{"id":4097,"date":"2017-05-01T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T00:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4097"},"modified":"2021-11-25T18:02:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T10:02:37","slug":"172-suffering-as-imitating-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4097","title":{"rendered":"175. Suffering as Imitating Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><sup>21 <\/sup>For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><sup>22 <\/sup>\u201cHe committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><sup>23 <\/sup>When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><sup>24 <\/sup>He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed<\/span>.<\/strong> [<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">1 Peter 2:21-24<\/span>, <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/The-Crucifixion-by-Tintoretto.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4098\" title=\"The Crucifixion by Tintoretto\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/The-Crucifixion-by-Tintoretto-1024x440.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"884\" height=\"380\" \/><\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Crucifixion<\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, by Tintoretto, 1565.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">On the question of <em>how<\/em> salvation is achieved through the cross of Christ, a short chapter 3 in the biography by Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti titled <strong><em>Pope Francis: Conversation with Jorge Bergoglio<\/em><\/strong> offers some tantalizing pointers for reflection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>First<\/em>, they lay the foundation for the chapter by addressing the first medical crisis of the twenty-one year old Bergoglio as he struggled with a severe bout of pneumonia. The delayed diagnosis necessitated an \u201cexcision of the upper part of his right lung.\u201d Though the surgery was successful, convalescing was \u201cenormously painful\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Living with a \u201cpulmonary deficiency\u201d ever since, Bergoglio says he has learned to discern the \u201cimportant\u201d from the \u201ctrivial\u201d in life, and to live with human limitation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Second<\/em>, cutting through visitors\u2019 unhelpful clich\u00e9s and platitudes, Bergoglio reveals that while convalescing, he found real consolation and peace only in what Sister Doloros said to him: \u201cYou are imitating Christ.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In so saying, Sister Doloros has introduced an excellent lesson for Christians as they seek to confront pain. Can pain be a \u201cblessing\u201d if it is endured in a \u201cChristian\u201d manner? This is how Bergoglio sees it:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<em>Pain is not a virtue in itself, but you can be virtuous in the way you bear it. Our life\u2019s vocation is fulfillment and happiness, and pain is a limitation in our search. Therefore one fully understands the meaning of pain through the pain of God made Christ.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<em>The key is to understand the cross as the seed of resurrection. Any attempt to cope with pain will bring partial results, if it is not based in transcendence <\/em>(i.e., an existence or experience beyond the normal, physical level). <em>It is a gift to understand and fully live through pain. Even more: to live life fuflfilled is a gift.<\/em>\u201d <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>It is true that at times, suffering has been overemphasized. In this, the Church is sometimes guilty of focusing too much on pain as the path to getting close to God and too little on the joy of resurrection. The film <strong>Barbette\u2019s Feast<\/strong> is excellent in exposing a tendency to take prohibitive limits to the extreme. Living an exaggerated puritan Calvinism, the characters in the film equated the redemption of Christ with a negation of the things of this world. When an abundant meal brought forth the novelty of freedom, they were all transformed. Until now, they had not known what happiness was. They feared love, devoted themselves to the gray side of life, and lived their lives crushed by pain. <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Depending on particular era of the Church and the culture in which the Church found itself, it is true that suffering had been exulted. The Catholic Church could give the erroneous impression that the main symbol of the Christian faith is \u201ca crucified Christ dripping with blood.\u201d <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the study of Christology, particularly in regards to how Christ effected salvation for humankind through his death on the cross, there is a somewhat shocking obduracy on the part of many Christians who embrace a theory that carries a mixture of some or all of the following elements:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that<\/em> it was God\u2019s will that His Son must die in atonement for human sins,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that<\/em> the Father sent the Son to die,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that<\/em> Christ died a horribly painful and humiliating death on the cross in satisfaction of the penalty owed by humanity to God on account of sin,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that<\/em> Christ suffered and died in substitution for sinful humanity who were and are incapable of rendering satisfaction for the deserved penalty,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that<\/em> in wrath, God had turned His face away from sinful humanity,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that\u00a0<\/em>His anger now appeased by Christ-the-Son paying the ransom dying a painful death on the cross, God then turned His face back to humanity so they can once again approach God\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Traced to medieval theology, this way of understanding salvation by Christ\u2019s death on the cross is essentially suggesting that God cures the violence in human sins by authorizing another violence, namely, having His Son killed on the cross. This is an immensely cruel and violent understanding. It is cruel to God for insinuating:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that<\/em> God is full of wrath, mean and vengeful,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that<\/em> God is violent,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that<\/em> God is a sadist who enjoys cruelty, blood, pain, and human humiliation, and even wills these things,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that<\/em> God is a worse character than even sinful human parents who themselves cannot possibly \u201cwilled\u201d the death of their own children,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>that<\/em> God is a divinity without love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">All this, and more, is a reflection of the violence in human hearts projected onto God as we continue to subscribe to one or the other variation of a medieval atonement theory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Now back to the biography on Bergoglio, where two hints have profound implications.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>First<\/em>, instead of the negativities associated with quite a natural rejection of pain and suffering, Pope Francis spoke of <em><strong>serenity<\/strong><\/em>. \u201cViolence\u201d is not overcome by violence, but by a peaceful, interior strength rooted in a spiritual imitation of Christ. When \u201cviolence\u201d otherwise associated with struggles, sufferings and pain is replaced by \u201cpeace\u201d, what we have is a profound reality of existential salvation. Christ, then, did not magically \u201csave\u201d Bergoglio by a violent and bloody death on the cross. Rather, by his steadfast non-violent attitude in the face of meaningless human violence, torture and pain, Christ died to set humanity a serene and non-violent example. He went all the way to Calvary, not because the Father demanded a bloody death from His Son, but so that Christ can show humanity that he loves all the way, till death, to show the world that the evangelical values of which he taught in words, can be achieved in reality. The phrase \u201cimitation of Christ\u201d bespeaks, then, in the first place, of Christ setting an example \u2013 \u201cDo this in memory of me\u201d. Neither do we have to insult God through reliance on some medieval theology which in the last analysis yields an image of God that is wrathful, vengeful and sadistic, nor do we need to suggest that Christ by his violent death on the cross has completely achieved our salvation, leaving nothing for sinful humanity to do. The stories of Jesus of Nazareth in the four Gospels is unified in an overarching theme for all Christians: the \u201cImitation of Christ\u201d remains the singular discipline for all who would follow him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Second<\/em>, our reflection here is anything but a rejection of the cross of Christ. On the contrary, the whole idea here is how Jesus approached his cross. As Jesus embraced his cross serenely, so too are we called to do likewise in our myriad \u201ccrosses\u201d life dishes out to each one of us. Again, Pope Francis is very helpful here. He points out that the exultation of suffering in the Church depends a great deal on the era and the culture. Martyrdom, often highlighted by the Church as a path to sainthood, must be properly understood. It should not be associated with the gruesome; rather, a martyr is one whose life is a testimony of faith and trust in God. It is, seriously, giving one\u2019s life to faith. \u201cChristian life is bearing witness with cheerfulness,\u201d he says, in imitation of the way of Christ. That is why Pope Francis finds Marc Chagall\u2019s \u201cWhite Crucifixion\u201d a painting of exquisite beauty. A Jewish believer, Chagall has presented Jesus\u2019 approach to the cross not as something cruel, but as something hopeful.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008080;\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Marc-Chagall-White-Crucifixion-1938.-detail.1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4616\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Marc-Chagall-White-Crucifixion-1938.-detail.1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"560\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Marc Chagall, <em>White Crucifixion<\/em>, 1938.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh, May 2017. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"mailto:jeffangiegoh@gmail.com\">jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong> You can also be dialogue partners in this <em>Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. 22 \u201cHe committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.\u201d 23 When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4097\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh","author_link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. 22 \u201cHe committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.\u201d 23 When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4097"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6796,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097\/revisions\/6796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}