18th Sunday After Pentecost 2025

All of us experience suffering in this life. We don’t have to go looking for it. It will find us. There simply is no avoiding pain, distress and hardship. Eventually we die. But we can avoid certain undertakings and activities with the suffering that is unique to them. For instance, I could avoid bull riding in a rodeo to avoid a hard fall and being gored. And yet I still might trip and fall and get hit by a truck. There are sufferings that are unique to being a follower of Jesus Christ. The animosity in the world towards Christ can, and often does, get directed to His followers. And many people may choose to avoid the sufferings that are part of the turf in being a disciple of our Lord. But given the fact that we can’t avoid suffering in general, we need to consider why the Apostle Paul would actually encourage us to share in the sufferings attendant to being a good soldier of Christ Jesus. And in addition to holding up the example of a soldier in our Second Reading, Paul would also have us consider an athlete and a farmer.