04/05/2019
When we suffer it is natural to want that pain to be gone. Some, in the midst of their travail, will ask the Lord to remove that burden from them, and even question His motive, or goodness. They say “Why would a God of mercy and love do such a thing to us? Why would Jesus tell us to take up our cross?”, and their experience with suffering and death shakes their faith. Yet we are meant to suffer alongside Jesus, and the cross we bear leaves a crimson stain across our backs... His. This is our mark of faith, and promise of eternal glory.
“And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.”
Luke 23:26-27 ESV
Have you ever dyed Easter eggs the old fashion way, with real food coloring and vinegar? This dye comes in basic colors, including red, and does not wash off! The least little touch and you will have it on you until it the skin wears off with time. You had to use great care when using it, but it seemed that try as we might there was always some on us when the job was done. I imagine the same happened to Simon as He shouldered the cross for Jesus. The blood from the back of Christ was transferred from the wooden beam onto the back of Simon, and the stain permanently remained there on his clothing. This became his badge of honor, and a remembrance of Christ’s suffering for us. As Simon carried the cross, it was also a very real weight for him, and in doing so he suffered just as Jesus was suffering under its burden. Charles Spurgeon attempts to explain our suffering in this way...
“Observe then, Christian: Jesus does not suffer to exclude your suffering. he bears a cross not so you can escape it, but so you can endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow.” - Charles Spurgeon
Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they didn’t create good and evil... they came to understand them. The fruit was likewise not sin. The sin was disobedience, and having eaten the fruit of knowledge, it allowed them to understand what sin was. The laws that governed man changed at that moment... God spoke them into existence. Death came into the world for them, and suffering did as well. Jesus mitigated death by promising we would be resurrected as He was, and He promised an end to suffering when we come into the presence of God as believers. He took the eternal punishment away, but the pronounced penalty for us on earth remains. The eternal punishment for our sins is washed away, but sin itself continues to exist... we can still sin, and we still need to call with contrition on the blood of Jesus for our forgiveness.
“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:22-23 ESV
So we will suffer, and we will die, but the eternity of these sorrows no longer exists for us through our faith in Jesus Christ. The natural laws still hold true; if we fall from a height we will break bones, suffer and yes, die. So until we see Jesus face to face, and are judged as righteous, we are given instructions as to how we should live our lives, and face our trials and death...
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”
Romans 12:12-15 ESV
Jesus suffered, and died, but He was resurrected. We too will suffer and die, but through our faith in Him, and obedience, we too will be pure, and resurrected.
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 ESV
As Christians we still hurt, and we still die, but we also rejoice. In our suffering we see the suffering of Jesus, and in our death we not only see His death on Calvary, but have the promise of resurrection, and an eternal life of joy, free of suffering and heartache, in Jesus.
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 ESV
As men and women, we put too much weight on the here and now of our current existence. When I would get my kids dressed and ready to go to school they would often bemoan the fact that they had to go. I would tell them that these years would pass quickly and that they would soon be through with schooling, and move on to an adult life, but they just couldn’t grasp the fleeting nature of those grade school years. We too have trouble understanding the brief nature of this life, and are unable to fathom the unseen eternity that lies ahead of us. So for now we must have faith, even in the midst and certainty of our suffering, and death. Each day we must pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Each day we must face death, and see the temporary nature of it.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the suffering and death we experience in this world, and for your Son Jesus Christ through whom our faith makes this temporary, and opens, by His redemption, our eternal joy and peace in your presence. I rejoice in understanding that my faith and obedience leads me to your table, and seals me as your child forever. I pick up the cross of Jesus and take the crimson stain of His blood across my back. I suffer and know that my prayers are heard, and that I will be made able to endure my sorrow by your mercy. I trust that if it be your will I will be healed, and rescued from my suffering, but it is in faith that I know there is goodness and love, even in my suffering and death. I celebrate the coming day when this mystery will be made known to me, and all my tears will be dried. From within the heart of my suffering and sorrow I lift up my voice in praise and adoration to you, singing “Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God of mercy and love. Great is your grace through Jesus Christ who leads me through my travail, and stands with me before you in my moment of judgement.” Hear my cries Father, and ease my suffering, but I pray that you never hear my voice questioning your love and goodness. Lead me Jesus through this life of pain and anguish, and teach me how to endure it in righteousness, and love, as you did.
“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,”
1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV
Rich Forbes