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What great suffering…Can we walk in the steps of our Master?It was foretold:
In the 7th century BC, at a period when apostasy and idolatry prevailed in the
land of Judah, the prophet Isaiah wrote the following:
Isaiah 53 : 3 - 6
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
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.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
When we think of the Cross, it immediately reminds us of Jesus and his death. But we are not drawn readily to contemplate on the suffering that preceded his death. No doubt he gave his life as an atoning sacrifice for our salvation so that we can have eternal life with God. We were condemned and separated from the almighty creator but Jesus death on the cross made us reconciled with a holy God. This was foreshadowed by the animal sacrifices of bulls, goats or lambs that would atone for the sins (intentional or unintentional) of the people.
Leviticus 17:11
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.
The high priest would enter the Holy of holies in God’s temple to make this atoning sacrifice. For eternity the eternal High Priest Jesus Christ obtained this for all mankind as mentioned in
Hebrews 9:12 “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”
This infinite sacrifice was possible only with an infinite sacrifice which only the Son of God could do.
Col. 1:19-20
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
The movie ‘The passion of the Christ’ makes a graphic depiction of the suffering he endured before he died on the Cross. The power of sin and evil comes with full force and materializes in the people that inflicted the pain and agony on the ‘Suffering Servant’!
What it means for the follower of Christ:
1 Peter 4:12-13
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
Our Lord walked the path of suffering willingly and absorbed all of it in every possible form. The violence and destructive force of sin is manifest in the suffering that leads up to the cross.
Philip Yancey quotes Scott Peck in the book The Jesus I never knew “ I cannot say any more about the methodology of love than to quote the words of an old priest who spent many years in the battle: “There are dozens of ways to deal with evil and several ways to conquer it. All of them are facets of the truth that the only ultimate way to conquer evil is to let it be smothered within a willing, living human being. When it is absorbed there like blood in a sponge or a spear into one’s heart, it loses its power and goes no further”. The healing of evil – scientifically or otherwise – can be accomplished only by the love of individuals. A willing sacrifice is required… “
This suffering came from all directions with full diabolical force:
1) Betrayal by a confidant: Judas betrayed the Lord with a kiss! What is more painful than to have your own trusted ‘friend’ betray for 30 pieces of silver.
Psalm 41:9
Even my close friend, whom I trusted,
he who shared my bread,
has lifted up his heel against me.
For three years, he witnessed closely miraculous power of the Savior. He witnessed the amazing love Jesus showed to those in need. What more could Jesus have done to love Judas? Of Judas, Peter says later in Acts 1:16-17 "he was one of our number and shared in this ministry." Regarding Judas, Eastman dictionary has this quote: “Of the motives that have been assigned we need not care to fix on any one as that which simply led him on. Crime is, for the most part, the result of a hundred motives rushing with bewildering fury through the mind of the criminal.” In the factual account, we know Judas went to the chief priests and agreed to hand Jesus over for 30 pieces of silver. But the fundamental reason re was something more diabolical.
Almost always those who are betrayed are unaware of the betrayal that is coming their way. Jesus was betrayed and he fully knew and made it clear to Judas that He knew. This must have been indeed very distressful.
Another person who knew the pain of betrayal was Joseph, son of Jacob. Joseph’s brothers sought to kill him but decided to make some money out of it and sold him as a slave. Imagine if Joseph knew what awaited him and in spite of the harm he would suffer, he still went ahead to meet his brothers. To be betrayed is painful but to submit to betrayal willingly is divine.
2) Alone without human comfort or company:
Matthew 26:37-38
He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
It appears that Jesus needed the company of his disciples, like never before. But try as they did, they could not be with him. No doubt they were physically tired. But more importantly their exhaustion was that they were filled with sorrow for he was talked to them about leaving them. He wanted them in prayer but with the arrest, he shelters them. He gives himself up alone for the arrest.
Psalm 88:18
You have taken my companions and loved ones from me;
The darkness is my closest friend.
3) Suffer false accusation:
Giving false witness was a grave sin. In Exodus 20:16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. And in Exodus 23:1 "Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness.”
When Jesus healed those under demon-possession, Pharisees accused him of being the prince of demons.
Matthew 9:34 "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."
Matthew 26:59-61
The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.' "
Mark 14:55-62
The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.' " Yet even then their testimony did not agree. Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
The Jewish rulers and temple priests conspired to put Jesus to death. Some time before, Jesus cleansed the temple of the ‘den of robbers’ – the money changers and those who extorted money from the poor, by the business of selling the sacrificial animals at the temple gates. No doubt they collaborated with the temple priests and the high priest. They turned the ‘house of prayer’ into a place of exploitation and extortion. Jesus was a grave threat to their corrupt lives. What opportune time for those evil people to get rid of Jesus!
Hosea 4:7-8
The more the priests increased,
the more they sinned against me;
they exchanged their Glory for something disgraceful.
They feed on the sins of my people
and relish their wickedness.
The Romans ruled with absolute control and tyranny. Any real threat to their rule or a sign of defiance or rebellion would be put out with brute force and the most cruel of punishments. The Roman authorities saw no threat in the teachings and life of Jesus. But when it came to preserving ‘the peace among the people’ they found it convenient to condemn Jesus for sedition.
4) Suffered mockery and insults: to be mocked is to be made fun of, derided, or ridiculed’. As they beat him on his face with their fists, they said ‘prophesy to us ‘who hit you’. They spat on his face. This would be one of greatest insults in that culture.
We see how God answered a prayer of the prophet Elisha when he was taunted by a group of such youth.
2 Kings 2:23-24 “From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.”
As far as his power, what amazing restraint the Lord showed when the crowd who was probably made up of ‘nobodies’ and riffraff hurled these insults.
Psalm 69:20
Scorn has broken my heart
and has left me helpless;
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but I found none.
Matthew 27:27-31
Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
5) His appearance was marred beyond recognition:
When we think of a person, one of the first things that comes to our mind is the person’s face. I remember visiting an acquaintance who had terminal cancer. When I met him, I almost did not recognize him. I was immediately taken aback by the total strangeness of his facial appearance. Though his talk and voice seemed familiar, the unfamiliarity of his face brought a sense of estrangement. When we cannot express our pain in words, our facial expression conveys the pain. When we are in pain, our eyes tear and our face contorts in pain. The Lord subjected himself to be bruised beyond recognition. The fairest among ten thousand became the bruised and disfigured.
Isaiah 53:2
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
6) Punished even before the verdict was pronounced:
Punishment is generally meant to punish the bad or those who do wrong. Good government requires that those who disobey the law or commit a crime be punished. Pilate was not convinced of the accusation against Jesus. He underestimated the venomous hate of the crowd. Lashes were administered by a rod. A more severe form of corporeal punishment was called ‘Scourging’ in which thorns or barbed points (pieces of bone or nails) are used. “Scorpions” are whips with barbed points like the point of a scorpion’s sting were used on the whip to tear the flesh. Pilate had Jesus scourged to satisfy at least some of the crowd and to elicit some pity from the crowd In the case of Jesus, this scourging might have been particularly severe and this might account for his ‘quicker-than-expected’ death on the cross. The soldiers would routinely break the legs of the crucified to shorten the time to death but this was omitted in the case of Jesus as he had already died.
7) His chief disciple denies him thrice when the plot culminates: Peter was the one who was the chief companion along with James and John. To Peter, the Holy Spirit revealed the divinity of Jesus. Peter had witnessed the transfiguration on the mountain. When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, he initially protested as it would seem unthinkable that God would serve man. Even at the time of Jesus’s arrest, it was Peter who demonstrates the physical courage to fight the arrest. He takes a sword and cuts off the ear of Malchus, the high priest’s servant. But as Jesus was preparing Peter and other disciples for the events that would unfold, Peter forbid the Lord from considering the Cross. But when fear seized Peter, peter denied him. Not once or twice but thrice.
I read the story of how evil had shown its ugly diabolical face in the murder of Graham Staines and his sons. He was a missionary who came to love and serve the people of Orissa who were afflicted with the most distressful of human disease called leprosy. He left his native country Australia and lived in Manoharpur, Orissa, India. On January 23, 1999, he and his 2 sons Timothy and Philip, slept in their station wagon for the night. Why would anyone think of killing such people who would serve the lepers? Just past midnight a mob of 50 – 60 people led by Dara Singh surrounded the vehicle and murdered all the three in cold blood. Graham and his sons were beaten, pierced with trishuls and then set on fire. The mob chanted ‘Maro…Maro… Dara Singh Zindabad”. All this witnessed by many who were prevented from rescuing them*. There are many such faces of evil in this world.
Graham served the lepers. As a follower of Jesus Christ, he might have said the same prayer ‘Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” His widow Gladys who knew the loving and saving power of Jesus, writes ‘I’m not angry. I’m not bitter. Let us burn hatred and spread the flame of Christ’s love’… I pray that all will live in peace and harmony, showing our love for the Lord Jesus Christ by serving our brothers and sisters”.**
The atoning death of Our Lord will saved us from our sins forever. He has removed our sins as far as east is from the west. But the life of the ‘Suffering Servant’ is a continual reminder of what is means to ‘take up the cross and follow him’. This takes a deeper commitment. Where do we find ourselves in life’s trials and temptations? When we deny our Lord before non-Christians, don’t we yield to the evil one? The world is lost and condemned without a Savior. When we face life’s problems or trials and doubt God’s promises, are we forsaking the path of obedience Our Lord walked? At times, we have serious intention of doing His will but when it comes to obedience, we procrastinate or water down his command and directive. Are we not deceiving ourselves by rationalization and excuses? And those who have wronged us, do we forgive? To those who have ‘betrayed or mocked’ us, do we turn the other cheek? Or do we retaliate and curse?
No doubt, we cannot do as our Lord when we depend on ourselves. When we follow him truly, and when we are enabled by His Spirit, like Paul we can say ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ – strength to carry the cross and follow Him all the way to the end of our lives!
Philip. 3:10
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
James 1:2
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.
May we imitate Paul and James and our prayer be “Lord, help me to see Him more clearly and follow more dearly in my life, whatever the cost”.
*All scripture quotes are from New International version
**Forward by Gladys June Staines in the book ‘Burnt Alive – The Staines and the God they loved” by Vishal Mangalwadi & others by GLS Press, year 2000
By.Dr.Daniel Muppidi,Westborough, MA