A Painful Gospel

On Monday, I submitted my back to a sharp blade. Thankfully, it was being wielded by a doctor who had the best of intentions (though I noted his dark humour when he remarked to a nurse that she might have to “pass him a chainsaw for this one”. I pretended to laugh as I lay face-down on the bed, peering at the floor through a breathing hole.)

I felt nothing. The five shots of anaesthetic worked a treat and remained efficacious until 9 o'clock that evening. So whatever chainsaw merrily went about its work, there I laid, oblivious. Ironically, the only pain came from the administering of the anaesthetic. Those five injections were so painful I winced and held my breath to prevent gasping. How could something patently designed to prevent pain be the cause of it?

Soft Westerners and theological dunces have been long absorbing Satan’s lies from the snake-oil salesmen they have been pleased to call celebrity preachers and global ministries. They have been told that Christianity will improve their lives, that Jesus simply wants to send them excesses of money and comfort if only they have more faith, that healing of illnesses is one of the primary reasons He went to the Cross. Therefore, to become a Christian is to be spared the usual hardship of human existence, to be specially exempted from the common afflictions of man, to overrule the sparks flying upward. Christians in Nigeria and North Korea and a whole of host of other rotten places will vouch for the Gospel of Grace being the cause of much of their suffering, not its remedy. Employment prospects are reduced, social prestige damaged, fewer customers found for one’s business. Or if it gets really bad, one draws the unwelcome attention of hostile government officials and unsympathetic police officers. This may then turn into seizures of property, the laying of trumped-up charges, periods of incarceration, beatings and death.

“Christianity is here to make you rich and happy!”, lies the charlatan.

“God guarantees healing in the atonement!”, hisses another.

“Pray your problems away!”, croons a third.

The gospel actually causes us pain. It is a sharp intrusion of light into the dark body of the world, and it stings. Yet from what great wrath and future judgement does it deliver us! What final peace and security does it afford us! The Hebrews’ suffering increased at the commencement of Moses’ great mission to free them, and she who calls on the name of the Lord may attract the attention of dark forces, human or otherwise. Yet the initial pain in this world is worth the while. Had I not had those sharp, stabbing pricks on Monday, I should have been the sorrier when the scalpel came out- and especially the chainsaw.