This is part 1 of 2 of Lesson 13: Christ in the Crucible. Click here to go back to the introduction to this lesson.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Isa 53:4 (NKJV)
It’s a hard concept to grasp…how can a perfect God suffer and be subjected to pain?
Jesus of course suffered physical pain – intense pain, but that’s not what we’re going to focus on here. It’s the emotional and spiritual pain that I believe is the hardest to bear. It’s also the type of pain that the Trinity has borne since the entrance of sin into the universe, and will continue to bear until the final eradication of evil.
One of the ways Jesus suffered on this earth, and suffers still, is in watching His creation groan and writhe from the effects of sin. All of us with loved ones can empathise in some sense. Witnessing the suffering of those we love can be almost worse to bear than our own pain. Jesus said:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. Matt 23:37 (NLT)
It’s nice to see this motherly/fatherly aspect to Jesus’ character. From His lament above, we can see that He was deeply saddened by the fact that His people were on the path to destruction but wouldn’t accept Him, or His help. Jesus is driven by similar emotions to you and I – the wellbeing of His loved ones is the key motivating force. And given that Jesus is the “express image” of the Father, we can believe that this is also the heart of God the Father as well.
I like Ellen White’s commentary on Jesus’ lament for Jerusalem:
…The woes of a fallen race, pressing upon His soul, forced from His lips that exceeding bitter cry. He saw the record of sin traced in human misery, tears, and blood; His heart was moved with infinite pity for the afflicted and suffering ones of earth; He yearned to relieve them all. But even His hand might not turn back the tide of human woe; few would seek their only Source of help. He was willing to pour out His soul unto death, to bring salvation within their reach; but few would come to Him that they might have life.The Majesty of heaven in tears! the Son of the infinite God troubled in spirit, bowed down with anguish! The scene filled all heaven with wonder. That scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a task it is, even for Infinite Power, to save the guilty from the consequences of transgressing the law of God… Ellen White, Great Controversy, p22
The other element of Jesus’ own suffering is that He has experienced the same problems as we generally have – He is not an impassive observer to our pain.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin. Heb 4:15 (KJV)
Hebrews also talks about the element of Jesus being tempted like us and is therefore able to help us through similar situations:
For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. Heb 2:18 (NKJV)
Do you find the fact that God can suffer amazing? Does it give you comfort when you are in your own crucible to know that God is there suffering as He watches over you?
Click here to go to the final section for this week…God on a Cross.
