Welcome. The gospel message is that Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures as we see in Isaiah 53 and 1^{st Corinthians 15. We know that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. We find this in the Scriptures in Hebrews 15 and Ephesians 1. But the question could be asked why couldn’t Jesus have had a quick, less torturous death? Why all the suffering? Is there a reason for it all?}

This is what we’re going to explore today. We’re going to start that exploration with reviewing exactly what all Jesus suffered before His death. This encompasses much more than is commonly thought. It is so very easy for us to only consider the suffering of Christ right before His crucifixion, which was considerable for sure, but it would be prudent for us to consider all the suffering He endured, which includes events that came all through His life.

The first thing we should consider is the suffering of temptation that Jesus faced every single day for thirty three years. (Heb 4:15) For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. As you see here, Jesus was tempted just as we all are. He faced the same kind of daily struggles we all face, and He came through without sin. Just because He came through it does not mean it was any less severe for Him than it is for us. The verse here is trying to point out that in all ways, completely, He was tempted. And as we can probably all testify, enduring the temptations in life can be pretty brutal.

(Heb 2:18) For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. Here we are told that Jesus was tempted just as we all are and so He is able to understand what it’s like to be tempted in life and can offer comfort to us who face temptations, which of course we all do. Jesus has been there man, Jesus has been there.

Jesus was also rejected by His very own hometown. (Luk 4:16) And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. Here we have Him back in the town where He grew up, and now let’s skip down a few verses to (Luk 4:28) And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, (Luk 4:29) And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. So as you can see here, they weren’t exactly kind to Jesus. Some of us might have experienced this kind of rejection, but I would imagine this is something that Jesus suffered that most people don’t.

We’re talking more than just social shunning here folks, they literally intended to lay hands on Christ and do Him physical harm. That’s a whole other level of rejection.

(Luk 11:14) And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. (Luk 11:15) But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. Here we have Jesus suffering even when He was doing something good! He was freeing and healing people of their afflictions, and He was accused of being a devil worshipper! Think about that, how would you feel in a situation like that?

Say you see an old woman crossing the street slowly, and there’s a runaway bus coming towards her. Say you leap out and pull her to safety, saving her life. What would you say if she attacked you for your actions? What if she called you a devil worshipper? What if she accused you of saving her so that you could kill her yourself? You would likely have your feelings hurt, at least to the point of probably being angry with her. Most of us would be outraged in a situation like that. That’s what Jesus went through.

(Luk 16:14) And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. After Jesus speaks, this is what the Pharisees did. The word ‘deride’ here, according to Strong’s, can be read as ‘sneered’. In other words, they mocked Him, they made fun of Him, they jumped down His back. They were rude, they were mean, they were just horrible to Him.

I don’t think I’ve been in a situation as serious as the one Jesus was in here, but I have been mocked and sneered at myself. It is not a pleasant experience. A lot of us know what its like to be sneered at, especially if you’ve put your faith out there. Jesus encountered this all over the place, it happened to Him more than just this once. He was mocked many times, and faced this painful situation on more than one occasion. If you’ve ever been made fun of, you have an idea of the hurt that was inflicted on the Lord.

(Luk 20:20) And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor. So here we have people in Jesus’ group that were there solely to bring Him down. They wanted to catch Him acting out of turn and doing something they could use against Him. Think about it, what if you had, in your circle of friends, people that were only there to destroy you, and you knew it?

What if you had to put up with these people and their false sincerity every single day? How frustrating and painful would it be to see them trying to catch you in a compromising position all the while doing their best to act like your best friend? I can’t imagine how irritating, frustrating, and heartbreaking such a situation must have been.

(Joh 6:60) Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? (Joh 6:66) From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Jesus was abandoned by many of His followers. Don’t you think this hurt Him? I know it did, for even though He knew who it was that would not believe and who would stop following Him, He still wants everyone to be saved. (2Pe 3:9) The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 

Jesus even caught flak from His own relatives. (Joh 7:5) For neither did his brethren believe in him. This is another situation that most of us probably can relate to. I know I’ve had people in my own family give me flak and not have any confidence in me. I know what its like to have relatives that shake their heads and think poorly of me. And I am just a man, I am nothing compared to Christ, and what He went through. If what I have experienced was painful, I can’t imagine how it must have been for the Lord Himself, but I know it was terribly unpleasant, and that He suffered from the experience.

When we look a little further down in John we can see that Jesus also dealt with ignorance in the multitudes. In verses 40-43 we see that the people are debating who Jesus really is, with some of them apparently not familiar with Jesus’ background and personal history. This had to be frustrating to Jesus as He had been spending a good deal of time speaking and teaching the people.

Jesus went through something that would have made me crack, if I was ever in the same situation: He knew His death was coming. He knew what was going to happen to Him beforehand. Think of the kind of anxiety this must have caused! How would you feel knowing you were going to meet a violent, brutal death? As it came closer and closer with each passing day, I’m sure it wore on Jesus.

Now I know that Jesus knew that He would not be contained by the grave and that He would rise again and all, but that wouldn’t take away the pain He knew He was going to suffer. Jesus even mentions His upcoming fate three times to the disciples. Luke 18:31-33 is one such example. (Luk 18:31) Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. (Luk 18:32) For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: (Luk 18:33) And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. 

Let’s not stop there, let’s go ahead and go one more verse: (Luk 18:34) And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. As you can see here, the disciples were of no help or comfort to Jesus. They were clueless as to what was being said. If I was in that position, I would feel lonely and isolated, so it is possible Jesus suffered from these kind of feelings as well.

Not only did the disciples not understand, they were being petty and bickered amongst themselves! (Luk 22:24) And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.

Also there were the bombshells dropped by Jesus that He would be betrayed, abandoned, and denied. This caused even more turmoil and chaos for the disciples, as they tried to wrap their minds around this information.

Jesus suffered great agony while praying in the Garden as we see in (Luk 22:44) And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. This is some serious agony and suffering that Jesus was going through here. He knew He was about to go through the pain and suffering of His death.

Then this agony is compounded by the fact that His disciples let Him down and hurt His feelings because they cannot even keep watch for an hour without falling asleep. Here Jesus goes to pray and He’s tormented in His spirit, and His disciples, who have declared over and over their devotion to Him, cannot be bothered to even stay awake. They succumbed to the weakness of the flesh.

Then of course we have the arrival of Judas who betrays Jesus with a kiss. Christ knew this was coming, of course, but to see it actually coming into being must have hurt Jesus deeply although He knew it had to come to pass.

With all this happening in the Garden, what else could befall Jesus? Well what about His disciples? (Mar 14:50) And they all forsook him, and fled. His people abandoned Him. His crew split, His posse bugged out.

He is then arrested and bound, and likely smacked about a little bit. I believe the movie The Passion of the Christ is likely fairly accurate on how Jesus was treated after He was arrested.

The next example of suffering we can see is how Peter denied Jesus, basically one of the disciples closest to Him turns on Him and denies Him. Of course Jesus knew this was going to happen to, and even predicted it beforehand, but I imagine it still pained Jesus’ heart to have it happen.

(Joh 18:22) And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? The physical assaults continued, and the pain here is obvious.

In an illegal night assembly, Jesus is falsely accused, and the physical attacks intensify. He is not only beaten, He is also spat on. (Mar 14:65) And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.

He is also attacked verbally, as we see in (Luk 22:65) And many other things blasphemously spake they against him. Although the old saying says that words don’t hurt, in all honesty they can hurt. The other old saying about the pen and the sword also holds true because the pen can cut as deep as any blade. The point is the words spoken against Jesus to His very face were terrible, hurtful words, meant to harm Him.

Jesus was falsely accused before Pilate, and then before Herod. Then He is brought once again before Pilate, who then in turn has Him scourged, or to say beaten quite severely. The pain and suffering of a Roman scourging was intense to say the least.

After having been beaten, He was subjected to the pain of having the crown of thorns placed on His head. With this on His head, He was again mocked and spat on by the Roman soldiers. (Mat 27:29) And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! (Mat 27:30) And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. 

After being beaten, mocked, and spat on, Jesus is forced to carry the very cross He is to be crucified on. Think about the suffering that would bring! Imagine not only the physical pain of the beatings, the emotional pain of being mocked, but also the mental torture of having to help set up the very device that is going to be used to execute you! This would be like carrying the electric chair to the chamber before being forced to sit in it. This would be like carrying the syringe of poison to the I.V. machine before lying down on the table. I can’t even wrap my mind around how that must have felt.

This brings us to the big point, the most obvious suffering that Christ faced: the crucifixion. There is no way the pain of that could be properly described. Not only was Jesus going through the physical torture, but there were still people blaspheming Him! (Mar 15:29) And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, (Mar 15:30) Save thyself, and come down from the cross. 

This is just a quick run down of some of the pains and suffering that Jesus had to endure in His life. Think about this truly and deeply and I think you’ll find that it is very moving that the Lord went through all of this for us.

But let’s look back at our original question: why did Jesus have to suffer so badly? Why did He go through everything we’ve just talked about and more?

For one thing, He went through these things to bring us to God. (1Pe 3:18) For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. God wants to reconcile man back to Him. (2Co 5:18) And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (2Co 5:19) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 

God was motivated by love, and sent His son to pay the price for our sins. (Isa 53:6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (1Jn 4:9) In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1Jn 4:10) Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

The suffering that Jesus endured reveals to us the terribleness of sin. Sin is universal as we see in (Rom 3:23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. The penalty for sin is dire; (Rom 6:23) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

The suffering reveals the greatness of God’s love for us. (Rom 5:8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God the Father’s love is revealed to us in this verse and in (Joh 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The love of the Son can be seen in (Joh 15:13) Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (1Jn 3:16) Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 

Jesus also suffered to become the perfect high priest for man. (Heb 2:10) For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 

This allowed Jesus to help those who are tempted. (Heb 2:17) Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Heb 2:18) For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. 

(Heb 5:7) Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; (Heb 5:8) Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; (Heb 5:9) And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. Jesus knows what it is like to walk in the flesh. He’s been there, and He is the perfect refuge for our weary souls.

Jesus is now standing for us, speaking on our behalf. (Heb 7:25) Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Rom 8:34) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 

He also suffered to be an example to us as we go through our lives. When we have to face persecution and suffering for doing what is right, we have an example to live by in Christ who suffered first for righteousness.

He also set us an example for our struggle against sin in the world and in our lives. He showed us how to seek after God and turn away from sin, and how to stand up against those who seek to mistreat us.

Jesus showed us how to love, and set an example about how our hearts should be towards our fellow man. His suffering shows how far we must go for the sake of love and righteousness.

This should give us a better understanding of the Lord, why He came, why He suffered, and how we should behave in our own lives as we struggle against sin. (1Pe 2:21) For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: until next time, God bless.

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