Mark 13:19

For those days will be a time of distress, the like of which has not occurred from the beginning of God’s creation until now – and never will again.

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suffering
great suffering
greater suffering
even greater suffering
is instructive

each iteration
rises only to fall
for worse does come
until it comes
to die

death and taxes
fade to laughter
before suffering death
with no palliative care
in sight

unseen in our fear
of worser worse
is a large hilarity
never finally overcome
did you forget again

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It seems we are always in the midst of days that have great suffering. Whenever there are those who desire a meaningful life but are not willing to lose any of their property or comfort, there will be those who suffer as a result. Likewise, whenever there are those who desire a meaningful life and are willing to lose both their property and their life to guarantee they are deserving of such, there will be those who suffer as a result.

Both of these contrary actions can lead to suffering. The first is a suffering of self at not experiencing a meaning-full life. The second brings the suffering of others when they don’t measure up to the moral superiority of those able to claim a required “cross”.

Each suffering will have its own quality, never seen before or since.

It is helpful to look again at the comments on 4:28 and 6:43 and the understanding of “Dayenu”—a sense of enough that comes through an assurance of Belovedness and can be carried into every wilderness, including that of death, and back into the lives of others.

Bratcher₄₀₉notes, “Tribulation [great suffering], as a noun describing a process, must be translated often as a verb, e.g. ‘people will suffer’.” It is helpful to always put these universal-tending categories in much smaller units that relate to living humans or some part of their environmental context.

Connecting “Suffering” with “Creation” deserves greater attention. A literal translation of the Greek about the context of suffering is “from [the] beginning of [the] creation which [is] created [by] G*D until now.” This is work for the Reader. Blessings on your work.

[Note: this last paragraph is here because the potential book version of this blog will use the Common English Bible translation and it is much less clear about the reference to Creation. This is a reminder that the scriptures used here are from the online Open English translation which is available for unrestricted and free use.]