Sunday, July 29, 2012

Jesus Understands Your Pain

All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. -- Luke 4:28-29

It’s amazing how we skim over things sometimes. This verse comes right after Jesus took the scroll and read from Isaiah. We remember that part. And we know Jesus didn’t stop there. He was and is the voice of truth and those listening didn’t want to hear what He had to say about them.

We know that Jesus suffered and died for us on the cross. But how often do we consider that Jesus suffered long before He reached the cross? We don’t. And maybe skimming over that very real truth causes us to disbelieve that Jesus really, truly understands our pain.

Think about it for a minute. Those around Him, those in leadership positions, hated Jesus and wanted Him dead. He was criticized for being gracious to sinners, sharing meals with them and forgiving them. He was condemned for healing on the Sabbath.

One of His trusted friends betrayed Him, and this after Judas stole money from the moneybag the disciples had entrusted to him. Peter, the man who vowed to stand beside Jesus no matter what, denied Him three times. Thomas doubted Him. Jesus begged His friends to stand watch with Him, and yet they slept, unable to perform even that simple request.

And, still, we think Jesus doesn’t understand how it feels to be rejected by those whose opinion we value. He does. And we don’t consider that Jesus knows what it’s like to tell a secret to a trusted friend and learn that the secret was told to everyone else. He knows. And we don’t believe Jesus feels the sting of rejection from a dear friend. He does.

Jesus is so much more than the God-Man who died for us on the cross. We focus on that, naturally, because belief in the cross and resurrection is the foundation of our faith. We can endure the cross because we know the outcome. We see the resurrected Christ. We behold the scars and know the glory.

And we skim past the three years leading up to those final moments. How hard it must have been for Him to feel the pain of constant criticism, to be wary of those who wanted Him dead. And yet Jesus continued to do good. He told us to love our enemies. He told us to do good to those who harmed us. We think Jesus doesn’t understand our circumstances. The truth is that we don’t understand His.

Pain is inevitable on this earth. Some of it comes from the very humanness of our relationships with others. We are imperfect people struggling to survive in an imperfect world. We let people down. We betray people we care about. We deny who we are to impress those we shouldn’t. Jesus understands it all. He forgave us on the cross, knowing that we didn’t understand what we were doing.

So the very next time someone lets you down, take it to Jesus. The next time someone betrays you or hurts you, take it to Jesus. He understands your pain. Really. Truly. He does.