Jesus the Light 34 Suffering
Though He was a Son, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered Heb.5:8
Suffering is the portion of every true Christian. To live in this world and imagine to escape from suffering is a great deception. It was the portion of Christ Jesus Himself.
Isa.63:9: “In all their affliction He was afflicted.” Truly Christ Jesus our Lord was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” -Isa.53:3.
From birth there was no room for Him except the welcome afforded by sheep and oxen [Lk.2:7]. Chief priests and scribes may know ancient prophesies about the Christ’s place of birth, but they had no interest in meeting this King themselves [Mt.2:4-6]. Only a bloodthirsty jealous tyrant wished to find Him that he might “worship” Him – with a drawn sword [Mt.2:8-16].
He fled by night as a fugitive to a foreign land [Mt.2:13,14] only to return to a lowly despised region of no reputation [Mt.2:23]. Long years of routine physical labor occupied the majority of His life [Mk.6:3]. He toiled, unrecognized and without acclaim, supporting His younger ones who refused to believe Him to be anything other than just another member of the family [Jn.7:5].
Though hailed by the Highest in heaven [Mt.3:17], His own nation did not receive Him [Jn.1:11]. Isa.53:3: “He was despised, and rejected of men, and we did not esteem Him.”
Assailed by loathsome evil, the devil tempted Him to the uttermost [Mt.4:1-11]. And men, following in the steps of their father, the devil, vilified Him with mocking disdain.
Jn.8:48: “Do we not rightly say that You are a Samaritan?” Jn.7:20: “The multitude answered, ‘You have a demon!’” Spitefully with venomous malice they spat out the accusation in Jn.8:41: “We were not born of fornication!” Jn.7:12: “He deceives the people!” -Jn.7:12. Even His own people were saying in Mk.3:21: “He is out of His mind!”
Dear Listener, what are you passing through that He has not tasted? What assaults your soul that He was not faced with? This is Jesus in Heb.4:15: the “One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet was without sin.”
Christ is the One in Heb.2:18 who: “since He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted.”
He can come to your aid in the blackness of your despair for He has sweat drops of blood in the agony of Gethsemane [Lk.22:44]. He can comfort the wounds of your heart sent from wicked tongues, for men wagged their heads in mocking derision against Him, the Beloved of the Father [Ps.22:6-8].
Grief sent from stubborn insulting loved ones against you can be borne in the bosom of Him who knew the same [Jn.7:5]. Shattering grief over those dearest to us taken in death’s finality is soothed by Him who wept over Lazarus whom He loved [Jn.11:35].
A ravaged heart torn asunder by willful abandonment of those closest to you receives its balm from the pierced hands of Him who cried in Mt.27:46: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Have weary long years of seemingly pointless daily routine bowed your soul, snuffing out hope’s glow of eventual spiritual usefulness? Come to Nazareth and behold your Lord in silent submission those eighteen years at the carpenter’s bench [Mk.6:3].
You are forgotten and ignored and no sympathy is found to console your anguished soul, except that of Him who looked for the same and found none [Ps.69:20,21].
Poverty grinds away with its relentless scarcity, sapping your soul into anxious pursuits. Come and recline with the Son of Man who had nowhere to lay His head [Lk.9:58]. The grief of the pure in heart that chafe at the unashamed display of godless men surrounding them also deeply assaulted the soul of the Holy One of God [Mt.17:17].
Are you laid aside, bed-ridden, and prostrate in weariness? Come; find rest and strength from Him who was wearied often [Lk.8:23; Jn.4:6].
In all points He was tempted as are we, but without sin. Only He who has overcome can assist those who must also do the same [Rev.3:21]. Yes, there are things to overcome; grievous pains to be borne: bitter to natural sensibilities, shameful to self-esteem.
They come from Christ. He has designed them that thereby we might overcome; that we will learn obedience through suffering, and that we might know fellowship with the Man of Sorrows.
Paul prayed that he might know the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death: that he might attain to the resurrection from the dead [Phil.3:10,11]. To him, suffering was fellowship with Christ. Is it the same to you?
Suffering, death, and resurrection: this is the necessary sequence. Christ became obedient unto death, even that of the cruelest and most despised, that of a cross [Phil.2:8]. How did He learn such obedience? He gained it by enrollment in the school of suffering of which He is the Master of all would-be followers.
The lessons must be learned thoroughly and remembered well if the disciple would become like His Master [Lk.6:40]. This His school. Few endure until promoted on high.
Heb.12:3: “Consider well Him who has endured so great a contradiction of sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary, fainting in your souls.”
1 Pet.2:23: “While being reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”
Mt.11:28: “Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” But the manner in which He chooses to grant you rest, may be quite unlike that of your brother. The Lord Jesus individually tailors each of our situations for our eternal good and His unending glory.
Black despair burst into light’s glowing warmth in Herod’s dismal prison-house of death. Fierce guards and flashing swords were bypassed as if nothing by the liberated captive. Shackles and chains clinked powerless to the ground as Peter was escorted by his heaven-sent deliverer.
Acts 12:11: “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent forth His angel, and has delivered me out of the hand of Herod.” Those were the words of Peter.
This is the testimony of James in Acts 12:1,2: “Then Herod killed James the brother of John with the sword.” They were in the same prison, bound by the same Herod, both apostles, and serving the same Jesus.
Dear Listener, which Jesus do we want: the Jesus of Peter or the Jesus of James? Which Jesus will we love and serve? Which One will we not be offended with?
Will we presume to choose, or even demand, our own means of deliverance? For, truly, both Peter as well as James were set free from Herod’s clutches, were they not?
Peter was liberated by angelic visitation in a miraculous rescue. James was set free by a hateful monster in gruesome form. Who had the better portion?
Peter entered the house of Mary where many were gathered praying, persecuted and fearing. James entered the city of gold where many more were gathered in everlasting jubilation where there is no more crying, pain, sorrow, and sin.
So, which Jesus do you wish to follow, the Jesus of Peter or that of James? Is He not the same Jesus to both and to all who trust in Him? Yes, He is.
And so Jesus says to all: “Blessed is he who does not stumble over Me” –Mt.11:6.
Copyright Steve Phillips 2020