The Christian, Christmas And Suffering Series

JESUS AND OUR SUFFERINGS

(A Christmas Message by Bob Marcaurelle)

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“The angel said, ‘Behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people / Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among men who are pleasing to Him.” - Luke 2: 10 / 14

“He (Jesus) is a man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief.” - Isaiah 53:3

Two words jump out of the angel’s Christmas message- joy and peace. But they seem to have a hollow, sentimental sound, in this world with so little joy; with the sounds of war and crime all around us and with all the suffering.

They are like a strange event in WWI. With France, England and America against the Germans, it was Christian against Christian. The war was fought from long trenches with the danger zone in between.

One Christmas morning the sun rose and the two sides prepared for the hell of warfare again. But a strange thing happened. Soldier from one side started singing Christmas carols, like Silent Night and O Little town of Bethlehem; etc.

Soldiers on the other side recognized the tunes and began to join it. Before they knew it they were out of their trenches, singing together. Christmas day ended and the next morning the two sides resumed trying to kill each other.

That Is the way it seems at Christmas time. We take time out to sing and talk of peace and joy, but the day after Christmas we are back to the real world. But these two wonderful gifts that come out of the arrival of God on planet earth not hollow and they are not sentimental.

They were a reality of the life of Jesus Christ. He was a Man of “sorrows” but he told His disciples, “MY peace I give you. Not as the world gives.” And when He faced the cross, Hebrews 12 says He faced it with joy; the joy of knowing that His work on earth was done, and the rewards of heaven were waiting.

Jesus’ coming gives us the wonderful gift of salvation, and part of that gift is that we can have peace and joy not because we are sheltered from pain. If God absolved Christians from the ordinary blows of life, we could not build enough churches to seat all the people who would come for all the wrong reasons.

We can have peace like Jesus did, in the midst of sorrow, and in spite of sorrow because Jesus walks with us and works IN us and THROUGH us

A. JESUS WALKS WITH US

“(Jesus on the night before He was killed told his followers: “In this world you will have tribulation. Be of good cheer (take heart, be brave), I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

The message of Christmas is not that the all powerful God who made this universe disguised Himself in a human body. He took on humanity with its frailties. He knew sorrow first hand; tears, first hand; a broken heart, first hand. If you hit Jesus he would bruise. If you cut him He would bleed. If you spit on Him you would not only break his heart, but tempt him to strike back

I do not understand why suffering has to be SO bad. I can understand, in our freedom, how we can manufacture bombs and automobiles and in warfare and in car crashes. But I cannot understand cancer, and I especially cannot understand children with cancer. But I cannot understand that little three year old child in Anderson that was taken to the hospital with 27 broken bones, inflicted by its father.

Folks, I’m sorry. Sue me. But I simply don’t know why it has to be so bad. If I were God, I would put the vitamins and nutrients we need in ice cream, or fried chicken, or milk gravy. I would make spinach fattening, and eating bacon the best way to lose weight. And no child on earth would die of cancer or starvation.

The older I get, and the more I look at the senselessness of suffering, I don’t have any answers, but I am encouraged that God, in Jesus suffered too. And He STILL SUFERS with us. When Saul brutalized God’s people Jesus asked Him, “Why are you persecuting ME? (Acts 9). I would far rather you hurt me than hurt one of my children or my wife. Like you, I would say, “Take me. Hurt me.” The amazing thing is that Jesus feels the same way. He took upon Himself, our sins, so He could pay our sin debt, but He also took upon Himself our sorrows.

In his sufferings we see PURPOSE IN SUFFERING. Calvary was not good, but the resurrection came from it; the ascension to God’s right hand came from it; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit came from it; the church came from it; and when we stand yonder in glory and say, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain”; we will know that every child of God in heaven came from the wounds of Jesus on Calvary.