The
Pain
of
Jesus
I recently
experienced a very painful
surgical postoperative period. As I lay in bed with tears in my eyes
from the pain, I thought of Jesus — of what He went through on the
cross. I am not sure we can imagine accurately the agony of a slow,
cruel death by crucifixion. Jesus was fully human (1 John 4:2;
John
1:14) and felt every searing tear of His flesh. That He did it
willingly for us is beyond what most humans would or could do. It might
be that a human would do it for a loved one in which the love is
reciprocated (Romans
5:6 – 8), but Jesus did it for us when we were His
enemies (Romans
5:10). He loved us when we hated Him (Isaiah 53:3).
What other faith can boast of a God who becomes
human and dies a brutal, unjust, painful death in order for us to have
a relationship with Him here on earth and for eternity? What other
religion can conceive of a God who loves us so much that He became like
us to show us the way to Him (1 John
1:1 – 3)? We can know that Jesus
is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
by
the
sinless life He
led (Hebrews
4:15; 1 Peter
2:22) and the sacrificial death He endured
for us. He paid for OUR sins on the cross (Isaiah
53:4 – 6) and His
resurrection assures us of eternal life with Him, IF we respond to Him
as He has instructed us in His Word (1
Corinthians 15).
Even in our own times of great pain, we can learn
from life and from God’s Word. While some view suffering as a reason to
deny God, I see it as a great reminder that God has been where we are
and knows all of the anguish we go through (Hebrews
4:15).
Photo: Patty Gibson
Back
to
Contents
Does God Exist?, SepOct10.