Jesus Suffered Emotionally

-

Have you ever heard something in a sermon that suddenly hijacked you down a mental rabbit hole because it was a new thought for you? Well, that happened to me on Sunday as James preached from Matthew 27:11–26, the famous scene of Jesus being handed over to the governor Pilate to be judged for his supposed crimes. My rabbit hole appeared at v.19:

While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” (Matthew 27:19   NIV)

Here were my detoured thoughts:
- Judaea’s first lady “suffered?” Really?
- Does she have the right to use that word in light of what Jesus is going through? Seriously?
- Jesus really suffered a few days earlier when He saw Jerusalem, and cried for his lost people
- Jesus had really suffered at the betrayal of a close friend and at the desertion of the others
- Jesus was really suffering now because his own people were rejecting him
- and don’t even get me started on the real physical suffering that was about to begin.

Then the fog lifted and I came back.

I know that I’m not supposed to minimize another person’s suffering because we each suffer in our own ways. So yes, Pilate’s wife’s suffering was real; she was burdened by an unrelenting impression and needed to let her husband know her concern. Right now many of you have unrelenting concerns. Some of you are in angst and suffering from the uncertainties of pay-interruptions … or of the health of vulnerable family and friends … or the isolation that you are facing yourself from the imposed restrictions to your need for socialization. These are real.

So all of this begged the question in my mind: can any of us truly comprehend the emotional suffering of Jesus? Besides the things listed above, don’t forget the two times that he had to defend the purity of His Father’s House by beating away the profiteers with a whip? And what about the endless frustrations with his disciples’ lack of faith in their heavenly Father? And what about his broken heart when Lazarus’ faithless family tried to tell the Lord of the Resurrection that Lazarus was just too dead to be helped?

There is unfathomable suffering still ahead for Jesus as I’m sure our pastors will point out in their sermons that lead us into Easter. But what about the suffering He had already endured for the sake of pursuing His mission: to seek and save the lost? He continually suffered these things for us. No wonder Isaiah called Him, “… a man of sorrows … one familiar with suffering.” (Isa.53:3  NIV)

Do you have the strength to pray this Prayer?
Heavenly Father, I pray that You give me the heart of Jesus, to feel with His heart and feel the pain of my lack of trust in you. And then may the pain of my suffering be a Godly sorrow that leads me to repent of my lack of faith so that I can trust you more fully. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Please feel free to share your comments to other readers.

Popular posts from this blog

Did God Turn His Back on Jesus?

-
Why did Jesus holler out, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” Another possible explanation for Jesus’ statement is that He actually was abandoned by the Father. Some have suggested that a better declaration is that the Father turned His back on Jesus, or turned His face away from Him. Could this be true? As Greg pointed out in his message, there is considerable controversy surrounding Jesus’ statement above and great theologians debate its meaning. Some say that it’s impossible for God to have abandoned Him or to have turned His back on Him because the Trinity cannot be split; God has been looking upon sin from the first two humans that He created in the Garden of Eden so looking on Jesus was no different. They also point to the Psalm 22:24 prophecy that says that God will not turn His face from Him but has listened to His cry for help. I am not a great theologian (perhaps just an applied theologian ), yet, I find myself drawn to what I believe to be a more compell...
Read more

Questions for Personal or Group Reflections/Discussions

-
If you wish to take Pastor Greg’s Easter sermon further in your own life, use some or all of the following questions to help focus you, your family, or your life group for your reflections and discussions. ( click here to listen to the sermon ) 1.       What is the Gospel of Christ? How does the resurrection of Jesus give us hope both in this life and the one to come? 2.       Who raised Jesus from the dead? Was it God the Father (Acts 2:32, 33 Romans 6:4) Jesus Himself (John 2:18, 19, John 10:18) or The Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11, 1 Peter 3:18)? 3.       Read Romans 6:3-11. When we come to faith in Christ and are baptized “into Him,” what is the significance of this in relation to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus? In what ways are we transformed through Christ’s resurrection power? 4.       Read 2 Cor. 5:17. Jesus makes all who believe and follow Him a new crea...
Read more

HCC in the Trenches: "How I'm Seeing God in This Crisis"

-
Claire Walker wants to share this with her HCC family … Right before the COVID-19 outbreak took hold in Canada, God was leading me to spend time in the book of Habakkuk. Looking back I think maybe it was to prepare me for what was to come. About a month ago I was questioning God about suffering that was happening around me. “God, why? Why are you allowing this?” I didn’t understand. Now here we are in the middle of a global pandemic and we may find ourselves asking the same question of this type of suffering. People all over the world getting seriously ill and some dying, people are out of work, and generally living in fear. With all that is going on many of us may find ourselves asking: “God, why? Why are you allowing this?” We don’t understand. We can’t understand. We can’t always understand what God is doing because He is so much bigger than us, but because He is so much bigger than us, we can trust that He knows what He is doing, whether or not we can make sense...
Read more