Suffering, Toxicity, and When Enough Is Enough
1 Peter 2
2:19 For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly.
2:21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
Most scholars consider 1 Peter to have been written by a disciple of Peter around 90 of the Common Era. The letter addresses a critical situation of how to deal with active persecution. Roman state was more than intolerant. They had wed religion with state authority. Thus, to follow one was the other; to reject one was to reject the other. As Baptists who believe in the separation of church and state, this is part of the reason why. State power intertwined with religious authority tends to corrupt faith.
Within its context, the message of 1 Peter, written well after the resurrection, was one of encouragement. Endure the suffering as Christ endured his suffering. This canonical connection of suffering with Christ’s, however, over time, led Christians to connect various forms of suffering and castigation with Christ’s suffering.
This leads me to the question I’d like us to consider today, are Christians called to endure suffering?
In the 5th century, Simon Stylites, is known for his Christian devotion expressed through discipline and denial. In fact, he was so stern with his self-denial that he was kicked out of a monastery in what is now Syria – even within the ascetic Desert Fathers, he was a bit much. Still, his legacy remains. Among his various forms of self-denial which included starvation and isolation, he is most known for the practice of living atop of a column, some 50 feet in the sky for approximately 34 years. Yes. 34 summers, winters, atop a platform some consider no more than three meters wide. It’s said that the skeleton of a man was sustained by children who would bring him bread and goat’s milk. He was devout in his conviction, prayed and believed firmly that the way of suffering connected him to Christ’s suffering. I have no doubt that in his time, his expression of life was an act of devotion.
Another Christian, theologian St. Ephraim recommended that the monks meditation on guilt, sin, death, and punishment—or the pre-enactment of the moment before the Eternal Judge—be carried out with such intensity that the inner life becomes a burning lava that produces an upheaval of the soul and torment of the heart. That is to get whatever it is in us out.
This tradition extended into the priesthood where priests would wear undergarments made of woven vines of thorns to undergo suffering as they led the mass, recalling always the sacrifice of Christ. If Jesus suffered, so must I.
While Ascetism as a practice diminished after the Protestant Reformation, it’s strands continue today in our scripture from 1 Peter or in Paul’s writing codifying a body/spirit duality in which he writes, “I beat my body and make it my slave.” We can also see it in the form of the Protestant work ethic, a denial of pleasure from professional pursuits. In other words, put your nose to the grindstone, don’t ask questions, and take the wages you receive gladly.
Yet, when does one say enough is enough?
To suffering? A toxic relationship, an abusive partner, a toxic workplace, a spouse that demeans us, wages that cannot feed us, or a landlord who denies us clean places to live.
At what point do Christians shift from the mindset of, “it’s ok, you can endure this quietly; your faith shall uphold you” to “I can’t take this anymore.”
In October 2022, a survey regarding toxic work environments was conducted with 1,002 full-time workers from across the U.S. The average age was 38 years old which included male, female, non-binary, and transgender respondents. Among those surveyed, 69% indicated that they had worked in a toxic work environment, and 20%, indicated that they were currently working in a toxic workplace. What did the respondents name as toxic:
- Ongoing gossip, cliques, and favoritism
- Forced overtime or unpaid overtime
- A narcissistic director
- A lack of transparency in the workplace
- A lack of feedback or a willingness of management to listen, really listen
- Too much focus on company output – over against employee well being
- And curiously among the respondents, even those who did not express working in a toxic work environment, indicated a general mistrust or disconnect between employees and leadership.
What effects does a toxic work environment have on your well-being? Studies indicate that insomnia, a feeling of dread, a change in appetite, forgetfulness, and physical pain are all symptoms of a toxic environment.
So, when do you move from quiet endurance to active resistance? Does the faith that venerates Jesus’ suffering also declare God’s desire for calm water, green pastures, clean water, tables where cups overflow and where there is no want? What about inside the church – when do we defend the space rather than make space for a toxic person?
I had the privilege of attending the BREAD meeting with several members of UBC and one member of the St. Thomas Moore Newman Center.
During our meeting, the organization, which is really just a coalition among various local churches, requested multiple social improvements. They asked for police training in what is called active by-stander training – that instills in each member of the police force a responsibility even if not the primary member addressing a situation. We requested restorative practices in our schools that shift the emphasis from suspension as the primary means of dealing with bad behavior to restoring and healing, a much harder and worthier pursuit. And in all of these requests, the resonant message was NOT that suffering was to be endured, but that our collective voice merited attention and action. Our plight was not to endure but improve!
Mark Heim is an American Baptist professor, theologian, and author of “Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross.” In his book, he writes,
“God breaks the grip of scapegoating by stepping into the place of a victim, becoming a victim who cannot be hidden or mythologized. God acts not to affirm the suffering of the innocent one as the price of peace, but to reverse it.
Jesus is the victim who will not stay sacrificed, whose memory is not erased and who forces us to confront this reality.”
In other words, Jesus becomes the victim not that we venerate victimization or suffering. Victimization and suffering are not something God designs but rather defeats.
The lectionary pairs readings from Psalm 23 and John 10 with this call to endurance. Both Psalm 23 and John 10 recount images of abundance and Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
To me, the contrast is intentional and is worth exploring in our own lives. In what ways have we been led astray, settled for the toxic waters rather than still waters? Have we settled for a job that demeans, a partner that disrespects, and endured it as “God’s call”? Perhaps we’ve confused the voice of God with the voice of our past or own self-loathing.
Does following Christ mean enduring suffering? In my opinion, no.
But we will go through suffering, perhaps not victimization though that may be the unfortunate case for some. All will walk through times more difficult than can be imagined, valleys of shadows of death. Yet as we do, we recognize the one who knows both victimization and suffering. We are truly saved by his wounds.
When we encounter suffering and victimization in others or ourselves, let us not venerate it or seek it, but see it as something God has and continues to overcome. And so shall we.