The physical suffering of Jesus intensifies as Pilate has him flogged by his soldiers. It wasn't just the beating, it was also the humiliation and mockery as they dressed him up as a king with a purple robe and crown of thorns. Even so, Pilate believed in his innocence, bringing him out to the people and saying, ""I find no basis for a charge against him." (John 19:4) The suffering of an innocent man is particularly difficult to view.
To be honest, taking time to reflect on Christ's suffering not only for me, but because of me, brings an ill feeling within . It's so easy to take this suffering for granted, almost like it didn't really happen. But it did, and this reading reminds me that it is my sin that brought this upon him. That makes me feel both guilty and sad.
But, as the devotion suggests, in Jesus we also see God's love and mercy lived out in full. I am in awe of such a man- such a God!- who would love me so fully as to be willing to suffer and die for me. I need to acknowledge and view Christ's suffering. I need to admit my part in that. But I also need to see God's love. He did that for me, to forgive me, and to make it possible to live rightly with God. The story does not end with the suffering. The story ends with God's love poured out for me and for all people. Thanks be to God!
Thank you Jeff for this insight. I responded in a similar fashion. For a period in my ministry, when I first moved to Floria, I knew I was out of God's Will, and I wandered away from my Abba. I rejoice in redeeming Grace, but Oh, at what a cost to my Savior!
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