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Jesus Shares in Our Suffering
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). John states this so matter-of-factly that it’s easy to miss the implications of this phrase.
This means God, who by nature is merciful and compassionate and kind, became like us and lived in the middle of suffering. He saw sickness and death. He saw how selfishness destroys relationships. He saw our brokenness up close, how much we had messed up our lives. And He stayed.
He saw the loneliness of the leper, an outcast of society. The desperation of a man whose daughter was dying. The anguish of His own mother as she watched Him die.
We’ve all been there. We watch the news and wonder how humans can do the things they do to each other. We’ve felt the pain of seeing a loved one suffering, and wished for a moment that empathy didn’t exist because it hurts too much. We’ve put our arms around a friend as they cried, wishing that we could not only give comfort but actually fix the problem.
Maybe you’ve responded to that pain by distancing yourself from relationships. It hurts too much to care, so you don’t get involved. You protect yourself with cynicism and apathy.
Or maybe your reaction has been helplessness. You feel deeply moved by the suffering that you see but you don’t know what to do about it, so you’re overwhelmed by hopelessness and depression.
Look to Jesus. In His perfect, selfless compassion, He felt the suffering of others more deeply than you or I ever will. But He didn’t run from it. He wasn’t overcome by it. Instead, He presented Himself as the answer.
“For it was fitting that He, from whom and by whom all things exist, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering….Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He himself likewise partook in the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.…Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become and merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:10-15).
Jesus is God’s evidence to us that He sees our suffering and cares deeply, choosing to share in our suffering so that He could be the perfect solution, one who not only identifies with the pain but can do something about it. Because of His victory over death through His own suffering and death, He gives us the hope of something better than this life.
As disciples trying to be like Jesus, we have something to offer those who suffer. Instead of reacting to their pain by avoiding it or being overwhelmed by it, we can show them Jesus, by living out His compassion in our own lives, and by pointing them to Him as the true solution for suffering.
