The Strange Joys of a Christian
On our response to suffering
Ian Forest-Jones | 11 October 2026
Every friend of Jesus should be joyful in suffering, and not at any time go around with a long face, moaning and groaning. God can give to everyone joy in suffering so that we can rejoice in all things and at all times.
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There is a funny scene played by Geoffrey Rush in the 1998 romantic comedy and period drama Shakespeare In Love (1998). In the scene, Rush utters an unusual but memorable line.
Rush plays the character, Philip Henslowe, owner of The Rose Theatre, a business with a cash flow problem. He is making his way from the theatre to the local market when a ruthless moneylender, Hugh Fennyman, and his henchman appear at his side and propel Henslowe back the way he came.
FENNYMAN (played by English actor Tom Wilkinson): This time we take your boots off!
HENSLOWE: What have I done, Mr. Fennyman?
FENNYMAN: The theatres are all closed by the plague!
HENSLOWE: Oh, that.
FENNYMAN: By order of the Master of the Revels!
HENSLOWE: Mr. Fennyman, let me explain about the theatre business. (they stop) The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. Believe me, to be closed by the plague is a bagatelle in the ups and downs of owning a theatre.
FENNYMAN: So what do we do?
HENSLOWE: Nothing. Strangely enough , it all turns out well.
FENNYMAN: How?
HENSLOWE: I don’t know. It’s a mystery.
LAMBERT (the henchman): (dumbly) Should I kill him, Mr. Fennyman?
Perhaps it’s the way Rush utters the phrase, “It’s a mystery”, that makes the line so memorable. He utters this fatalistic axiom with a naïve optimism that is endearing. It is as if to say, in the midst of the chaos of life, just believe it will all work out well enough in the end and it will.
The character Henslowe could perhaps afford a little optimism. In the London of 1593, even though all the characters in the story find themselves in the midst of a plague, and Henslowe is desperately in debt, he has employed William Shakespeare as his playwright. Shakespeare is a genius and is on the verge of producing his famous play Romeo and Juliet.
Henslowe believes it will work out well for his theatre because the odds are in his favour. He need only remain at peace and ride the storm of debt and plague.
“It’s a mystery” may be endearing as an expression of optimistic fatalism, but placing your faith in Jesus and living a Christian lifestyle offers a better approach to suffering.
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