The Suffering of Jesus

REV HENRY HONG

“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”

(Isa 53:5 ESV)

Jenny was in trouble because a serious theft had occurred at the IT company where she worked. Although it was her subordinates who engineered the crime, the company was going to prosecute Jenny for allowing the security to lapse, which enabled them to steal valuable company data. There was a real risk that she may lose her job after working there for 24 years.

Perhaps one of the worst kinds of suffering is the pain of betrayal. It is those closest to us who are in the position to hurt us most.

Nisha never imagined the dream man that she married years ago would cheat on her and abandon their family to live with another woman. Now that the divorce is about to take place, Nisha is worried about raising her two young children as a single parent. She wonders how she would react if she ever saw him on the street.

REFLECT: What examples can you recall of people having to suffer through no fault of their own?

READ: Let us read Luke 22:14-23:56.

The saying “Life is not fair” often comes to mind whenever we experience hardships arising from situations that are out of our control. Jesus himself faced the challenge of making sense of his own suffering – from being misunderstood, wrongly accused, to be being betrayed by the ones who were closest to him.

In the reading from the Gospel of Luke, the author illustrates Jesus being misunderstood by two groups. The first group was the religious leaders, who could not hear the message of Jesus over their own misunderstanding of the Law as well as their own jealousy over Jesus’s popularity and were now on hand to arrest him (Lk. 22:52). Surely more disappointing to Jesus was the misunderstanding of the second group – his own disciples.

At the table of the Last Supper, his followers still could not grasp the importance of the prophecy concerning Christ’s suffering, but instead were bickering over who would be the greatest. Yet even so, Jesus did not lose faith in them and promised them the glory of God’s kingdom (Lk. 22:28-30).

More piercing than the subsequent intense humiliation of the religious leaders’ accusations, Herod’s mocking, and the Roman trial, Jesus had to endure the betrayal of trust of his own disciples. Whether it be Peter’s denial, or Judas’s betrayal or even the other disciples’ desertion of him, Jesus loved them to the end (Jn. 13:1).

As we enter into Holy Week, let us remember always to meditate on mystery of Christ’s suffering together with the mystery of hope in him. In the moments of his suffering, Jesus based all his decisions and behaviour on the hope of God’s promises of resurrection and eternal life.

Our earthly pilgrimage is not yet over, and we can be sure that along the way we too will be undergoing trials of our faith like Peter and would need the constant intercession of Jesus (Lk. 22:32-33). But can we, like our Lord, undergo the trials of our lives with patient hope? Peter who was kept in his faith by the Lord’s prayer gives us this exhortation (1 Peter 1:6-9 ESV):

⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

PRAYER: Loving and Gracious God, through the heart of Your crucified Son our eyes and hearts are opened to the pain and suffering of our world; our hands are opened to reach out to those who are in physical, emotional and spiritual need. May the suffering of Christ teach us to be servants who are willing to hold and carry our brothers and sisters. Grant us Your compassion, through Christ our Lord. Amen.