Embracing suffering: the journey to the cross
This is an excerpt from a video teaching on Palm Sunday for the Gathering Network. Scroll to the bottom to watch the teaching in full, starting at the 6:45 mark.
Within days of a parade into Jerusalem, we find Jesus returning to the Mount of Olives, which was a regular pattern for Him. Only, on this particular night, He is in such agonizing prayer, something happens in His body. The pain of the entire world that He is carrying inside starts to come out of Him. The suffering that He is carrying manifests itself physically as His sweat turns into blood and falls to the ground.
As Jesus begins to feel the suffering in His physical body, he kneels before the Father and honestly asks: Is there ANY. OTHER. WAY?
What is your response to suffering? Do you find yourself angry with God…..wondering why He has caused such pain to enter into your life, the lives of people you care about, or even the suffering in the world? Do you experience a measure of self-pity…..why would this happen to me? Do you try to avoid entering into suffering, yours or others, by substituting some kind of temporary pleasure? Do you slide into feelings of despair and hopelessness?
I picture Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, in his humanity, wondering if it’s possible to skip over the suffering of the cross and still bring God’s people back into relationship with Him.
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup of suffering away from me.” (NLT)
From Jesus’ humble entry into the city, He now humbles Himself before His Father. We observe Jesus’ honest ASK to take away the suffering. And in the same breath….Not my will but yours be done.
For the Joy
Could we imitate Jesus when we are faced with our own suffering? Or when we are feeling overwhelmed by the suffering that persists in the world? Could we find ourselves kneeling before the Father and praying “Take away this suffering……and yet, I surrender to YOUR way over MY way.”
Our desire for life in Christ means we will walk the road of suffering. In our lives AND alongside those we love. We can’t skip over the pain of the cross and still receive the life extended to us through the Resurrection.
“Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus SO THAT the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” 2 Corinthians 4:10
Learning to walk with Jesus through suffering is one way that His life is on display through us. Embracing how Jesus endured suffering is what will set us APART as followers of Christ.
“For the JOY that was set before Him, He ENDURED the cross.” Hebrews 12:2
and Paul tells us in Romans 5:3 to REJOICE in our sufferings.
At first glance, all of that seems ridiculous! The cross wasn’t a joyful experience for Jesus. And, suffering isn’t pleasant for anyone. Why do the writers of the New Testament associate JOY with suffering? Why are these two very opposite things tied together?
Christ didn’t experience joy ON the cross. He experienced JOY from what He knew it would GIVE TO us. That we would have the gift of NEW life, being restored to the family of God. That this work on the cross would redeem ALL of humanity….someday.
In reality, we don’t rejoice in suffering either, we rejoice over what it PRODUCES in us. Suffering produces ENDURANCE. Endurance produces CHARACTER. Character produces HOPE.
Hope is the final by-product of our suffering.
Suffering makes us people who are able to carry hope. And our world needs more hope. You get to be a hope carrier to Your neighborhood. Your workplace. Your school. The gym you work out at. The coffee shop you frequent. The daycare your kids go to. The place you do volunteer work. Because you have learned to let suffering produce HOPE in you.
Katherine Wolfe, a writer and speaker, who has lived a life of suffering as a result of a massive stroke that occurred during the birth of her second child, writes:
“Life defines us, but suffering REDEFINES us. Ultimately, hope REFINES us, transforming us from within in ways we never could have imagined.”
Katherine Wolfe
Others-centered
The garden of Gethsemane helps us understand how Jesus interacted with the Father during suffering. But what about how Jesus interacted with others while He endured suffering? What are His interactions with others like when He is in pain, carrying the weight of the sin of the world?
Jesus started the journey into Jerusalem being celebrated and honored as a King. In a matter of days, Jesus experienced rejection from his closest disciples and yet…..still loved them as brothers.
Jesus experienced humiliation and isolation in His arrest and treatment by the Roman soldiers. And still…..He didn’t try to justify himself. He didn’t retaliate. He maintained a posture of grace and mercy, extending forgiveness to those who willingly punished Him.
Jesus experienced massive physical pain and yet…… still had compassion and love for those who placed Him there.
Jesus experienced FEELING abandoned in His suffering. And yet….. He wasn’t alone. There were others who participated in His suffering:
Simon of Cyrene carried the cross for Him.
A small crowd of women lamented and mourned all the way to Golgotha. They wept at the base of the cross, until the very end.
Two thieves died alongside him: one who would acknowledge Him as Savior and who one would refuse.
Here’s the pattern that I’m seeing: even in the midst of enduring suffering, Jesus was others-centered. Even in His own pain, out of His heart came an overflow of concern for those around Him. He wasn’t thinking of Himself as He endured suffering. His heart was set on all of humanity.
He modeled for us that we can love those who reject us. He demonstrated that we don’t need to use our own pain as fuel to mistreat others or justify our own behavior. He embodied continuing to love and have compassion for others, from the road to Jerusalem all the way to the cross.
Consider Him
“Consider HIM who endured such hostility against himself SO THAT you may not grow weary or faint hearted.” Hebrews 12:3
I invite you to do that this week. To CONSIDER Jesus.
We have a few more days to continue this journey with Jesus into suffering. I encourage you to read Luke 19-22. Then, read through Luke 23 on Good Friday.
Walk Jesus’ final week on the earth WITH Him. Read slowly and meditate on small sections, a single sentence or phrase. Let a familiar story be brought to life with fresh wonder! Ask Jesus to meet you and give you a new perspective on suffering. Immerse yourself in the story. Experience what He experienced:
Consider Him.
Consider…..His final feast and positioning Himself as a servant to those who are on the cusp of abandoning Him.
Consider the betrayal by his close friend and disciple, Judas.
His arrest by those He had been with everyday in the temple.
Consider how he stood innocent but was berated with accusations. And deemed guilty.
Consider Him blindfolded, dressed in a costume and mocked.
Withstanding physical and mental abuse at the hands of the Roman soldiers.
Stumbling along the road to Golgotha under the weight of the cross He would die on.
Crying out in pain as his hands and feet are nailed to the posts.
Enduring continued humiliation as the crowds gather near the cross.
Consider the feelings of utter abandonment, even from his Heavenly Father, as He takes His last breath.
This week, let’s reflect on how we can embrace suffering with the knowledge that there is LIFE after death. Consider how we can point people to Jesus as one who is familiar with the depths of suffering. And…. begin to allow suffering to produce in us what our world is so desperate for……HOPE!