Suffering: Cancer and the Cross

Have you ever wondered about the devastation of cancer. I'm willing to bet you have because you more then likely know someone who has cancer. I've heard that every person is connected to everyone in the world through just 5 people. For example, I have a friend I went to high school with who has met both Andy Samberg and Lady Gaga.


Through one person I'm connected to two celebrities, and that is just one person. Imagine all the people Lady Gaga and Andy Samberg have met! Now apply this same sort of pattern to cancer. I'm willing to bet you are connected to every single person on the planet with cancer through less then 5 people. It makes me wonder if anyone is safe from the disease? It is such a prevailing sickness that I sometimes wonder why them and not me? I even ask why not now instead of later? I have a 1/3 chance of dying from cancer before you even add in my family history. All these things make me have just one wish: I wish that all cancers could be put in me so that NO one ever has to face this dark sickness ever again. But we don't get to choose our pain.

I'm sure most of us would choose never to experience pain ever again if given the choice. The world looks to medical science for anything and everything to eradicate pain. As Christians, most of us just accept suffering taking bible verses like aspirin. Feelings of pain and hurt are washed away by some coffee cup verse. Feeling pain is taboo and hurting at a Christian's funeral is stupid, because they are going to heaven. Its as though promises come before people. I also sometimes wonder if we play a give and take game with God. We say, "If I have to go through pain and suffering can it please be this kind of pain. God here is a list of the acceptable sufferings I'm willing to go through. God, give me cancer, but don't let my loved ones go through it." This goes beyond just cancer. This goes into the fabric of all pain. How many of us would rather be fired from our job, before we see a tornado take away decades of family memories? How many of us would be evicted from our homes before we are separated from our families? How many of us would take on the cancer of our loved ones instead of watching them go through it? I'm not trying to compare sufferings. Pain may hurt in all shapes and sizes, but it still hurts. I simply want to point out that perhaps as Christians we are so busy trying trying to solve someone's pain with Biblical promises that we are missing the opportunity to surrender. If God must sanctify us through pain we want it on our terms. Not even Jesus got that privileged. Jesus didn't solve his pain with a barrage of Bible verses.

In the Garden, Jesus prayed something radically different then what I expected. I expected Jesus to man up and spell out some rational prayer about how God is using this suffering in his life. Yet, Jesus nervously prayed for a way out of his suffering and was so distressed he sweat drops of blood. What could scare Jesus so much that even HE didn't want to face it? Furthermore, I didn't know Jesus could be afraid? I take so much from Jesus here. First, I hold fast to being okay with being afraid. I'm not talking about the fear that paralyzes you, but rather the fear that knows life could turn out really bad. Second, I look at the complete surrender Jesus had to his Father. Jesus didn't play a give and take game with God. Jesus didn't say,"Father, I did this whole human thing. Isn't that suffering enough?" Jesus wanted whatever the Father wanted even if that scared him. Lastly, Jesus endured a suffering that is far greater then mine. In this case, it is fair to compare. What Jesus went through does not hold a candle to anything we will endure in this life.

The crucifixion is merely scratches compared to the spiritual sufferings Jesus endured. Earlier I mentioned that I would take on all the cancers of the world in order that no one would have the disease again. The good news is that this has already been done. Jesus took on much more then a beating from the Romans hanging on that tree. He took a beating from every mother and father who have had to bury their lifeless cancer-ridden child. He was lashed for every crying teenager who cannot stand the pain of a chemo drip. He was mocked for every cancer patient who has been told medical science can do nothing for them. He was stripped naked for every breast cancer woman who feels like her womanhood has been stripped from her. He had a spear thrust through his side for every father who has walked down the road of prostate cancer. He endured the cross for my family as we see cancer take its toll on my dad. See, its not supposed to be this way. Cancer is not supposed to ravage bodies and kill 1/3 of the population. That is why Jesus went to the cross. He went to start something new. He went to redeem what sin had done to our planet.

I cannot wait for the day when I will stand before God, and he will take every person who has suffered from cancer and renew their heart. I cannot wait for the day when Jesus gives new bodies to those who have went to the grave because of cancer. I cannot wait for the day when God turns the last cancerous cell into a healthy one. I stand upon the promise that I will one day see the redeemer who battled cancer once and for all and WON!

Read Mark 14:32-36