The foundational events of the Christian faith are the life, death and resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ. These events happened 2000 years ago, more or less. However, they are not intended to be merely historical events for those of us who follow Jesus. Instead we are to engage with these truths and these events today. In fact if we are not engaging with the reality - not merely historical but current - of these events in the here and now we will fail to live the kind of life that Jesus has promised us.
How might we do this? One suggestion would be that we would be a people who embrace all of life, including those elements of suffering. Bonhoeffer said that we should 'drink the dregs' of this life. Much of our time in this cozy world is spent seeking to avoid suffering and decay. Nowhere is this more true than in my current location, Orange County, California. Yet the cross and resurrection call us into a new reality. The entrance way into this reality is suffering and death; the cross. Yet the fruit of this reality is new life and peace; the resurrection.
As followers of Jesus we are thus called to embrace the full story of life. The good, the bad and the ugly. We are not to hide in the corner when suffering comes our way. We are to face it head on with God at our side. Note that we cannot enter this new reality without dying with Jesus. Our suffering must be done by his side if we are to be sure that it will lead to new life - remember the thieves on the cross. Suffering can be meaningless. It always is when Jesus is not in it with us. But we need not fear or live to avoid it. As Christians we do not believe that Jesus died so we would not have to but so that we would know how to.
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