Yesterday I went to the play Shadowlands, based on the story of C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham. In it Lewis grapples with the "why of suffering" as he sees his beloved Joy die of cancer:
Why love, if losing hurts so much? I have no answers anymore: only the life I have lived. Twice in that life I've been given the choice: as a boy and as a man. The boy chose safety, the man chooses suffering. The pain now is part of the happiness then. That's the deal.
The play was beautifully performed by Crossbow productions. Dressing the actors in black and using a largely black set and costumes helped bring out the idea that this life is but a "shadow" of a reality that is to come, where there will be no more death and suffering and pain.
I'm not sure that the life to come will preclude any and all suffering. I instead see that any suffering will be healed and salved by the mercy of God. I'm actually more comforted by that prospect than the idea of an idyllic world devoid of any suffering. Even in the eschaton, reality will be more textured and nuanced that what we can imagine. The combined complexity and simplicity of God's fulfillment is truly beyond what we can comprehend. And that's the way it should be.
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