Suffering and Comfort: Paul from Prison

2 Cor. 1:3-11

In this text we find that Paul and his companions felt unbearably crushed that they despaired of life itself and felt that they had received the sentence of death. Paul was unsure if he was going to make it. The Corinthians were on his heart as he wrote this very personal letter pouring out his feelings. They were his church that he had nurtured for many years with a painful trail of letters. They were suffering and Paul wanted to comfort them even as he was in jail suffering himself.

The God of comfort consoles us in all of our suffering, so that with that comfort from God, we are able to comfort others. In suffering there is comfort from God, and from our brothers and sisters in Christ. Suffering remains a part of the human condition. We suffer physically, mentally, and spiritually. There is no promise that life in Christ would be easy or without pain. It is not a divine punishment. It is simply a fact of living. The Corinthians’ and Paul’s suffering came from taking a stand against the Roman empire, declaring Christ as the true Lord and ruler of all. Christians were the minority, oppressed by Rome, persecuted for proclaiming the gospel with the threat of crucifixion always looming large.

Paul was a victim of this persecution just as the Corinthians and other Christian Churches were. Taking a stand against the empire was risky. And is still risky today.

There is a metaphor that crops up every now and then that we are ‘all in the same boat’, we are in it together. We are not. The ocean of suffering may be the same. But my boat is not the same as yours. And I can never have the audacity to assume that someone else has what I have. My boat has a whole family in it. I have some resources, maybe a paddle and people to row. While others may be all alone, with a hole in the hull, and no ores.

If I say just paddle faster, we will get there at the same time, that is a lie. If they stop bailing out the water with their hands to try to move forward, they will sink. Someone with an outboard engine will beat us both without problems. Suffering is individual. It is personal and everyone needs something different to feel comforted. There was also corporate community suffering but again we cannot assume what we have is the same as what they have. Some churches had the ability to go virtual, to send food or help out to members, or had the ability to maintain solid communication with members in need, while others did not.

God did not promise that we would never be given too much to handle. God promised that the comfort and grace given would be sufficient in our suffering. We suffer, sometimes more than we can handle, so that we will rely not on ourselves but on God. Paul knew this. He knew that his suffering would continue whether it was imprisonment, the ‘thorn in his side’, or death. God is enough. Grace is enough.

Throughout history men and women have suffered to bring others comfort.

Jesus in jail – Jesus free of sin was persecuted for proclaiming the Kingdom of God and Justice for the oppressed. He was imprisoned, tortured, and crucified. He rose from the dead to continue to teach about God before he ascended into heaven. He sent his Spirit, the Great Comforter. What better peace than salvation and his Spirit to be with us always.

Paul in jail – Paul a simple human called to be a disciple of Christ was also persecuted, put in jail, and later killed for his faith. He was never idle in jail. He wrote letters and worked each time to secure his freedom as well as freedom for his companions. Many of his letters were filled with compassionate pastoral language. His greatest letters are what we have today in our Bible. The time was not spent wallowing in the suffering that he endured. He actively worked to carry out his ministry to the churches throughout. Today we still gain comfort in the pages that he wrote.

Bonhoeffer in jail – Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Theologian during World War II. He was not Jewish. He however saw the injustice that was taking place in Germany as the Jewish people were persecuted and imprisoned in concentration camps. He stood up for them and was imprisoned then later killed for his willingness to speak out about the crimes against the Jewish people. He was also not idle and wrote many letters while in prison expounding upon the wrongs that were taking place. He never backed down or gave up hope even in the face of certain death.

Dr King in jail – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the most prolific leaders for the Civil Rights movement. He spoke often in churches and at rallies to further the cause that all people of all races are equal and deserve equal treatment and rights. He worked to end the suffering of the oppressed black community. He was arrested several times for his protest involvement and was later shot for his bold work.

When Dr. King was in jail in Alabama after a sit in, he wrote a letter titled “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. In the letter he rails against the leaders in the town for criticizing his methods. The criticism was from black clergy, his own people. They questioned his presence in their town and that he promoted badly timed direct action. He starts off letting them know that he was invited, and no time is ever good for the oppressor. He came because “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Dr. King’s death, initiated protests so intense that legislation was finally moved through congress for equal rights.

Dolores Huerta an American labor leader and feminist activist. – Huerta and Cesar Chávez founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), the predecessor of the United Farm Workers’ Union (UFW). She was an instrumental activist that organized workers, negotiated contracts, advocated for safer working conditions including the elimination of harmful pesticides.

Dolores was active in lobbying for laws to improve the lives of farm workers, for decent living conditions, minimum wage regulation, and the ability to collectively bargain for farm workers in the state of California, a first in US history. She also fought for unemployment and healthcare benefits for agricultural workers. She was frequently in jail. But at 95 she still advocates for the working poor, women, and children.

The past five years we have all seen suffering on a global scale as Covid-19 ravaged the world. Racial injustice continues. Wages, inflation, shrinkflation, and other economic issues dominate the news. Political upheaval has felt like a rollercoaster with no real winners. We are swimming in collective trauma. The same ocean with different boats.

From my own individual vantage point. Just after Thanksgiving in 2020, before vaccines were available my family and I all became ill. We quarantined from my parents who live with us. The first week the boys were sick with flu and cold symptoms. Chad and I started to feel sick by in week two. By week three My parents had now fallen ill as we did not quarantine fast enough. We all took turns going to the ER and Hospital.

A friend helped us get clothes to my mom in the hospital. A couple of neighbors from our church offered to drop food off and I gladly accepted. As we ate, I realized that nothing tasted sweeter than that chicken pot pie. It dripped of love and compassion. It helped make our time in quarantine and sickness more bearable. Comfort was given in our time of need. The kindness and care helped us feel like hope was present. We would be OK.

Behind the scenes during the pandemic, in every trip taken to the hospital and ER there were Nurses and doctors, healthcare workers. The tireless heroes of our healthcare system. The pandemic was unbelievably hard on them. It was almost two years of full hospitals and over run ER’s. Two years of rising and falling waves of illness. When hope came in a vaccine, only some took it.

According to a PBS article: “Since Trump took office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported non-U.S. citizens via charter and commercial flights, although the exact number of migrants is unclear. According to data from Witness at the Border, a U.S.-based migrant advocacy group, there have been more than 350 deportation flights since the start of the year.” Concerns from “human rights groups about how migrants are treated upon their arrival in other countries, such as El Salvador, where deportees have been transferred to the country’s notorious mega prison.” The conditions within the prison called The Center for Terrorism Confinement, a CNN article reports: “They do not work. They are not allowed books or a deck of cards or letters from home. Plates of food are stacked outside the cells at mealtimes and pulled through the bars. No meat is ever served. The 30-minute daily respite is merely to leave the cell for the central hallway for group exercise or Bible readings. Inmates are not allowed visits from family or friends and some of them must face the possibility that they will never be released.”

Everyone’s boat is different when we navigate difficult times. During Covid, I had resources like grocery deliveries, friends, and neighbors from church. We were able to get to the hospital for proper care. Right now, many immigrants do not have any legal representation. None were given due process. Not everyone has the resources they need for their situation.

What ways can we show comfort? In order to love our neighbors? For some it’s great and mighty acts for the nation or world that end up in history books. Or using our voice to point out injustice. Or it’s bringing a casserole or some soup to their sick neighbors. Or completing an errand that they cannot do. It made all the difference in the world when it was for me.

Our collective suffering is too much for us to handle on our own. It’s too much. We need God and we need each other. Paul told the Corinthians that the “10 God who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on God we have set our hope…, 11 as you also join in helping us by your prayers. The prayers of many.” The prayers and actions of many bring hope and comfort from God to the suffering. God’s grace is sufficient. Lord of Comfort, help us to act with compassion and be a vessel of your love to our neighbors. Amen.

Bibliography

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Diana Roy, Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/where-trumps-deportations-are-sending-migrants, April 13, 2025.

David Culver and CNN team, https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/17/americas/el-salvador-prison-trump-deportations-gangs-intl-latam/index.html, March 17, 2025.