How Can We Suffer Well?

“Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to Him, went…”

What follows that sentence in the next few chapters of John is absolutely unbearable brutality. Betrayed by His closest friends, rejected by His own people, tortured beyond recognition and eventually murdered—Jesus, the perfect Son of God, literally became sin for us so that we could be made right with the Father. And knowing the things that were going to be done to Him, knowing He had the opportunity to run or fight or lie, He still moved forward.

When Peter attempted to prevent Jesus’ capture, Christ said, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” In that moment, as in the rest of His life on earth, Jesus chose obedience over comfort. Knowing that He faced betrayal, rejection, torture, and death, Jesus chose to move forward in obedience, directly into God’s plan for Him, directly into suffering.

Sometimes we think the absence of suffering is the will of God. We think pain couldn’t be a part of the Christian life. But Jesus promised suffering to anyone who would follow Him. His example shows us how suffering and obedience are inseparable for the believer.

In the days leading up to Jesus’ death, the suffering He endured was unimaginable, but the result of that obedience changed the course of history. Because He endured, going willingly to the cross to die for our sins, we can have hope and life in Him. Knowing everything, Christ still obeyed.

But what about us? We don’t really know anything, do we? We can’t see beyond this moment. How can we endure the suffering of life? Betrayal? Rejection? Pain? 

Only because we know Him, His faithfulness enables us to say, “Knowing everything, Christ was obedient. And knowing Christ, I can endure all suffering through Him.”