus says you shall laugh.
Not laugh because there is no pain. Not laugh because there are no questions.
But Laugh because there is a hope, and a comfort, and a purpose to life. And that is what Love means. And that is what God means.
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