Jesus' sufferings and ours

Today we continue to look at the “Incomparable Jesus,” incomparable because no one else has died to take away our sins that we might be reconciled to God.  Indeed, we can see the extent of his love for us, by looking at His acute suffering on our behalf. PAUSE After the events in today’s Gospel, Jesus endured acute abuse and suffering for the next 18 hours until He died.

Of course, much of Jesus’ suffering was the intense physical destruction of his very human body. Following today’s Gospel, Jesus was arrested, beaten up by Temple police.  On Thursday and Friday he was tortured and whipped by both the temple Police & the Roman army. Take out the whip. One doctor, with an interest in this topic writes, quote

The  flagrum is a short whip with small balls of lead tied near the ends of each thong, "is brought down with full force, AGAIN AND AGAIN, across Jesus's shoulders, back, and legs. At first, the whip cut through the skin only."  
The succeeding blows, however, "cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues producing oozing of blood from the veins of the skin. Then
the whip tears into the deep skeletal muscles to produce ribbons of bleeding flesh.    Put down whip. Take out crown At the mocking of Jesus, a crown of thorns was driven into his scalp, causing more bleeding, the scalp being among the most veined parts of the human body. Unquote Crown goes down

Furthermore, Jesus endured even more,emotional and spiritual suffering. Betrayal by one you love is a crushing blow for anyone. PAUSE If you , like me, have experienced such betrayal, then you know the resulting heart break; and you can closely identify with Jesus’ experience of betrayal.   It eats you up from the inside out.  Add to that stress abandonment, and anguish of God not providing a way out, Jesus, the God/man was overwhelmed from the inside out.

Next, Jesus carried his heavy cross from the city to Skull Hill.   So exhausted and battered, He fell down 3 times.  Take out nail  Once they reached Skull Hill, He was nailed to the cross with HUGE SPIKES  through His hands and feet. His whole body weight was carried upon his hands, causing searing pain throughout His body.  Being hung that way, pressure came upon his chest, which would eventually suffocate him. To get some relief, He probably tried to stand up straight; but that caused even greater pain in his feet and legs. After six hours of this, He loses consciousness and dies. PAUSE put down nail

Rejected and cursed by the same people who had hailed him as King just 4 days before, had to have broken His human heart.  He had received the word from God that He would rise again on the 3^rd day; but in his heart of hearts, He may well have felt like he had failed his family, disciples, and even God.

But  the worst of the spiritual/emotional pain came from His voluntarily taking,/// ///within  Himself,??? the sin of the whole world. PAUSE The Bible says that He, who had no sin, was made into sin. PAUSE So we have this God-man, who opposes sin with every fiber of His being, being supernaturally poisoned   with all the evil of the world….. including all the rage, the hate, the brokenness, the helplessness wrought by disgusting sin. PAUSE The full weight of that, alone, must have driven him close to insanity. PAUSE

Fortunately, none of us  have not gone through suffering like Jesus on the cross.  However, the experience of His suffering  is supernaturally linked to our suffering.  He suffered, in part,  because He knew that one day, you would suffer; you would grieve; you would endure the pain of sickness, either in your own body, or in the body of a loved one.   Jesus understood that like Him, many of us would come to that point of darkness where you feel like a failure…feel like you let down someone you love.  Jesus understood, that you, too, May, at one time or another, may experience rejection, fear, betrayal, loss, and abandonment. He wants you to understand that He empathizes with you like no one else can. The term Empathy  is literally 'feeling into' - the ability to project one's personality into another person and more fully understand that person.  So please remember, PAUSE JESUS HAS WALKED IN YOUR SHOES.  PAUSE

The Bible also says that Jesus sympathizes with us.Sympathy is literally 'feeling with' - compassion for or commiseration with another person.

Both empathy & sympathy can  help to support the one suffering, even if we cannot change the situation.  God’s empathy & sympathy open the doors for God to comfort you.  Comfort comes from the Latin word “cum forte” that means “with strength.”  God’s comfort results in strengthening us.

Next, Jesus wants us to know that human suffering has meaning, because as we suffer, we also share in the sufferings of Christ for the world.  This is what Paul meant when he writes that our sufferings positively contribute to the redemptive work of Christ, through the Church.  

·       Suffering makes us turn to the Lord in prayer.

·       Our suffering can enable us to have more compassion for others.

And suffering can help us grow.  This is what Paul is saying in this morning’s first reading. Would you open your bulletin to page 3, Looking at the first reading. Let us read in unison beginning at verse # 3.  Saying, ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

So, there will be an end toallsuffering. PAUSE Now, I do not mean to underplay the horror of suffering. But Jesus wants us to know He shares in our sufferings, and we will share in His Hope...which does not disappoint.    J J    PAUSE

Bud had had been successful in both his home and in his work; but suddenly and shockingly he was stricken with terminal cancer.  I cannot the exact details, but somehow one treatment resulted in his blindness. Bud had never been much of a church goer; but He was lonely and decided that I could come to visit him every week or two. On each of those occasions, Bud heard the good news of Jesus’ love and received communion.  He had never seriously read the Bible,  but he had his wife play audio tapes of the Gospels.  The day finally came when Bud invited Jesus into his heart. PAUSE For the remainder of Bud’s life, he felt a sense of God’s presence and comfort as never before. J J J J  Once a new grandchild was born, he wanted to share his faith with his family.  So, Bud arranged for the baby’s baptism to occur in his bedroom, so that he could attend.  His children asked him about His deepening faith, and he told them. A week later, Bud died in his sleep.

The Bible tells us that God would never inflict suffering upon his children; but when it occurs, God goes to work.  The Bible says, and please repeat after me, “God can bring// good out of every bad thing.” God brought good out of the cross, by raising Jesus to new life; And if you pray and  look closely, you will see Him bless and comfort you in the midst of your pain.

---The Rev. John Donnelly