Like many other tourists in Israel, I enjoyed walking in Jerusalem between the three sites dedicated to prayer. Muslims worship at the Dome of the Rock, their third most holy site. Jewish men and women gather endlessly at the Wailing Wall, forming long lines, leaning forward and backward, recalling their ancient city’s history.  Standing in front of the stone wall that supported Solomon’s Temple, their prayers take place in the open air.

Christians throng to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional place where Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose again. Alternatively, some Christians visit the Garden Tomb, a more inviting site, indeed more like that of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Today, Jerusalem is a bustling, crowded city where pilgrims of all faiths gather by the million.

All three sites celebrate suffering. At all three locations, daily prayers are made in various languages. But how different are their interpretations and motivations!  How distinct are the societal foundations that emerged from each place! For Muslims, suffering is willed by Allah. For them, surrendering oneself to Allah is life’s highest act. Yet far too little emerges in their societies by way of love, grace, hope, forgiveness, and human rights. 

Jewish worshipers continually review the suffering experienced by their forefathers and mothers. To them, the Wailing Wall is the background to today’s movements of antisemitism. The Jewish Scriptures, the Old Testament, speak powerfully to a tiny nation fighting for its existence. People love the Psalms.

Christians walk deliberately along the Via Dolorosa, remembering the many stations of the cross. They recall the agony of the Savior as they enter the darkened Church of the Holy Sepulchre. All who enter, Roman Catholics, Coptics, Orthodox, Evangelicals, and other Christian groups, are greatly moved by Christ’s torments, all brought on because of sin. Contemplating the small hill where Jesus is said to have been crucified, many weep. Then they walk a short distance to the tiny ornate enclosure under which tradition says is the place Jesus was buried. Pilgrims come by the million. Why? Because they want to be where Jesus suffered for our sins, where he loved us even to death. Suffering matters.

Christian concepts gradually expanded westward to Europe and, from there, across the world. This became the basis of an entire civilization. Unlike other religions, suffering and a response to it produced Western Civilization. Sorrow for the Christian, the experience of suffering does not end there. Resurrection emerges from suffering, creating love, hope, grace, compassion, and salvation. Suffering is more than just another concept to be discussed. Distress causes values to be formulated, and laws change society. 

For example, in Mathew 25, Jesus taught his followers to help the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the one who is sick, and the one in prison. Jesus said, “In helping any of these, you help me.” God cares for the forgotten person, so we should care for that man or woman, boy or girl.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” became the foundation for Western Civilization, the grounds on which all Western governments aspired. However, Communism, following the Revolution of 1917, and National Socialism, beginning in the 1930s, both attempted to extinguish the Christian faith. Why? Because Christians continually pass through suffering with hope. The authorities locked up and killed those who opposed dictatorial leaders. Dictators imposed their will. 

What was jettisoned when Scripture was applied to the ills of society? Revenge, honor killings, tribalism, and dictatorship are the exact opposite of Christian conduct. Slavery, an age-old curse, was condemned. Where did the push come from to abolish slavery? It resulted from the concerted efforts of many Christians meeting in small groups, pushing their governments to change their ways. Here was their motivation: all men and women are created as equals. We learn to love.

Western Christianity revolutionized societies, primarily through churches that took the Bible’s message seriously. Sunday Schools were designed for children who had only one day off a week during the curse of child labor. Schools and universities came into being, giving special attention to the poor. Hospitals and medical research grew because scientific research was deemed a vocational calling. Each improvement grew as branches and fruits from a tree. Suffering is like the bark on the tree trunk, the part most apparent to those showing compassion for the poor.  Hope, resurrection, grace, sacrifice, and salvation are at the tree’s core, strong values that shape lives. Today, countless Non-Governmental Organizations, NGO’s, improve the lot of countless millions.

One result of applying the Christian faith is the desire for equal justice. Labor laws made for safer streets and better working conditions. Previously, only wealthy gentlemen could vote. Then, women, young men, and women also got the vote, participating more actively with their neighbors. Governments and societies may exist under either a monarchical or republican system, but their values originate from Judeo-Christian values. True, suffering is at the core of what it means to be human. Suffering matters because it is grounded in the life of Jesus Christ.

Many in the West have abandoned the message of suffering, hope, grace, and resurrection. Mammon is the opposite of faith in and obedience to Christ. Mammon offers the opposite: fear instead of love, divisions that drive families apart, and conflicts that overwhelm the gift of grace. We now see the emergence of something Jesus condemned: a civilization built on acquiring more power and concentrating wealth in the hands of fewer people. People make the ends justify the means. For many, the love of money rules.  

Jesus Christ repeats the call for each one of us to value suffering—our own, our family’s, and our society’s. Christ’s love motivates us to touch our neighbors’ lives when they hurt, after an unexpected crisis, and even when it costs us time, energy, and finances. Suffering matters.

   By David Phillips