Why Should the Innocent Suffer?--Feb. 18, 2018

[From Feb. 26, 2012 archive]

God of Justice and Mercy,

steadfast love surrounds those who trust in you.

When is it fitting that people should suffer?

It may be fitting, one could argue,

that the wicked suffer torments

so they may be motivated to

turn to you with fasting,

sackcloth, and ashes.

But it does not seem fitting

for the innocent to suffer--surely not

the innocent one whom you sent to give

light in darkness.  Yet that innocent sufferer

is the pioneer of our salvation.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 84; 150; 42; 32

Dan. 9:3-10

Heb. 2:10-18

John 12:44-50

Selected Verses

Ps. 32:10

Many are the torments of the wicked,
          but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.

Dan. 9:3

Then I turned to the Lord God, to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Heb. 2:10

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

John 12:46

"…I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.  …"  [Jesus cries aloud]