WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.740 The scripture reading comes from Psalm 22, starting at verse 1. 00:00:07.419 --> 00:00:09.980 Please follow along on the screen or in your Bible. 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:15.220 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:19.460 Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? 00:00:20.500 --> 00:00:24.539 Oh, my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, 00:00:25.080 --> 00:00:27.420 and by night, but I find no rest. 00:00:27.420 --> 00:00:31.840 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:36.600 In you our fathers trusted, they trusted, and you delivered them. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:39.960 To you they cried and were rescued. 00:00:40.859 --> 00:00:43.500 In you they trusted and were not put to shame. 00:00:45.040 --> 00:00:50.180 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:52.480 All who see me mock me. 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:55.200 They make mouth at me, they wag their heads. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:01.380 He trusts in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him. 00:01:02.720 --> 00:01:07.579 Yet you are he who took me from the womb, you made me trust you at the mother's breast. 00:01:08.900 --> 00:01:13.600 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God. 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:18.800 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:21.560 Many bulls encompass me. 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:27.840 Strong bulls of Bishan surround me, they open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and rolling lion. 00:01:29.679 --> 00:01:33.780 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. 00:01:34.679 --> 00:01:38.060 My heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast. 00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:44.019 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws. 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:46.040 You lay me in the dust of death. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:48.960 For dogs encompass me. 00:01:50.180 --> 00:01:52.680 A company of evildoers encircles me. 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:54.379 They have pierced my hands and feet. 00:01:54.780 --> 00:01:56.340 I can count all my bones. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:01:58.939 They stare and gloat over me. 00:01:59.500 --> 00:02:03.540 They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 00:02:03.540 --> 00:02:06.880 But you, O Lord, do not be far off. 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:10.080 O you may help, come quickly to my aid. 00:02:10.939 --> 00:02:16.060 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. 00:02:16.920 --> 00:02:18.760 Save me from the mouth of the lion. 00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:22.280 You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen. 00:02:23.259 --> 00:02:27.319 I will tell you of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. 00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:29.060 I will praise you. 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:31.659 You who fear the Lord, praise him. 00:02:31.659 --> 00:02:34.780 All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him. 00:02:35.299 --> 00:02:38.759 And stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:44.039 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, 00:02:44.139 --> 00:02:48.859 and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him. 00:02:50.019 --> 00:02:52.719 From you comes my praise in the great congregation. 00:02:53.019 --> 00:02:55.759 My vows I will perform before those who fear him. 00:02:56.460 --> 00:02:59.120 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.980 Those who seek him shall praise the Lord. 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:04.099 May your hearts live forever. 00:03:04.420 --> 00:03:04.900 Amen. 00:03:08.980 --> 00:03:11.159 Great. Thank you so much, Christina. 00:03:12.099 --> 00:03:14.020 Welcome to all of you. 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:16.099 Again, my name is Chris. 00:03:16.099 --> 00:03:23.120 I'm one of the leaders here at Watermark, and it's just really exciting to bring God's word to you this morning 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:29.419 as we carry on this series of looking at why Christianity, the big questions of faith, 00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:32.479 and how does Christianity deal with some of these questions. 00:03:32.659 --> 00:03:36.359 And we're looking at a big question today, the question of suffering. 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:42.760 And so, I don't know about you, but it has been a crazy year. 00:03:43.340 --> 00:03:51.680 The world has, in the midst of what seems to be the most affluent, the safest, the most stable time in the whole of human history, 00:03:52.160 --> 00:03:57.820 we've been hit by the reality of suffering again and again and again from every angle. 00:03:58.200 --> 00:04:00.780 We've got COVID and the global pandemic. 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.260 There are refugees fleeing everywhere. 00:04:03.259 --> 00:04:04.719 There is human rights abuses. 00:04:04.859 --> 00:04:05.899 There's sex trafficking. 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:07.539 There is typhoons. 00:04:07.679 --> 00:04:08.500 There is earthquakes. 00:04:08.899 --> 00:04:13.799 There is so much in the world that we have to say, what's going on? 00:04:14.699 --> 00:04:19.360 And even if you look at just back a few years into the 20th century, 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:23.199 you'll see nothing much has changed in that aspect. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:29.120 A guy called Eli Wiesel, who is a Jewish Nobel Prize winner, 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:34.040 he spent 13 months in a Nazi concentration camp. 00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:38.120 And he saw his mother and his younger sister brutally murdered. 00:04:38.899 --> 00:04:39.860 And he said this, 00:04:39.860 --> 00:05:03.220 For some people, the question of suffering consumes their faith. 00:05:03.220 --> 00:05:06.500 For others, it turns them to faith. 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:12.540 But the question still remains, if there is a God and he's good, 00:05:12.640 --> 00:05:17.360 why on earth does he allow all of this suffering to take place? 00:05:18.020 --> 00:05:21.100 For some of us, that's actually an intellectual question. 00:05:21.960 --> 00:05:25.620 But for many of us, it's actually like Eli Wiesel. 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:27.400 It's a very personal question. 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:30.159 And it's a very personal question for me. 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:38.259 My mother, she got arthritis in her hips and she suffered in agony 00:05:38.259 --> 00:05:43.719 while the surgeon who did her first hip operation messed it up completely, 00:05:43.879 --> 00:05:49.419 leaving her in such pain that she needed two subsequent operations just to fix it. 00:05:50.199 --> 00:05:55.599 My dad has had Crohn's disease, meaning half his colon had to be cut out 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:58.580 and he suffered from that and had a stroke last year. 00:05:59.140 --> 00:06:03.220 Myself, when I was 10, I got an illness which meant that I had to leave school 00:06:03.220 --> 00:06:06.140 and I didn't do a full day schooling until I was 16. 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:09.200 And I missed out on all kinds of opportunities. 00:06:09.840 --> 00:06:13.180 When I was at university, I had four years out from a severe depression. 00:06:13.640 --> 00:06:20.460 And in the midst of that, we watched my brother eaten away and dying from brain cancer. 00:06:20.459 --> 00:06:26.319 And if I was to look at that, I still look at my friends and I say, 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:29.899 my suffering has not been anything compared to a lot of people I know. 00:06:30.359 --> 00:06:35.060 I've got another friend that he is a Cameroonian. 00:06:36.039 --> 00:06:40.139 And he fled, he was tortured and he fled to the UK. 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:44.919 The last time he saw his pregnant wife, she was being beaten and kicked on the ground 00:06:44.919 --> 00:06:46.740 by government forces. 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:48.319 He's never seen her since. 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:51.319 How do we make sense of these things? 00:06:51.659 --> 00:06:56.680 How do we make sense of the picture I saw last week of a two-year-old girl 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:01.060 who has a head so swollen and deformed by brain cancer 00:07:01.060 --> 00:07:04.300 and her parents are too poor to be able to afford any operation? 00:07:04.699 --> 00:07:06.539 How do we make sense of this? 00:07:07.259 --> 00:07:09.240 And we could just go on and on and on. 00:07:10.459 --> 00:07:16.519 And for some of us though, we haven't really suffered seriously yet in our lives. 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:20.419 But the fact is, if you live long enough, you will. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:23.199 So this is a question for all of us. 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:25.779 And suffering isn't just major things. 00:07:27.019 --> 00:07:32.639 Elizabeth Elliot, who is an author, she defines suffering as having what you don't want 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:34.839 and wanting what you don't have. 00:07:35.339 --> 00:07:35.479 Okay? 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:37.839 Having what you don't want and wanting what you don't have. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:43.519 That covers everything from cancer to a flat tire to losing your job. 00:07:44.259 --> 00:07:51.299 Suffering is when our illusions of heaven on earth get shattered by life itself. 00:07:51.300 --> 00:07:57.879 And as we think about suffering, some suffering is self-inflicted. 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:00.300 Some is inflicted by other people. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:04.180 Some is just by nature with earthquakes and drought. 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:09.340 But some, and a lot of the suffering, just seems unfair. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:11.980 And we just don't know why it happens. 00:08:12.080 --> 00:08:15.120 And that's what I want to focus on today. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:25.540 You see, the psalm that we just read is a psalm written by someone for whom the suffering he's going through doesn't make sense. 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:28.620 Right now, he's suffering rejection. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.679 He says, I'm scorned by mankind. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:34.340 I'm despised by people. 00:08:34.560 --> 00:08:35.799 There's no one to help me. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:38.539 He's got physical suffering. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:40.379 He says, all my bones are out of joint. 00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:43.399 He's got emotional and psychological suffering. 00:08:43.399 --> 00:08:46.740 He says, my heart is like wax melting within me. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:49.379 He's suffering abuse and injustice. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:52.179 A company of evildoers encircles me. 00:08:52.439 --> 00:08:54.519 They've pierced my hands and my feet. 00:08:55.399 --> 00:08:59.639 This guy is just being hit from every single angle. 00:08:59.899 --> 00:09:01.199 And he's a good guy. 00:09:01.579 --> 00:09:06.360 And he believes in a good God who is powerful enough to deliver him and rescue him. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:07.539 But he hasn't. 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:12.039 And his absence seems to make the whole thing even worse. 00:09:12.039 --> 00:09:13.860 He just doesn't get it. 00:09:14.939 --> 00:09:22.919 And when we experience suffering and pain, don't we just ask questions like, why me? 00:09:23.379 --> 00:09:24.399 What have I done? 00:09:24.939 --> 00:09:30.899 Or if it's a loved one or a child who's suffering, we may go, why not me? 00:09:31.099 --> 00:09:32.000 Why them? 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:33.000 Why? 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:34.000 Why? 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.299 The psalmist here does the same. 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:44.679 He says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken, abandoned me? 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:46.980 Why are you silent? 00:09:47.100 --> 00:09:49.940 I've prayed and I've got nothing back. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:52.019 This is real. 00:09:53.460 --> 00:09:56.019 And maybe it's because there just isn't a God. 00:09:56.019 --> 00:10:00.360 Or maybe he's just not powerful enough to change things. 00:10:00.740 --> 00:10:03.600 Or maybe even worse, he's there. 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:04.399 He's powerful. 00:10:04.659 --> 00:10:06.039 But he doesn't really care. 00:10:06.500 --> 00:10:08.539 He doesn't really love us. 00:10:08.579 --> 00:10:09.539 He isn't good. 00:10:10.620 --> 00:10:13.079 And it doesn't matter what your belief is. 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:19.079 This why question is a question every single one of us has to answer. 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:25.759 And so many religions and many points of view have got different responses to this. 00:10:25.820 --> 00:10:31.259 And so I want to look at three different responses to this question of why suffering? 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:36.780 The first response sees suffering as punishment. 00:10:37.280 --> 00:10:38.240 It's karma. 00:10:38.800 --> 00:10:48.560 It's because something you did in your previous life or in this life has led to now you getting what you deserve in punishment. 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:55.080 I know of a guy whose daughter was crashed her car into a tree and just died. 00:10:55.620 --> 00:10:58.240 And there was no apparent reason for the crash. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:06.160 And the father saw this as punishment from God or from fate for the fact that he'd been having numerous affairs. 00:11:07.020 --> 00:11:16.020 It seemed to make sense to him of the randomness of why his daughter, who seemed to be a good person, seemed to suffer. 00:11:16.019 --> 00:11:24.100 And why some good people suffered terribly, why other people seemed to have a good life, even though they seemed to be bad people. 00:11:25.860 --> 00:11:34.919 This response, suffering as punishment, says to that two-year-old with cancer, she deserves it in some way. 00:11:35.579 --> 00:11:39.159 It's an explanation, but it doesn't give you much comfort. 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:43.419 Then there's not so suffering as punishment, there's suffering as illusion. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:52.179 Buddhism, the Buddha saw suffering as caused by our desires because we get too attached to things in life. 00:11:52.939 --> 00:11:57.639 See, what makes losing a job so hard is my desire to keep the job. 00:11:57.740 --> 00:12:02.439 What makes losing a loved one so hard is my attachment to them. 00:12:02.440 --> 00:12:08.440 So the solution is to detach from them in some way, from that desire. 00:12:08.700 --> 00:12:15.920 Because life is like dew, a watery substance, water drops that just appear and then disappear. 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:18.460 There's no substance to them, really. 00:12:18.980 --> 00:12:21.940 So don't get overattached to things that will disappear tomorrow. 00:12:21.940 --> 00:12:32.180 But the famous Buddhist-Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa, who wrote over 20,000 haiku poems, 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:37.300 after the death of his infant daughter, he said this, he wrote this, 00:12:37.940 --> 00:12:45.720 This world of dew is only a world of dew, and yet, and yet. 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:58.060 You see, what he felt and he experienced was, can a father, a mother, truly detach themselves from their child? 00:12:58.440 --> 00:13:05.180 How do you love by holding yourself at a distance and withdrawing from the pain of it? 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:09.060 So suffering is punishment, suffering is illusion. 00:13:09.460 --> 00:13:12.040 Suffering as natural is another response. 00:13:12.160 --> 00:13:14.840 This is a response of maybe atheism or an agnostic. 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:16.820 Suffering is just part of life. 00:13:17.399 --> 00:13:19.460 There's no higher meaning, no higher purpose. 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:23.060 You just have to create your own meaning out of it. 00:13:23.620 --> 00:13:26.300 As famous atheist Richard Dawkins said, 00:13:26.800 --> 00:13:32.379 Our universe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at bottom no design, 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:38.060 no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference. 00:13:39.460 --> 00:13:41.160 So life is just a challenge. 00:13:41.280 --> 00:13:43.300 What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. 00:13:43.299 --> 00:13:51.699 But ultimately, people with this position believe suffering and their response to it is on our shoulders. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.639 And humanists will argue this is what motivates us to make the world a better place. 00:13:56.859 --> 00:13:58.359 To fight against disease. 00:13:58.919 --> 00:14:00.959 To maybe help that two-year-old girl. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:04.679 Or fight against injustice in the world. 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:09.959 Because it's up to us to make this little time we have on earth that much better. 00:14:11.079 --> 00:14:17.000 But you know, I went out with some friends to clear up some rubbish on a beach in Chung Chao. 00:14:17.620 --> 00:14:20.419 And we, at the end of the day, we'd done a pretty good job. 00:14:20.500 --> 00:14:21.259 We cleared everything. 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:22.759 We felt very satisfied. 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:24.100 We got back on the boat. 00:14:24.259 --> 00:14:26.840 And just as we were about to leave, I turned around. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:32.059 Only to see that the tide was just washing more and more rubbish in. 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:36.159 In a few minutes, all of our work would have been in vain. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:45.159 You see, if suffering is just the reality of a meaningless that we have to create our own meaning. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:47.600 You might make life better for a few people. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:50.879 But ultimately, it's worthless and pointless. 00:14:51.539 --> 00:14:59.139 That's why secular NGO workers are known to have high levels of alcoholism and depression. 00:14:59.139 --> 00:15:07.080 Because ultimately, if suffering is natural, you're just fighting against existence itself. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:11.439 And you've got to live in some kind of denial to reality. 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:17.539 To even claim and even say, get angry and say, that's not right at injustice. 00:15:19.059 --> 00:15:23.899 Those are some of the responses that other philosophies give us. 00:15:24.519 --> 00:15:28.679 But I want to look now at what Christianity says in this. 00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:34.439 And Christians, I cannot give a full answer to this. 00:15:34.699 --> 00:15:39.279 Christians don't have a simplistic cookie cutter answer to all suffering. 00:15:39.839 --> 00:15:41.679 I could talk about the problem of evil. 00:15:41.819 --> 00:15:42.959 We could talk about justice. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:45.039 We could talk about the redemptive nature of suffering. 00:15:45.259 --> 00:15:46.659 I don't have time for all of that. 00:15:46.899 --> 00:15:48.599 But I want to focus on three things. 00:15:49.339 --> 00:15:53.559 I want to focus on how Christianity gives us a reason and a place to question. 00:15:53.959 --> 00:15:56.000 How it gives us a reason to trust. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:58.840 And how it gives us a reason to hope. 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:02.919 So here's a reason to question. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:04.500 And a place to question. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:12.879 You see, the question of why a good God allows suffering doesn't catch the Bible by surprise. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:17.019 It's a question the Bible itself asks. 00:16:17.379 --> 00:16:18.399 It's not avoiding it. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:19.580 It's not denying it. 00:16:19.580 --> 00:16:27.700 The reason this, why have you forsaken me prayer is in the Bible is to validate it as a response. 00:16:28.900 --> 00:16:37.139 God himself in bringing this passage to us is inviting us to approach him with our questions. 00:16:37.139 --> 00:16:46.199 And in our questioning, what we're looking at suffering and we're looking it in the eye and we're saying, that's not right. 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:57.240 You know, the Bible here says we should be angry and weep at suffering. 00:16:57.240 --> 00:16:59.919 One Bible verse says this. 00:17:00.460 --> 00:17:03.399 All of creation is groaning. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:11.160 And this man's angry, confused cry is like that of the two-year-old's mother. 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:16.620 It's a reflection of a world that is groaning and it's not the way it should be. 00:17:16.819 --> 00:17:17.440 But why? 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:25.860 In John's gospel, Jesus goes to the graveside of one of his best friends, Lazarus. 00:17:26.420 --> 00:17:27.700 He's just died. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:32.120 And previously he said, hey, I'm going to raise him from the dead. 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:42.380 But as he gets there and he sees the weeping of the people around it, it says he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 00:17:42.380 --> 00:17:47.820 And that word deeply troubled is a word which means he was furious. 00:17:48.980 --> 00:17:51.360 He was furious and then he wept. 00:17:52.740 --> 00:17:55.780 You see, commentators tell us, like, why is he angry? 00:17:56.340 --> 00:18:00.380 Like, if he knows he's going to raise him from the dead, why not just say, hey, chill out, guys. 00:18:00.420 --> 00:18:01.140 It's fine. 00:18:01.300 --> 00:18:02.280 He doesn't do that. 00:18:02.740 --> 00:18:10.260 Commentators tell us he's angry and grieved because he's looking death in the face and says, you are an intruder. 00:18:10.259 --> 00:18:12.619 You don't belong here. 00:18:12.900 --> 00:18:15.700 This is not the good world that I made. 00:18:17.220 --> 00:18:31.019 Evil and suffering are in the world because they don't come from God, but are as a result of humans rejecting God's good world and good rule and wanting to rule the world ourselves. 00:18:31.019 --> 00:18:44.879 You know, a diver who cuts their oxygen supply should not be surprised when the beautiful water they swim in becomes a painful and deadly experience. 00:18:45.619 --> 00:18:58.960 When God is our oxygen, when we cut him out of our lives, then everything, even the beauty of the world, becomes tainted by pain and death and injustice. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:09.440 And so one reason that God allows suffering in the world to continue is that suffering is like physical pain. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:19.100 In C.S. Lewis's words, it's a megaphone to wake up a deaf world to the fact that we have a problem. 00:19:19.099 --> 00:19:25.319 And the world is not right because we are not right with God. 00:19:25.819 --> 00:19:29.439 And you can see the consequences of that in our relationships everywhere. 00:19:30.199 --> 00:19:35.039 And our anger and our confusion and our weeping is simply facing that reality. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.639 Writer Malcolm Muggeridge, he said this, he said, 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:44.020 Supposing you eliminate suffering, what a dreadful place the world would be. 00:19:44.460 --> 00:19:52.740 Because everything that corrects the tendency of this man to feel over-important, over-pleased with himself would disappear. 00:19:53.360 --> 00:19:58.759 He's bad enough now, but he would be absolutely intolerable if he never suffered. 00:19:59.700 --> 00:20:06.900 Didn't the 2008 global financial crisis show us that greed isn't good, even though we believed it was? 00:20:06.900 --> 00:20:15.900 Maybe hasn't COVID woken us up to the fact that we are not in control of our world, even though we believe often that we are? 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:25.720 And the question is, with the pain and with the anger, do we hear the megaphone saying, there's a problem? 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:29.519 And then with that, where do you run to? 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:36.299 Because the Bible doesn't just give you a reason to question, it gives you a place to question. 00:20:37.180 --> 00:20:38.599 Where do you cry to? 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:43.480 Where's your oxygen when you feel the reality of pain? 00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:47.740 You can go to your family, you can go to your friends, you can go to a counselor. 00:20:48.900 --> 00:20:51.379 But so often, they don't even get you. 00:20:52.339 --> 00:20:56.579 And what about the refugee who has no one left to turn to? 00:20:56.579 --> 00:21:04.119 Psalm 22 is written to call us back, to cry to God who hears our pain. 00:21:05.699 --> 00:21:07.799 And we can be honest with him. 00:21:08.119 --> 00:21:09.480 We can approach him. 00:21:10.059 --> 00:21:17.199 We have license to be angry and to say, this is not right, because life is not right, because we are not right with God. 00:21:17.399 --> 00:21:20.559 But God invites us to bring that question to him. 00:21:20.659 --> 00:21:21.399 That's the first thing. 00:21:21.460 --> 00:21:24.039 It brings us a reason to question. 00:21:24.039 --> 00:21:28.539 The second thing Christianity gives us is a reason to trust. 00:21:30.099 --> 00:21:32.039 You see, you could say, that's all very well. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:34.940 But God could still fix it, couldn't he? 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:44.539 Why would we, like the psalmist, run to God if we feel like he's just allowing our lives to be miserable in some way? 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:48.119 We often run from cruelty, not towards it. 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:50.139 But the Christian faith says this. 00:21:51.239 --> 00:21:54.559 We don't know all the reasons why God allows suffering. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:57.139 Because we are human. 00:21:57.579 --> 00:21:58.500 We are limited. 00:21:59.219 --> 00:22:00.419 We don't get everything. 00:22:01.439 --> 00:22:04.979 But that doesn't mean there isn't a good reason for it. 00:22:04.980 --> 00:22:16.180 You see, when my one-year-old screamed in pain as I held him down and allowed him to be stabbed three times by a stranger. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:21.480 How could I, as a loving father, allow this to happen to him? 00:22:21.860 --> 00:22:23.360 He couldn't understand. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:27.459 But I, as an adult, see a bigger picture. 00:22:28.659 --> 00:22:35.539 You see, I see that the vaccinations that he was having might just save his life or those of others later on. 00:22:36.659 --> 00:22:42.939 What to him feels like hideous cruelty with a different perspective looks like love. 00:22:42.940 --> 00:22:50.980 And when the needles of suffering in our lives enter into our lives or the lives of other people and those we love around us, 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:53.519 often it doesn't look like love to us. 00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:55.740 Often it doesn't feel like love. 00:22:56.600 --> 00:23:07.180 But like the son, like my son, the only way that Christians can hold the truth and reality of suffering together with the truth of God's love 00:23:07.420 --> 00:23:12.360 is not with some neat logical answer and just go, oh, this is the reason why. 00:23:12.940 --> 00:23:18.019 No, it's by knowing the character of our heavenly father. 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:25.420 You see, if my son knows that I love him to bits, then he's willing to humbly trust me with things he doesn't totally understand. 00:23:26.340 --> 00:23:29.380 But why should we trust God? 00:23:30.360 --> 00:23:39.259 Because like in no other religion, no other philosophy, our God also has wounds. 00:23:39.259 --> 00:23:44.180 Because the psalmist describes, he says, evil doers are surrounding him. 00:23:44.420 --> 00:23:45.980 They're piercing his hands and feet. 00:23:46.259 --> 00:23:48.720 He says, they cast lots for my clothes. 00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:49.859 He's on his own. 00:23:50.099 --> 00:23:50.960 God seems absent. 00:23:51.099 --> 00:23:51.960 The crowds mock. 00:23:52.059 --> 00:23:53.420 He trusts in the Lord. 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:55.379 Let him deliver him. 00:23:56.740 --> 00:24:01.240 His enemies think God is a genie who blesses good people and curses bad people. 00:24:01.240 --> 00:24:07.120 And since God hasn't rescued him, then clearly his suffering must be punishment for his sins. 00:24:08.059 --> 00:24:14.200 But over a thousand years later, it was a Friday on a hill outside of Jerusalem. 00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:23.840 The same violence, the same mocking, the same piercing of hands and feet on a cross would take place. 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:28.039 Jesus' garments were cast by lots. 00:24:28.220 --> 00:24:30.279 The soldiers cast lots. 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:31.620 He was mocked. 00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:36.000 But this time, it was not just the psalmist. 00:24:36.080 --> 00:24:37.279 This was Jesus Christ. 00:24:37.539 --> 00:24:40.039 God come down to earth. 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:42.539 He was totally sinless. 00:24:42.539 --> 00:24:44.899 It was totally undeserved. 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:47.339 His followers couldn't make sense of it. 00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:54.879 Jesus, though himself, takes the prayer of Psalm 22 and he makes it his own. 00:24:55.180 --> 00:25:00.000 And he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:02.259 Tragedy. 00:25:02.500 --> 00:25:03.639 A sinless man. 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:05.279 Wrongly executed. 00:25:06.659 --> 00:25:08.639 But with a different perspective. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:13.680 The greatest self-sacrificing love the world has ever known. 00:25:14.900 --> 00:25:23.040 And he suffered for you and for me to draw us to himself so that we could know his love. 00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:25.120 He didn't stay distant from us. 00:25:25.320 --> 00:25:27.360 He didn't say just tough it out by yourselves. 00:25:27.500 --> 00:25:29.040 He entered into our suffering. 00:25:29.380 --> 00:25:31.160 He identifies with our suffering. 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:34.340 And ultimately, so he can draw us out of our suffering. 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:38.700 His suffering is not a sign of the absence of God's love. 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:42.680 It's a sign of God's presence with us in suffering. 00:25:43.480 --> 00:25:44.600 He understands. 00:25:45.840 --> 00:25:49.460 You know, when my brother died, the next day I went to the church service. 00:25:49.580 --> 00:25:50.120 I was numb. 00:25:50.740 --> 00:25:51.620 Why had it happened? 00:25:51.860 --> 00:25:52.779 He was 26. 00:25:53.400 --> 00:25:55.920 He had his full life ahead of him. 00:25:55.920 --> 00:26:05.100 But then, as I was numb, this verse from the scripture from Isaiah 53 came to me. 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:12.039 It said, he, Jesus, was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. 00:26:13.019 --> 00:26:17.039 And you see, at that moment, I had peace. 00:26:18.100 --> 00:26:21.640 Because I didn't need an answer at that moment. 00:26:21.740 --> 00:26:23.240 I needed an answerer. 00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:28.500 I needed to know that I was not alone, that someone was with me. 00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:32.799 That someone was with me who understood what this was like. 00:26:33.299 --> 00:26:36.519 You know, in suffering, what we need is compassion. 00:26:37.259 --> 00:26:39.880 The word compassion means to suffer with. 00:26:39.980 --> 00:26:41.740 Come with, passion, suffer. 00:26:42.099 --> 00:26:43.680 We need compassion. 00:26:44.620 --> 00:26:46.640 Human compassion is good. 00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:50.940 But it's not enough when people don't understand what you're going through. 00:26:50.940 --> 00:26:56.440 But at the heart of the Christian message is there is one who understands what you're going through. 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:01.700 Exactly because he's been through it and worse for you. 00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:06.380 You see, God has wounds. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:09.059 God has wounds. 00:27:09.380 --> 00:27:11.279 We don't all see the bigger picture. 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:26.539 But God, if God hasn't remained at a distance from us, if God has entered our suffering for us, then whatever reasons he has for allowing suffering, we know those reasons aren't because he doesn't love us. 00:27:26.940 --> 00:27:29.319 Because he would never have come to us like that. 00:27:29.819 --> 00:27:31.359 There is no greater love. 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:32.799 That's why we can trust him. 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:37.779 You know, Luke Ferry, atheist, philosopher, and politician said, 00:27:38.460 --> 00:27:45.220 Christianity changed the world because it made the impersonal nature of suffering personal. 00:27:46.139 --> 00:27:50.180 He said it brought us a person in the pain, not just a logical answer. 00:27:50.740 --> 00:27:52.480 It brought us God himself. 00:27:53.940 --> 00:27:57.740 That's the reason we can run to God with our questions. 00:27:57.740 --> 00:28:02.359 But we can also have a reason to trust him because he's entered our suffering. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:06.319 And thirdly, and finally, we have a reason to hope. 00:28:10.019 --> 00:28:12.599 You see, even with all of that, 00:28:13.779 --> 00:28:20.759 if we are still doomed to a continual existence of suffering, 00:28:20.759 --> 00:28:24.859 if we are continually going to die, 00:28:25.099 --> 00:28:27.619 then ultimately life is still all meaningless. 00:28:28.519 --> 00:28:31.319 Because death is the ultimate form of suffering. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:33.259 It's the end. 00:28:34.220 --> 00:28:35.980 But you see in this psalm, 00:28:36.180 --> 00:28:43.079 the journey of the psalmist takes him from despair to praise and hope. 00:28:44.460 --> 00:28:45.879 You see, he says in verse 26, 00:28:45.880 --> 00:28:59.360 You know, I have sat at the deathbed of a number of people with their non-believing relatives 00:28:59.360 --> 00:29:03.180 who always turn to me and they say things like, 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:05.660 he'll be in a better place, won't he? 00:29:06.360 --> 00:29:09.360 Or they'll say, I know she's still with us. 00:29:09.420 --> 00:29:10.460 She's kind of with us still. 00:29:10.660 --> 00:29:12.060 She lives on in our memories. 00:29:12.760 --> 00:29:14.240 It's the same, isn't it? 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:17.319 And I wish that was true. 00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:20.680 But the problem is, 00:29:21.079 --> 00:29:25.279 the reason death and loss of any kind is so painful 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:29.039 is because the people are not still with us. 00:29:29.980 --> 00:29:33.720 It's because your memories are not the same 00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:36.380 as having the real person with you. 00:29:36.380 --> 00:29:44.420 And the reason why it hurts is because suffering is so painful. 00:29:45.940 --> 00:29:49.500 And so why then do people who've lived their whole lives 00:29:49.500 --> 00:29:53.940 without any regard for anything beyond this life, 00:29:54.500 --> 00:29:58.740 do they have their own worldview so inadequate at the moment they face death 00:29:58.740 --> 00:30:02.460 that they have to borrow and find hope from somewhere else, 00:30:02.460 --> 00:30:03.740 from some other worldview? 00:30:03.740 --> 00:30:07.200 Luke Ferry again says, 00:30:07.299 --> 00:30:09.500 if when we die we simply cease to exist, 00:30:09.700 --> 00:30:12.079 there is no reason to dread death at all. 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:14.559 But we do dread death. 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:17.460 But we do fear losing our loved ones. 00:30:18.299 --> 00:30:21.980 Viktor Frankl, who's one of the most famous psychologists of the 20th century, 00:30:22.180 --> 00:30:25.620 he was imprisoned for three years in Nazi concentration camps. 00:30:25.980 --> 00:30:29.440 And he analyzed who were the people who survived the longest. 00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:31.039 And do you know what he found? 00:30:31.340 --> 00:30:36.559 He found it wasn't the strong looking or the self-confident who managed to make it. 00:30:36.600 --> 00:30:37.820 They often died the first. 00:30:38.620 --> 00:30:41.220 The people who survived, those who lived longest, 00:30:41.320 --> 00:30:44.180 were those who had hope outside of the camp. 00:30:45.140 --> 00:30:48.680 That's what got them through whatever they faced right now. 00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:54.259 If all your meaning and purpose in life is found in this world, 00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:58.519 then suffering can snatch it away at any moment. 00:30:59.060 --> 00:31:03.640 But as Christians, we have a hope that is beyond this world. 00:31:04.140 --> 00:31:08.060 It's not an airy, fairy, kind of vague kind of hope. 00:31:08.340 --> 00:31:10.580 Wishful thinking will be in a better place. 00:31:10.579 --> 00:31:14.679 It's a Christian hope that is grounded in a historical reality, 00:31:14.819 --> 00:31:16.159 the resurrection of Jesus. 00:31:17.899 --> 00:31:22.419 For the Christian message is not that God just entered into our suffering. 00:31:22.759 --> 00:31:26.439 It's that he's also risen victorious and defeated death 00:31:26.439 --> 00:31:29.220 and been victorious over our suffering. 00:31:30.460 --> 00:31:31.460 Death is defeated. 00:31:31.639 --> 00:31:32.679 It's not the end. 00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:37.820 The Bible says Jesus' resurrection is the guarantee 00:31:37.820 --> 00:31:43.560 that God will transform our suffering world into a new world. 00:31:44.539 --> 00:31:46.680 The book of Revelation says there will be no more mourning. 00:31:47.220 --> 00:31:48.539 There will be no more tears. 00:31:48.860 --> 00:31:50.140 There will be no more pain. 00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:52.480 The old will be wiped away. 00:31:52.580 --> 00:31:53.759 The new will come. 00:31:54.320 --> 00:31:56.580 This won't be just kind of floating on the clouds. 00:31:56.580 --> 00:32:00.900 This will be everything of the joys that we experience now 00:32:00.900 --> 00:32:02.840 just in full multicolor. 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:07.500 And everyone who trusts in Jesus will experience this. 00:32:08.259 --> 00:32:10.380 And at the center of this world 00:32:10.380 --> 00:32:14.259 is a creation worshiping and praising God, 00:32:14.460 --> 00:32:17.920 not as an evil tyrant for allowing us to suffer, 00:32:18.060 --> 00:32:21.920 but praising the Jesus whose wounds are still visible. 00:32:22.560 --> 00:32:24.060 But they're no longer ugly, 00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:26.420 but they are beautiful scars. 00:32:27.080 --> 00:32:29.500 They're the means by which God is healing 00:32:29.500 --> 00:32:31.220 and restoring our broken world. 00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:34.059 And he wants to start with us today. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:38.539 You know, like a war hero returning scarred from the battlefield. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:41.279 Oh, the battlefield can feel hard. 00:32:41.660 --> 00:32:43.440 We don't always understand it. 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:44.819 But when we look back, 00:32:44.900 --> 00:32:48.099 we will see that the wounds that Jesus went through 00:32:48.099 --> 00:32:51.400 and our wounds were weaving a bigger story, 00:32:51.559 --> 00:32:52.859 a more beautiful story, 00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:54.500 that our human perspective, 00:32:54.839 --> 00:32:56.799 we couldn't comprehend at the time. 00:32:56.799 --> 00:32:59.960 On the night my brother died, 00:33:00.859 --> 00:33:03.379 I stood with my parents weeping. 00:33:04.379 --> 00:33:06.039 We felt the loss. 00:33:07.220 --> 00:33:08.119 Death hurts. 00:33:09.460 --> 00:33:13.079 But we also had incredible joy. 00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:14.919 There was no despair. 00:33:15.619 --> 00:33:19.700 My parents thanked God for the gift of my brother, 00:33:20.379 --> 00:33:23.859 that God had given us 26 years with him. 00:33:23.859 --> 00:33:26.019 We were not entitled to that. 00:33:26.259 --> 00:33:27.779 We didn't deserve that. 00:33:27.919 --> 00:33:31.919 But a good God had blessed us with 26 years. 00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:34.699 And only as he was removed did we realize 00:33:34.699 --> 00:33:36.759 how much God had given us. 00:33:37.419 --> 00:33:39.419 I don't know why God took him. 00:33:40.539 --> 00:33:43.359 But we have a confident hope 00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:46.179 that because of Jesus' resurrection, 00:33:47.079 --> 00:33:48.959 we're going to be reunited with him. 00:33:49.019 --> 00:33:50.119 We're going to see him again. 00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:54.879 And so right now with whatever you're going through, 00:33:55.039 --> 00:33:56.859 maybe you're struggling, 00:33:57.439 --> 00:33:58.259 maybe you're going, 00:33:58.439 --> 00:33:58.719 why? 00:33:59.439 --> 00:34:01.219 There's a place for you to run to. 00:34:01.699 --> 00:34:03.819 And there's a reason for you to run there. 00:34:05.179 --> 00:34:06.679 Because there's a God 00:34:06.679 --> 00:34:09.319 who has entered into our suffering, 00:34:09.739 --> 00:34:11.359 who wants to be with you 00:34:11.359 --> 00:34:12.839 in whatever you're going through, 00:34:13.159 --> 00:34:15.119 and who says there is not a despair 00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:16.900 in life right now, 00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:18.739 which is where everyone else is, 00:34:18.739 --> 00:34:20.519 but there is a hope, 00:34:20.979 --> 00:34:22.759 a sure and certain hope, 00:34:23.099 --> 00:34:25.239 because Jesus has risen from the dead 00:34:25.239 --> 00:34:27.959 and he will create a new world. 00:34:28.279 --> 00:34:30.239 We don't need to clutch onto vague, 00:34:30.459 --> 00:34:31.500 inconsistent hope. 00:34:31.739 --> 00:34:33.719 We don't need to live in fear of death 00:34:33.719 --> 00:34:35.119 or avoid it 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:37.519 because we can stand 00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:40.619 because Jesus has already done it for us. 00:34:40.619 --> 00:34:43.159 I want to just pray. 00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:47.079 And wherever you are, 00:34:48.460 --> 00:34:52.920 I want you just to approach God right now. 00:34:54.179 --> 00:34:55.599 Maybe you are not a Christian. 00:34:56.679 --> 00:34:58.480 Maybe you still have a lot of questions. 00:34:59.960 --> 00:35:02.259 I want to invite you to actually run 00:35:02.259 --> 00:35:05.359 to the God who invites you 00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:06.800 to run to him 00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:07.880 with all your questions. 00:35:12.120 --> 00:35:14.559 Maybe you feel alone. 00:35:15.380 --> 00:35:16.260 Maybe you feel, 00:35:16.599 --> 00:35:17.200 you wonder 00:35:17.200 --> 00:35:19.360 whether life is worth living. 00:35:21.120 --> 00:35:22.559 The gospel tells you 00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:23.480 there is hope 00:35:23.480 --> 00:35:25.640 because there is one 00:35:25.640 --> 00:35:27.019 who wants to walk with you 00:35:27.019 --> 00:35:28.960 and one who's going to bring you 00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:29.680 through the valley 00:35:29.680 --> 00:35:30.720 to the other side. 00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:35.879 Some of us may be actually 00:35:35.879 --> 00:35:37.179 indifferent to suffering 00:35:37.179 --> 00:35:39.919 because actually your life 00:35:39.919 --> 00:35:40.779 is fairly comfortable. 00:35:42.939 --> 00:35:43.659 You know, 00:35:43.799 --> 00:35:44.919 the only other time 00:35:44.919 --> 00:35:46.439 in the gospels 00:35:46.439 --> 00:35:48.099 when Jesus is both angry 00:35:48.099 --> 00:35:51.000 and grieved 00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:53.339 is when he sees indifference 00:35:53.339 --> 00:35:55.539 in religious people's hearts 00:35:55.539 --> 00:35:56.739 at the suffering 00:35:56.739 --> 00:35:59.659 of a man with a withered hand. 00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:01.959 God wants to challenge us 00:36:01.959 --> 00:36:03.279 that he has a heart 00:36:03.279 --> 00:36:05.039 for the suffering 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:05.719 and he wants us 00:36:05.719 --> 00:36:06.919 to reach out to them. 00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:08.819 So let me just pray. 00:36:09.339 --> 00:36:09.679 Father, 00:36:09.779 --> 00:36:10.419 I thank you 00:36:10.419 --> 00:36:13.319 that even the question 00:36:13.319 --> 00:36:13.819 of suffering 00:36:13.819 --> 00:36:14.799 just humbles us 00:36:14.799 --> 00:36:15.839 because we don't have 00:36:15.839 --> 00:36:16.539 a full answer. 00:36:18.859 --> 00:36:19.719 But thank you 00:36:19.719 --> 00:36:20.619 that in the midst of that 00:36:20.619 --> 00:36:21.539 we're not left alone. 00:36:22.799 --> 00:36:24.519 That you have come to us. 00:36:25.139 --> 00:36:26.379 That you love us. 00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:28.419 That you want to draw us 00:36:28.419 --> 00:36:29.059 to yourself. 00:36:29.059 --> 00:36:31.179 I pray for whoever 00:36:31.179 --> 00:36:31.759 right now 00:36:31.759 --> 00:36:32.940 is really going through 00:36:32.940 --> 00:36:34.380 the pain of life. 00:36:34.460 --> 00:36:34.539 Lord, 00:36:34.579 --> 00:36:35.159 I pray 00:36:35.159 --> 00:36:35.880 would you 00:36:35.880 --> 00:36:38.299 draw alongside them. 00:36:38.900 --> 00:36:39.799 Would you show them 00:36:39.799 --> 00:36:40.460 that you are 00:36:40.460 --> 00:36:41.420 the only hope 00:36:41.420 --> 00:36:42.799 beyond this world 00:36:42.799 --> 00:36:44.699 that they can rely on 00:36:44.699 --> 00:36:45.900 who is secure, 00:36:46.179 --> 00:36:47.340 who is steadfast. 00:36:48.139 --> 00:36:48.799 I pray, 00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:49.139 Lord, 00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:50.619 for us as a community 00:36:50.619 --> 00:36:52.519 that we be a community 00:36:52.519 --> 00:36:55.019 that has the most confidence 00:36:55.019 --> 00:36:57.320 and is the most real 00:36:57.320 --> 00:36:59.340 and is able to weep 00:36:59.340 --> 00:36:59.940 the most 00:36:59.940 --> 00:37:01.920 and be angry the most 00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:03.380 and yet have confident 00:37:03.380 --> 00:37:05.159 trust and peace the most 00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:07.199 regardless of the circumstances 00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:08.719 because we know 00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:09.519 who you are 00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:10.559 and we know 00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:11.699 that we can trust you. 00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:13.380 And may that lead us 00:37:13.380 --> 00:37:14.880 to reach out 00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:15.659 to those who are 00:37:15.659 --> 00:37:16.559 suffering around us, 00:37:16.599 --> 00:37:16.980 I pray. 00:37:17.659 --> 00:37:18.519 In Jesus' name. 00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:19.599 Amen. 00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:19.739 Amen.