There are men who are in twelve-step programs for addictive behavior. Some have very hard health conditions or financial turmoil. Some suffer with children whose way of life is heartbreaking. Others have difficulty blending families in remarriage. One of the men there last week had just gotten out of jail, and the week before we read a letter to the group from one of our members who is in jail currently.
Human beings live storm-tossed lives.
The most difficult question that non-Christian skeptics ask is the question of suffering. The place Jesus ended in this story is the place that everybody who believes has to come to in theology and experience. In the long run, the problem of human suffering is the problem of faith. It requires that we be persuaded by One whose presence mitigates the need to have our questions answered. Let's observe the details of the story.