When Tragedy Becomes the Teacher: James 1:1–8 and the Strange Joy of Suffering

James 1:1-8. Tragedy has a way of stripping life down to its foundations. It exposes what we trust, what we fear, and what we cling to when the world stops making sense. In those moments, the shallow comforts of sentimentality collapse under the weight of real sorrow. It is precisely here, in the raw and unguarded places of human experience, that James begins his letter.