A Peculiar Kind of Suffering
Welcome to Peniel CrossRoads, where we embrace Jesus’s heart and together live out the call to biblical unity!
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
Have you ever asked whether God sees you, knows what you deal with, or understands your peculiar (unique) type of suffering?
In this Lenten season, great encouragement comes from considering the humanity of Jesus. We have read stories of people who went through tremendous suffering in this life—Helen Roseveare, Corrie ten Boom and Don Piper, author of 90 Minutes in Heaven, come to mind especially. Each of these followers of Jesus contemplated Christ’s suffering in light of their own distress. What was it like for Christ to suffer in my place? How much does He care about my personal suffering now?
Isaiah 52:13 through 53:11 describes how completely Jesus suffered on the way to the Cross due to his being beaten, whipped and crucified. But before He went through such horrific torture on the Via Dolorosa and the long hours surrounding that journey, Jesus was already familiar with widespread rejection from his community, unwarranted accusation from authorities, misunderstanding from his family, and abandonment by his closest friends.
I am so grateful that there is no human experience Jesus cannot relate to or doesn’t understand. When tempted to think God doesn’t know what we’re going through, we might take some time to consider how Jesus as a man was personally affected by the rejection and persecution of his own community and religious leaders.
We might think that as God the Son, Jesus was able to circumvent the human emotions of suffering, as if it didn’t affect him in the same way as it would us. On the contrary, Hebrews 2:14 tells us that “…he too shared in our humanity, so that by his suffering, he might taste death for everyone…”
But what did Jesus do with the accusations and rejection that He faced? What was His attitude toward suffering? Did He take them to heart?
The long hours Jesus spent alone in prayer throughout his ministry and his prayers in Gethsemane, especially, give us a glimpse into how Jesus handled his negative emotions. I believe he processed them in private with his Heavenly Father. Occasionally Jesus showed his disciples signs of the grief or righteous anger he was feeling (remember when he cursed the fig tree?), but as a rule, he showed people only what he was willing to let them see.
As he surrendered to the public shame of a Roman cross, and enduring the emotional torture of bearing the sin of the world on his shoulders, Jesus the God-man overcame rejection by scorning shame and looking ahead to the JOY that was before him. Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us our redemption and healing WAS that joy!
To avoid unnecessary conflict, could we employ that same strategy when we suffer? Could we learn to pour out our emotions to God in private when we are hurt—and to trusted confidants carefully as needed—and by HIS grace, look ahead to the Joy and Hope set before us? Is this how we count every trial as Joy? (James 1:3)
As you go to the cross with Jesus this Lenten season, may God reveal to you the ways He has entered into suffering for you and with you. May the Holy Spirit empower you to look to him in every trial…
Lord Jesus, I praise you that you were made human in every way, like we are, so we can never say that “You don’t know” what we are going through. Jesus, I believe that my sinful rebellion and wounds have been redeemed through the Cross. And I trust that You are working all things together for the good of Your beloved and for Your Kingdom’s glory! I love you, Lord.
You may have noticed that we took a break from writing for a time to refresh and retool as Development Coaches for Blessing our Communities in 2024. (See our blog on “God’s New Thing” for details.) If you would like to receive regular prayer request updates for this ministry of unity and reconciliation, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at connect@penielcrossroads.org!