An Easter
Reflection
SUFFERING WITH CHRIST?
The Disciples by Eugène Burnand, 1898. See footer for more on this art piece.
Dear friends,
As we walk into Easter, I wish to encourage you with a few thoughts: What does “sharing in the suffering of Christ” mean to you? There is a difference between simply suffering, and enduring hardship well as a believer, and “sharing in Christ's sufferings.” Multiple verses in the New Testament express this idea. Some theologians believe it is the key theme in The Apostle Paul’s theology.
Some see Christ in the suffering of the other, the widow, the poor and the refugee, a key motivation for social justice and liberation. Others see all suffering, loss or hurt to be endured with gratitude for Jesus’ sake because he first suffered for us. Some take the view that Christ suffered so that we don't have to, or that with more faith we can possibly overcome it or avoid it. Our human nature is at odds with suffering and the role God has in it. As Western Christians we much prefer a spiritual faith about spiritual things, a faith that is abstract, without risk and bloodless.
For Paul, “sharing in the suffering of Christ” seemed to be exclusively associated with the hardship and persecution he and others endured for sharing the Gospel. For us at Project114, it means to share with, learn from and support Christians who carry in their minds and on their bodies, the mental, emotional and physical wounds of suffering because they dare to share the Good News of Jesus in the world’s hardest places.
Our ministry began in response to the horror of the 2019 Easter Sunday Bombings in Sri Lanka, when 145 Christians were killed in one day. My friend pastor Dhala says “This Easter, Sri Lankan Christians will again be reminded that there is no resurrection without crucifixion.” They see their own persecution as a reflection of Christ's persecution at the hands of evil and cruel people. Easter Friday is not merely an observation or remembrance for them, but a vivid, lived and embodied experience that haunts their very existence this side of heaven. Easter Sunday is the final journey that raises their faith and hope, uniting them with Christ and seating them with him, making the promise of victory through the resurrection even sweeter.
I am convinced that the Persecuted Church can help us catch a more wonderful appreciation of the sufferings of Christ and what it means to know him and His transformative power in and through us. They teach us how to experience deeper intimacy with Jesus, not merely finding more gratitude for His gift of eternal life but tangibly leaning into His power to recreate us into His very image and likeness, to truly become human, making us into vessels of compassion and love who would willingly embrace suffering for the sake of advancing God’s Kingdom on earth.
Blessings in Jesus to you all,
Simon, Allison and the Project114 Team
At the time of this painting, Burnand was a little known Swiss artist. He was something of an old-fashioned realist at a time when all the cool artists were embracing modernism. The Disciples didn’t make a splash when it was first hung. Burnand’s style was already considered passé by the 1890s. But those who take the time to find it hanging in the Musée d'Orsay Museum in Paris come away saying that viewing the canvas is akin to a spiritual experience. Some say it is the greatest Easter painting ever made.
One art critic says, “The picture crackles with kinetic energy. It is a study in desperate anticipation. Surely this is also the posture with which we should approach Easter. Leaning in, wringing our hands, clutching our chests, desperate for it to be true.” What thoughts and emotions run through you as you gaze on this piece?