Monday meditation: His final days, Part 6: He identifies with us
When we look at this cruel world, we know we need a remedy. How can we cope with all the deception and death, the worries and wars, the selfishness and senselessness behind the headlines scrolling on our phones?
Christians find hope in the crucifixion of Christ. “The cross is essential,” one writer posted several days ago. “It stands at the crux of all time, as the great focal point of the Bible and God’s eternal plan of salvation.”
His suffering
And so this week, with ritual and remembrance, believers everywhere celebrate the suffering of Jesus. His was a death worthy of remembering because his was a sacrifice unlike any other.
He was not just another remarkable martyr.
His purpose was far broader than protecting a nation or a family, far greater than a stand for justice or a determination to do the right thing.
The apostle Peter explained why Jesus died. He “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”
Because of his death—and his resurrection, which we will consider in this space in coming weeks—Jesus offered us the chance to look beyond the suffering of this world to find purpose and hope.
Centuries before his advent, the prophet described him with words Christians will be quoting this week:
“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. . . . Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering.”
Suffering. That word pops up again and again when the Bible talks about him. Jesus, God himself made flesh, came to earth not just to speak or heal or surprise. He came to suffer. That means something to us caregivers, because we know about suffering.
Our suffering
We care for someone slowly dwindling away with disability that clouds their memory, hinders their speech, and limits their ability to move. They are suffering. We suffer too, as we watch and must compensate for all their losses.
Jesus identified with our suffering by choosing to suffer on the cross. The writer of Hebrews described him with these words: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
We’ll admit the suffering in our household sometimes sparks a particular kind of temptation. We’re tempted to give up on God. We’re tempted to sink into despair. We’re tempted to quit.
Keep going
Jesus understands. He left the perfection of Heaven to experience the hell of life on earth. He rose and returned to make possible in eternity something better than the pain and disappointment clouding our lives today.
What Jesus did gives us the will to keep going another week. Even when we’re suffering.
Read: Luke 23:26-49
Pray: Thank you, Lord, for understanding our suffering. Help us, God, to understand what Jesus accomplished with his.
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