Narcos TV Show: How to Endure Suffering?

How do we find strength to endure suffering? 

I want to look at this question from a theological perspective through the lens of a TV show called Narcos (Fair Warning it is a violent show about the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, not for everyone!)

What interests me about the show is the sense of how lots of people do extremely daring things... are these people even human, how can people who are human do such extreme stuff?

 Towards the end of Season 1, the Police and the DEA Agents are getting closer nabbing Escobar. Escobar is changing his hideout. So the police try to nab people from his inner circle in order to find out where he is hiding. They hit the jack pot, they nab Escobar's right hand man Gustavo. Now to get Gustavo to divulge the information about Escobar's hideout, they torture him. They beat him black and blue. They get tired torturing him. They realize he is going to die. But the problem is they cannot get him to divulge the information about Escobar. Now, they are the ones who are desperate because in spite of beating him near to death, he has not divulged the information about Escobar. Their despair. At that point, Gustavo with his final breath lets out a loud laugh. They are surprised at how he has the strength not just to hold up under extreme torture, but laugh. 

How could Gustavo show loyalty to Escobar even under extreme suffering? 

We get the answer in his final words, he shouts, "I am a bandit," then drops his head and dies.

It struck me at that point, that the reason why he was able endure such torture is because he was finding his strength in his identity. In his mind he was a bandit. The code of honor for the bandit was to not betray a fellow bandit. So he would rather die than betray his fellow bandit.

Of course, the question of how to deal with suffering is a very broad topic involving a huge range of variables. The psychiatrist Victor Frankl said if we have a strong 'why' then we can suffer any 'how.' Narcos supplies one aspect of having a strong 'why' - it is to have a strong identity.

Gustavo is able to endure suffering because having a strong identity as a bandit gives him two things. One, it gives him the mindset of valuing the bandit code of honor. The identity also gives him a purpose - he loved Escobar so no matter what happened to him, he will protect Escobar. 

From a Christian theological perspective this idea of having a strong identity is important because it only people who have strong identity in Christ who can endure suffering in the process of building God's kingdom of love and peace. 

Having a strong Christian identity as child of God helps us enduring suffering by Giving us

1)A new mindset focusing on the eternal and 

2)A new purpose investing in love. 

Eternal Mindset: When we have a strong identity in Christ, we have the assurance that we are God's children and so our eternal life is secure in Christ. This changes the way we look at suffering in this world. Mother Teresa said, "even the hardest life, filled with suffering on earth, in comparison with eternity, is like one night's stay in a horrible hotel." The suffering we face in this world does not define us. We don't deny the suffering, but we know that this suffering does not have the last word. Jesus is our last word.

Invest in Love: Having this eternal mindset on suffering is not about escaping this life. Rather we redeem our suffering by investing in the vision of love and peace the way of Jesus. I will give an example of this, similar to COVID-19 today in the Roman world, there were multiple plagues. The sociologist Rodney Stark from the University of Baylour writes that when Plague struck Rome, the Roman physician Galen left Rome to save himself, leaving people behind dying on the streets. But the people in the Church served their neighbors left behind, risking their own lives. We have sermons from Christian Bishops like Dynosius and Cyprian encouraging and admiring Christian serving their sick neighbors. In fact Cyprian calls this kind of suffering love an act of Martyrdom, this is the way of Christlike love. Everyday ordinary Christians can have this kind of suffering love can only come when people have a strong identity in Christ. 

Narcos uses the power of Identity to the wrong end, of perpetuating evil. But there is a deeper difference between Narcos and Christian theology. For Christians the power of Identity is not self generated, it comes from the work of the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in Romans 8, our identity as children of God is affirmed by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit take away our fear and gives us the affirmation of adoption into God's family. This strengthens Christians to love and serve others selflessly. In Narcos, because the power of identity comes from the self, their love is selfish. It is true that Gustavo protects Escobar according to the bandit code, but that is because they want to selfishly exploit other people, which is the opposite of the Christian way of selfless Holy Spirit empowered investment in building Christ's kingdom of love and peace.

Our ability to endure suffering comes from the power of our identity. From a Christian standpoint our identity as children of God gives us an eternal perspective on suffering, by reminding us that our citizenship is in the eternal world. Our identity in Christ also gives us a new purpose, to love our neighbors.  It means our suffering does not define us, our suffering is redeemed by investing in loving, building the kingdom of love and peace.