Many a time we’ve participated in a memorial service and reflected on the crucifixion of our Lord. Most of us have probably read or heard a detailed description of crucifixion.
The pain is awful. It’s a terrible way to die, one of the worst that man has ever devised. On a scale of 1 to 10, the pain is a 10.
You’ve probably all had the experience, but when going to a doctor recently, I was asked, “Do you hurt?” “Yes” was the answer. “On a scale of 1 to 10, how much does it hurt?” Until we’ve experienced a 10, I don’t suppose we can give a very accurate answer.
Well, Jesus Christ knows a 10.
That’s not accidental; it’s deliberate. On Jesus’ part, he refused the pain deadeners. On his Father’s part, it was the determinate plan of God that His Son would be crucified.
In the Lord’s case, his crucifixion wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Jesus was six hours on the cross. Normally it took some 72 hours for a victim of crucifixion to expire. Thus the Father was not into torturing His Son. But the Son knows what “10” feels like because of the brutal form of death he suffered.
Why this way?
Sometimes in our reflections we no doubt ask, ‘Why, why is brutal crucifixion part of God’s way of saving us?’
There is a commonly given reason that is very wrong, and even pagan: The blood of Christ does not pay, to some angry god, the debt for our sins. Instead, God forgives our sins. On the cross, God is the one giving, not the one taking. He gives His Son as a great act of divine love. There is nothing in the cross about appeasing His wrath.
A right reason for Jesus being crucified relates to his continuing role in regard to us. By knowing of his agony, we are convinced that when we are in great pain ourselves, we can cry out for divine help and be fully confident the Lord Jesus understands our agony. He understands because he himself has suffered a “10”, for hours. We remember Hebrews 2:16-18:
“For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (NIV).
As the whole of Hebrews 2 elaborates, the Lord Jesus was and is one of the race — he was a human being. And as we know from our own reactions to the problems of others, humans can only enter into the sufferings of another when they have suffered in like manner themselves. Thus a key reason Christ suffered brutal crucifixion is to encourage us to earnest prayer, being assured that we can trust our Lord fully to empathize with our trials.
Rejection
There are other areas of Jesus’ life where he came close to suffering a “10”. Take rejection for example.
Jesus experienced rejection by his family. At first Mary and Joseph were wonderfully supportive, with Mary’s great thanksgiving and joy at being mother of the Messiah, and Joseph’s full cooperation even in moving to Egypt for a couple of years. Then there was a hint of difficulty when Jesus was 12 years old. When he was found in the temple, Mary and Joseph didn’t have a full understanding of his early dedication to his Father’s work. During the ministry, we’re clearly told Jesus’ brothers did not believe in him (John 7:3-8). Even though the brothers would later be converted, they were at this point in a different world. They rejected, even derided, the Lord and his work. There will be some of us who have had a similar rejection by our families because of our devotion to the Lord. When that happens, we are grateful the Lord can fully empathize with our situation.
No doubt some of us have been rejected by our neighbors and have cited the Lord’s comment: “No prophet is accepted in his own country” (Luke 4:24). Jesus said this in Nazareth where he had been raised from a boy (v 16). When we are similarly rejected by folks at school, work, or in the neighborhood, Jesus knows how we feel and will help accordingly.
Jesus was also rejected by his nation. This is an experience that few of us will have. But the Lord was born king and spent three years going throughout the nation preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He agonized to save these people (Luke 13:34,35). From our perspective we know the attempt would fail. Yet the Lord yearned to save his nation, and we can sense his agony at their rejection.
Probably the rejection that hurt the most was that by his close friend, Peter. The most prominent of the twelve, Peter was confident in his own loyalty to Jesus, but the Lord knew better (Luke 22:33,34). So it was when Peter denied Jesus the third time (v 60), “the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter… and Peter went out and wept bitterly” (vv 61,62).
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would we rate the Lord’s experience with rejection? Family, neighbors, nation, Peter — more than a “5”, maybe an “8”? Certainly enough so Jesus can fully sympathize with us when and if we are rejected.
Betrayal
We may never have experienced betrayal, when someone very close to us has — for money, power, popularity, or revenge — turned against us to seek our dire harm.
Jesus did.
Probably the most remarkable aspect of Jesus’ suffering of betrayal is the fact he never marked Judas as the betrayer to the eleven. Jesus knew from the beginning who would betray him (John 6:64). This saddened him; it dismayed and troubled him, and gnawed at the very soul of his being:
“ ‘Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?’ He spake of Judas Iscariot… for he it was that should betray him” (John 6:70,71).
Yet he never exposed Judas. At the last supper, Jesus announced, “Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!”
Because the eleven had no idea the betrayer was Judas, “They began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing” (Luke 22:21-23).
With the Lord’s feelings running so deep that “It would be better for this man if he had not been born,” how did he not expose Judas? It’s remarkable.
In terms of suffering betrayal, where would we rank Jesus’ experience on a scale of 1 to 10? I believe we’d rank it a “10”.
Thus any of us who have ever suffered betrayal can have the total assurance that our Lord and helper knows exactly what we’re going through. He knows a 10.
Other trials
There are several other trials where we could apply this same scale of 1 to 10. We could apply it to frustration at the inability of the twelve to accept the certainty of the cross and of resurrection. A lot of us face great frustration in trying to convey the truth to others.
The Lord knew exhaustion to the point of sleeping in a boat in the midst of a storm. What mother has not experienced utter exhaustion during her baby’s first year?
Jesus experienced an uncertain future: “The Son of Man has not where to lay his head.” In our early years particularly, many of us have been completely dismayed at considering what the future might bring.
Futility is another trial known by our Lord. At one point, he must have cried out something like, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing” (Isa 49:4). On a scale of 1 to 10, where would we rank that?
An example for us
Why was the Lord crucified? One reason is clear: he was developing empathy for our trials of great pain. He experienced many other trials as well, so that we might feel confident in his understanding of our temptations.
There are, of course, other reasons why the Lord endured a wide range of suffering.
“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1Pe 2:21).
We look to our leader to lead us in a right course. He is the spiritual prince whose own behavior defines the right way for us to respond to various difficulties in life.
Developing his own character
Hebrews 5:7,8 tells us that:
“in the days of his flesh… [Jesus] offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him who was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.”
From our own trials and afflictions, we know how they develop in us hope, faith, patience, forbearance, etc. We don’t like difficulties in our life, but we know we learn obedience by the things we suffer. And so did our Lord Jesus.
In the cross and all its circumstances, we see the climax of our Lord’s character development. The hands that tormented him were wicked hands guilty of shedding much innocent blood. Here were people fully deserving the outpouring of divine wrath. While Jesus is the ultimate judge of all, at that time he had to exercise supreme self-control. A time will come for judgment, but that was not the time.
The Lord was given the opportunity to argue his own defense. He would have made fools of his accusers with the brilliance of his words. But at that point, he had to do the will of his Father and submit to his fate.
In this climax of his character development, Jesus humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, putting to death the power of sin within himself. He is the captain of our salvation, our champion in fighting the great power of sin. It’s like David slaying Goliath, while giving the rest of us courage to fight the Philistine within ourselves.
There was a lot being accomplished in those climactic 24 hours. Jesus was learning what a “10” feels like. He was setting an example for us in how to endure trial. He was destroying the power of sin in his own soul, encouraging us to do the same.
As we meditate upon the redemption the Father worked in the Son, we are powerfully exhorted, we are encouraged, we are motivated, and we are stirred to deep humility and thankfulness.
We thus proceed, with reverence and joy, to partake of the memorials before us.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One