Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,
C. There is redemptive, or vicarious, suffering.  Of this kind were the sorrows of the Master and his agony upon Calvary.  There is in this type of suffering the willing and voluntary bearing of suffering for the sake of others, and such sufferings were the glory of our Lord.  But people sometimes suffer similarly, though not in the degree that Jesus suffered, for the benefit of others.  Many parents have endured drudgery and poverty to give their children an education.  Any mother with a sick child has suffered a long and sleepless night of patient waiting and suffering for the child's benefit.