Jesus On His Own Suffering
A little less than two years ago, I was on a plane and struck up a conversation with the lady sitting next to me. Interestingly, she had taken part in inventing some type of baby product that Angelina Jolie wanted to endorse and was on her way to meet with Angelina's people to work on putting the deal together. I was not so interestingly on my way back home from a conference, but decided I could make the "about me" part of the conversation more interesting by turning the subject to religion. I used some kind of open-ended question to get on topic, probably asking her what religion she belonged to or what kind of church she attended. Catholic, I think, was the answer, but when I pushed a little further, I got the "all roads lead to heaven" answer that is terribly popular.
I've talked with people before who have expressed this belief, and my favorite thing to do at this point is bring Jesus into the picture. After all, of the many roads that lead to God, Jesus is certainly a big (perhaps the biggest) one of them all. Given the amount of suffering he endured, however, there must be some misunderstanding somewhere. If there are multiple ways, or even just one other way to God, doesn't it seem foolish for Jesus to have agreed to such merciless beating? If I were Jesus, I would have to have backed out at that point in the negotiations. Pass that one off to Muhammad or Buddha. Or, better yet, let the ever popular Mr.-Do-Enough-Good-Works assume the suffering role. He's fictional, anyway - wouldn't even feel the pain! So, I asked her, if there are multiple ways to God, why Jesus went through all of the beating and crucifixion. Her answer surprised me a little. She told me the reason for Jesus' suffering was to encourage us and help us through our own suffering. Whatever we have to face in life - cancer or whatever - we could get through it because Jesus endured the cross.
I agree there is some truth in her statement. Isaiah told us long in advance that Jesus' wounds would be for our healing, and even the writer of Hebrews encouraged his readers to remain strong in their stance against sin by remembering their suffering had been far less than that endured by Christ. I guess this interpretation of the Passion could be rationalized if only considered in the context of our own minds. Each major player in world religions could teach us something about a particular aspect of our lives. The problem is, we cannot be content to leave our interpretations of anything to the context of our own minds. We must consider all of what we as human beings have collectively rather than what we as individuals have happened across ourselves. Since we have records of what Jesus said, not only of what he did or was done to him, it makes sense that we should consider what he said regarding his suffering.
While a lot of the New Testament tells us why Jesus suffered, I want to notice particularly how Jesus viewed his suffering, even in advance. In Mark 14:27, Jesus, quoting Old Testament prophesy, tells us exactly what he thought of the Passion. "God will strike the Shepherd..." (NLT). Before the first punch was thrown, before the first stripe was laid, before the first nail was driven, Jesus said he would be stricken by God. This leads me to think of the severity of what Jesus endured. Jesus knew he was to not simply pay for sin, but feel and experience the totality of the punishment God's righteousness demanded. God would drop the hammer on Jesus himself. Jesus viewed his death as nothing less than his being smitten by the hand of God. How, then, should we consider the cross?
This seems much more to me than being an provision of encouragement during difficulties, especially if we consider the nature of God being inclined toward the oppressed and downtrodden. How many times in Scripture do we read of God's heart tuned to the oppressed? Time after time in the Bible God assures us that he hears our cries and is with the hurting. (One of my favorites is the story of Sarah's maid Hagar and Hagar's son Ishmael in Genesis 21). It would seem overly rude and heartless for God to plan such chastisement for Jesus just to say again what he had already said. For God to "strike the Shepherd", he must have had more in mind.
I won't take time now to write all of my musings on what all Jesus must have endured, but I will say it must have been much more than we generally think. After all, Jesus, knowing he would rise again from the dead, still considered his Passion dreadful enough to pray for another way. Given his Deity, the fact that he himself was God, how terrible the suffering must have been for him to desire a deviation from the master plan. In any case, he knew he was doing much more than setting an example of endurance alone. In feeling and experiencing the full weight of judgment sin demanded, "...he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins." (Isaiah 53:5, NLT)
I've talked with people before who have expressed this belief, and my favorite thing to do at this point is bring Jesus into the picture. After all, of the many roads that lead to God, Jesus is certainly a big (perhaps the biggest) one of them all. Given the amount of suffering he endured, however, there must be some misunderstanding somewhere. If there are multiple ways, or even just one other way to God, doesn't it seem foolish for Jesus to have agreed to such merciless beating? If I were Jesus, I would have to have backed out at that point in the negotiations. Pass that one off to Muhammad or Buddha. Or, better yet, let the ever popular Mr.-Do-Enough-Good-Works assume the suffering role. He's fictional, anyway - wouldn't even feel the pain! So, I asked her, if there are multiple ways to God, why Jesus went through all of the beating and crucifixion. Her answer surprised me a little. She told me the reason for Jesus' suffering was to encourage us and help us through our own suffering. Whatever we have to face in life - cancer or whatever - we could get through it because Jesus endured the cross.
I agree there is some truth in her statement. Isaiah told us long in advance that Jesus' wounds would be for our healing, and even the writer of Hebrews encouraged his readers to remain strong in their stance against sin by remembering their suffering had been far less than that endured by Christ. I guess this interpretation of the Passion could be rationalized if only considered in the context of our own minds. Each major player in world religions could teach us something about a particular aspect of our lives. The problem is, we cannot be content to leave our interpretations of anything to the context of our own minds. We must consider all of what we as human beings have collectively rather than what we as individuals have happened across ourselves. Since we have records of what Jesus said, not only of what he did or was done to him, it makes sense that we should consider what he said regarding his suffering.
While a lot of the New Testament tells us why Jesus suffered, I want to notice particularly how Jesus viewed his suffering, even in advance. In Mark 14:27, Jesus, quoting Old Testament prophesy, tells us exactly what he thought of the Passion. "God will strike the Shepherd..." (NLT). Before the first punch was thrown, before the first stripe was laid, before the first nail was driven, Jesus said he would be stricken by God. This leads me to think of the severity of what Jesus endured. Jesus knew he was to not simply pay for sin, but feel and experience the totality of the punishment God's righteousness demanded. God would drop the hammer on Jesus himself. Jesus viewed his death as nothing less than his being smitten by the hand of God. How, then, should we consider the cross?
This seems much more to me than being an provision of encouragement during difficulties, especially if we consider the nature of God being inclined toward the oppressed and downtrodden. How many times in Scripture do we read of God's heart tuned to the oppressed? Time after time in the Bible God assures us that he hears our cries and is with the hurting. (One of my favorites is the story of Sarah's maid Hagar and Hagar's son Ishmael in Genesis 21). It would seem overly rude and heartless for God to plan such chastisement for Jesus just to say again what he had already said. For God to "strike the Shepherd", he must have had more in mind.
I won't take time now to write all of my musings on what all Jesus must have endured, but I will say it must have been much more than we generally think. After all, Jesus, knowing he would rise again from the dead, still considered his Passion dreadful enough to pray for another way. Given his Deity, the fact that he himself was God, how terrible the suffering must have been for him to desire a deviation from the master plan. In any case, he knew he was doing much more than setting an example of endurance alone. In feeling and experiencing the full weight of judgment sin demanded, "...he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins." (Isaiah 53:5, NLT)
posted by Jonathan Branch at 12:04 AM
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