Does God suffer?
March 22, 2026 In today’s Gospel we have Jesus showing us his feelings - his love for Mary and Martha, his grief at Lazarus’ death. Seems normal for a human being ! But this was a theological conundrum for the early Church which held the belief that God is ‘impassable’ i.e. God cannot suffer. So how were they to explain Jesus’ emotions, especially feelings of pain and suffering, if he was also God ? There was, of course, no gainsaying the fact that in the Gospels, Jesus is shown as experiencing a range of emotions. He felt compassion and mercy before he fed the crowds (Mark 6:34) ; and he is “ moved with pity , ’’ when he sees somebody suffering (Mark 1:41) , or when he sees the widow of Naim mourning the death of her only son (Luke 7:13). He even experiences helplessness when he laments that he could not do anything for Jerusalem (Luke 19:41 - 44). He shows anger when he ...