Life is full of sorrow and suffering.

Any honest reading of the Bible, ourselves, or this world

will make that abundantly clear. As you read this, you can probably think of some difficult,
frightening, painful, or sad times in your own life. The reality of pain in all of its myriad forms
is something that we all have to face to one degree or another and ignoring, minimizing, or
sugar-coating it wont help anyone. The goal of this animation and discussion guide is to
address suffering head on and to consider how the cross of Christ impacts our thinking on and
experience of pain. As Ive worked on this project, my consistent prayer has been that the
crucified and risen Jesus would be glorified as the God who is with us in the deepest trenches
of our suffering, and so gives us a light of invincible hope within our darkest nightmay that
be your experience.
1. Sorrow and suffering come in many forms. What are some kinds that come to mind?

2. How do you typically respond (in your thoughts, affections, and actions) when you see
suffering first hand? What about when you see / hear about suffering in your city,
neighborhood or extended circle of acquaintances? What about when you see / hear of
suffering far removed from you (like wars in the Middle East or famines in Africa)?

3. How do you typically respond (thoughts, affections, actions) when you are suffering?

4. What kinds of suffering were pictured in this animation? Have you ever experienced these to
one degree or another?
 Read Matthew 1:23

1. In this verse we find one of Jesus most amazing titles, God With Us. As we read in John 1:1
and 14, Jesus was quite literally God with us. He is the eternal, uncreated Son of Godthe
perfect revelation of Godwho wove humanity to Himself and entered time and space to live in
our midst. If Jesus is truly God With Us, what are some things that means we can learn from
His life?

2. How is Jesus portrayed as God With Us in this animation? Why do you think I chose to
picture him in this way? Does this make you think of Jesus differently? Of God differently?

3. One of the most glorious realties about God becoming a man is this: God has communicated
Himself to us perfectly in a human person. If Jesus is God With Us, then we know God by
looking at Jesus. There is inexhaustible beauty in the truth that Jesus communicates God to us,
but it becomes most staggering when we realize that Jesus is the revelation of God even when
He goes to the cross. Part of Gods self-communication to usindeed, the climax of that
communicationis the crucifixion of Jesus, what are some things this tells us, then, about
God? How might considering the cross as Gods self-revelation to us influence your
understanding of suffering in the world? In your life?
 Read Isaiah 53:3-6

1. Verse 4 says that Jesus has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. At least one thing that
this means is that Jesus has experienced the equivalence of all our hardships and sufferings.
How was this shown in the animation?

2. By taking on flesh and going to the cross as His peoples substitute, God has experienced the
equivalence of the full range of human sufferingphysical, mental, spiritual, emotional. What
does this tell you about Gods heart? What are some implications of this thought for your
experiences of suffering?

Read Matthew 27:36-46, Galatians 3:13

3. When Jesus died on the cross, He did more than simply join us in the suffering of this lifeHe
also absorbed the full punishment that our sins deserved. Another way to say this is that He
absorbed the wrath (holy anger) of God that was directed at us because of our sin. On the cross
all of the curse that our sins deserveindeed, the equivalence of hell itselfwas poured out on
and swallowed up by Jesus Christ. How do the passages above make this clear? How is this
portrayed in the animation?

4. There is no sorrow, pain or suffering in the human experiencenot even the fires of hell the
equivalent of which God Himself has not experienced in the sufferings of the incarnate Son. If
this is true then no matter what suffering we experience in this lifeno matter what mental
agonies, emotional upheavals, physical torments, or spiritual terrorswe will always be able to
say, my God has been heremy God has endured thismy God knows this experience As
David has said, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of deathyou are with
me(Psalm 23:4). Or again, even If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!(Psalm 139:8).

Hebrews 2:1011 says that Jesus became the perfect savior of the human race through His
sufferings. Considering what has been said above and what youve seen in the animation, how
do the sufferings of Christ make Him the perfect Savior of humanity?
 Read Job 38:1-18, 42:1-6

1. In the book of Job, the titular character undergoes extreme loss and suffering. He is abandoned
by his wife and confused by the seeming injustice of Godthough He knows that God must be
in the right. After struggling with the issue for 35 chapters, Job is confronted by God Himself in
chapter 38. However, instead of answering Jobs many questions, the Lord simply points to His
own glory and supremacy as revealed in the created world. Having seen the glory of God with
his own eyes, as it were (42:5), Job repent[s] in dust and ashes (42:6). Having read the two
sections listed above, what do you think the Lords intention was in answering Job in this
way? Why do you think Job responded as he did?

2. Gods revelation of Himself to Job was itself an answer to Jobs sufferings. In a similar and yet
greater way, I believe that Gods revelation of Himself in Christ on the cross is an answer to the
sufferings of the entire world. In his final novel, Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis writes, I know
now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You yourself are the answer. Before your face questions die
away. What other answer would suffice? In what way is Gods self-revelation in His Son on
Calvary the answer to the horrors of this world?
1. In the mid 1930s, JRR Tolkien developed a concept he called eucatastrophe. A eucatastrophe
(or good catastrophe) is a sudden, unlooked for turn toward joy in the face of overwhelming
darkness. There are at least two elements to a true eucatastrophe that are important for us to
consider as we bring the discussion of God With Us to a close. First, a eucatastrophic moment
comes beyond all hope and against all expectation. It is a good, a joy, a light, a gladness that
dawns just at the moment when it had seemed sorrow had won the day. Second, the joy of the
eucatastrophe draws all the preceding sufferings and sorrows of a story up into itself and makes
them part of its joy. The moment of eucatastrophe is so complete, so total, so all encompassing
that it casts itself backward in time over all previous suffering and harmonizes them to itself,
revealing all previous agonies to be merely the trailing edges of its own great pattern of joy. In
light of these things, what do you think is the eucatastrophe of the gospel? Howin specific
waysdoes this moment fulfill the two elements of a good eucatastrophe outlined above?

Read Colossians 1:18-20

2. In Colossians 1:18-20, we read that all of created reality has been reconciled to God through
Jesus Christ. Specifically, we see that Jesus achieves this reconciliation of the universe because
of the peace achieved through His deathand by implication, His resurrection. What do you
think it means for all things in heaven and on earth to be reconciled to God through Christ?
How might this reconciliation affect our understanding and experience of sorrow, suffering,
pain, etc. now? In the future?

Read Matthew 5:4; Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18; Revelation 21:3-4

3. With the resurrection of our Lord and God from the dead, we have seen the eucatastrophe of
history. Easter morning is the dawning of invincible hope and joy, and though the light of that
eternal morning is still spreading across the sin-scarred, sorrow-marred face of history, the day
is coming when it will swallow all darkness up into its own radiant splendor. I believe this
because the Bible teaches it in verses like the ones above.but it can be hardalmost
impossibleto imagine at times. How can the horrors of this world ever work together for
good? How can drunken fathers that beat their children, diseases that ravage infant bodies,
disasters that rob families of parents and siblings, perverse acts of violence and lust and cruelty,
and on top of all that the sufferings of our own liveshow can God expect us to believe that
these things will work for our good? That all things will be reconciled to His glory? How do you
think the death and resurrection of Jesus answers this question that gnaws at the hearts of
many?

4. The last line of the song in this animation is, This is my Fathers world / All things will He
employ / Through the Suffering Son, Sovereign Love has won / And sorrow will turn to joy. How
do those words act as a summary for this section of our discussion?