Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Christ Knows Pain

Often times when we look at Jesus in the light of scripture, we recognize His miraculous works, wisdom, power, and compassion. We think of these attributes, however, with the mindset of His deity. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but we seem to miss the human nature of Jesus that is so evident in the record of His life. Hebrews 4:15-16 re-emphasizes this by telling us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (NIV). We cannot forget that Jesus suffered in all the same ways we do, with one exception, He did not give in to temptation the way we all have at some point in our lives. Jesus still knows what sin feels like, however, as He bore the brunt of it while on the cross, not because He sinned, but because He took our sins upon Himself while hanging on that brutal tree. Jesus, at some point in His life, had to wrestle with temptation, grief, triumph, anxiety, betrayal, and loneliness. Do any of these afflictions or emotions resemble anything you’ve had to deal with in your life?

Jesus was tempted at His weakest point, when He was “hungry” after fasting for forty days (Matthew 4:1-10). Satan waited until Jesus was at his most vulnerable as a human to introduce the one thing Jesus craved the most at that one point in His life: food. We learn from Jesus to lean on scripture during those times of struggle, not our own abilities. All of us have been tempted and cannot claim that Jesus doesn’t know what that feels like, as he obviously had a three-round bout with the devil in the desert, at the end of which God the Father sent His angels to tend to Jesus’ need.

Jesus, surprisingly, experienced grief as we do when a loved one passes away. Jesus’ knew well where Lazarus was after he passed away, but the grief Jesus saw in Lazarus’ family and the loss of His own friend caused Jesus to weep (John 11:35-38). Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus back to life again, but yet allowed Himself to feel the grief we all feel when we lose a loved one.

Not all of the emotions Jesus felt as a human being were negative. In the story of the Triumphant Entry (John 12:12-15), Jesus was adorned as a King. He did not deny or tell those honoring Him to stop; he accepted the accolades, in one of the few cases people praised Him while He was on earth. So like Jesus, we at times triumph in our lives – something Jesus knew quite well what it felt like.

Some people disagree that Jesus felt anxiety, but the case is strong that He indeed felt the strong emotions associated with dread. Jesus, in the garden before His arrest, was almost overcome with anxiety while praying over what was ahead of Him (Luke 22:39-46). Jesus was dreading the temporary disconnection from His heavenly Father that He was about to experience while on the cross. Jesus did not want to be separated from God the Father, but willingly did so on our behalf. We all battle anxiety over small and large things in our lives. Jesus tells us in Matthew, chapter 6, not to worry, as the Father in heaven is in control. Jesus had to put this into practice Himself as He faced the cross.

The two final hurts that Jesus experienced before the physical and spiritual pain of the cross were betrayal and loneliness (Luke 22:47-48 & Mark 14:66-72). Yes, Jesus knew that Judas Iscariot would betray Him, yet Jesus spent approximately three years with Judas and developed a friendship with Him. To have one of Jesus’ twelve closest friends be the one to bring armed soldiers to arrest Him was the ultimate betrayal. Following this betrayal, Jesus experienced loneliness, as His arrest prompted the disciples to flee. John stays in the vicinity and observes the trial from afar, then rejoins Jesus at the cross, but Peter actually denies Jesus while cursing emphatically. Jesus went through the most terrifying experience any of us could have in our lifetimes – an unfair, completely biased trial founded on trumped up charges, followed by torture, all by Himself. We go through periods of loneliness and trials, but none of us can claim to be as lonely as Christ was as He went through the last hours of His human life prior to death and resurrection.

Jesus overcame all of these human struggles, as well as defeating death for the atonement of our sins. He was not required to do this on our behalf, but chose to make this journey to earth to suffer and die (Phil. 2:5-8). So as you battle on your journey through whatever challenges you face, remember that Jesus has traveled that road as well. He is there by your side, even if you can’t see or feel Him, and He will be waiting at the end of the journey to greet you with arms open wide if you hold fast to Him on the ride we call life (Psalm 84:5-7).