{"id":39731,"date":"2017-08-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/when-suffering-find-empathy-in-cross\/"},"modified":"2017-08-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T00:00:00","slug":"when-suffering-find-empathy-in-cross","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/when-suffering-find-empathy-in-cross\/","title":{"rendered":"When Suffering, Find Empathy in the Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"

We do not always get a simple, satisfying answer to all of our questions about suffering. In a 2014 testimony about his experience with a debilitating disease, former Wheaton College Provost Stan Jones provided a helpful perspective on all the questions about our suffering that we find it difficult or even impossible to answer. He said:<\/p>\n\n

\n

Long ago, I read a book about suffering, and the author made a point that I have had to return to time and time again. He said most of our why questions about suffering are ultimately unanswerable. God does not seem to be in the business of answering the why questions, and most of our philosophical responses to the question of suffering amount to various forms of taking God off the hook for the problem of suffering. But this author pointed out that God doesn't seem to be interested in getting off the hook. In fact, the answer of God in Jesus Christ to the problem of suffering is not to get off the hook at all, but rather to impale himself on the hook of human suffering with us in the very midst of our suffering.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

When trouble comes and places a giant question mark over our existence, we should remember Jesus and the empathy of the Cross.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3524,3578,3585,3586,3719,3723,3738,3857,4077,4471,4584,4752,5018,5103,5191],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-39731","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-brokenness","tax_ctp_tags-christ-crucified","tax_ctp_tags-christ-suffering","tax_ctp_tags-christ-suffering-servant","tax_ctp_tags-cross-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-crucifixion","tax_ctp_tags-death-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-empathy","tax_ctp_tags-good-friday","tax_ctp_tags-ministry-of-holy-spirit","tax_ctp_tags-pain","tax_ctp_tags-questions","tax_ctp_tags-son-of-man","tax_ctp_tags-suffering","tax_ctp_tags-trial"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nWhen Suffering, Find Empathy in the Cross - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/when-suffering-find-empathy-in-cross\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Suffering, Find Empathy in the Cross - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We do not always get a simple, satisfying answer to all of our questions about suffering. 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