3. Christianity Recognizes Unjust Suffering
Unlike karmic religions that explain suffering as a result of past wrongdoing, Christianity affirms what our hearts already sense: not all suffering is fair.
Keller points to Job and especially Jesus Himself, who was sinless yet endured the most unjust suffering imaginable.
“If anyone deserved a good life, it was Jesus—but He got the cross.”
This is a critical part of the Christian story. Jesus not only sees our suffering, He entered into it. God doesn’t watch from a distance—He bled for us.
4. Your Pain Has Purpose—Even If You Can’t See It Yet
Tim Keller examines the story of Jairus and his dying daughter. Jesus delays—seemingly irresponsibly—to heal another woman, and during that delay, Jairus’s daughter dies. The timing looks disastrous.
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But Jesus knew what Jairus didn’t: the girl would be resurrected, and the delay would magnify the glory.
“Jesus says: If I have you by the hand, even death is just sleep.”
This moment captures the paradox of divine delay: God may not be early by your watch, but He’s never late. What looks like chaos in your story is clarity in His.
5. Jesus Offers a Hope That Survives Death
Keller emphasizes that Jesus’s approach to death was not symbolic or metaphorical. He physically raised the girl, calling her tenderly, “Talitha koum”—“Sweetheart, it’s time to get up.”
In this, we glimpse the Christian hope: not just consolation, but resurrection. Not just life after death, but life restored. A world remade. Bodies healed. Joys multiplied.
“Christianity doesn’t just offer hope after life—it offers the restoration of the life we never had.”
This hope rubs like salt into our wounds. It keeps the grief from turning to rot. It preserves us.
6. We Trust Because of the Cross, Even When We Don’t Understand the Pain
One of the greatest insights Keller shares is this:
“I don’t know why God allows suffering. But I know what the answer can’t be—it can’t be that He doesn’t love us.”
Why? Because He went to the cross. Christianity doesn’t explain away suffering with pat answers. Instead, it points to the God on the cross who cries, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”—and still says, “Into Your hands I commit My spirit.”
Whether you’re enduring chronic pain, deep loss, betrayal by the church, or crushing unanswered prayers, This Tim Keller sermon reminds us that in Jesus, suffering is never wasted, tears are never ignored, and death is never final.
