Contributed the following article to the Dec '16 issue of VANAMUTHAM,
that attempts to connect the world (with its events and practical issues) to God's word.
He was born as a Carpenter’s son; His mother
having to travel during full-term pregnancy possibly to escape social ostracization,
denied even the minimal comforts of an inn while having to deliver while on
travel, and having to be content with the privacy afforded by a manger in
Bethlehem; His family having to run into nearby Egypt as refugees during His
early childhood before returning to Nazareth. He did not have the luxury of
learning under a scholar - the kind that wealthy roman citizens like Saul of
Tarsus could afford – possibly trained just as an under-study to His father in
carpentry. He as a human, beginning humbly as a fragile, tender, dependent
baby, having to be cared for – fed, cleaned, put to sleep - by his mother, and
as an adult in later years needing food, sleep, personal hygiene just like any
other man who has walked on earth. Why this humiliation for the Creator,
charting life just like any ordinary creation for 33-some years, culminating in
death on the cross?
It is true that He came in our stead, to pay the price for
our sins. The sinless died for the sinful, that we could be granted his
righteousness. His suffering was indeed ‘vicarious’. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and
familiar with pain. Surely He took up our pain, and bore our suffering. He was pierced for our transgressions, He was
crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on Him,
and by His wounds we are healed. The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us
all. He was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgression of my
people He was punished. “My righteous servant will justify many and He will
bear their iniquities”. He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered
with the transgressors. For He bore the
sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors (Isa 53). Yes, He was our Vicar, our Substitute!
We now do not have to face the second death – the eternal
hell-fire. Instead we are now being formed again into His image, before we can
be taken to where God is, to spend an eternity there. He will then wipe away
every tear from our eyes. There will be
no more death or mourning or crying or pain. No longer will there be any curse
(Rev 21:4; 22:3). Thanks to our precious redemption bought by the blood of our
Lord Jesus, shed on the cross. Indeed a glorious future we all look forward to.
But what about the present? Will there be pain, tears, death and mourning now?
Has that too been removed by our Lord’s suffering on the cross? If He was only
our substitute, who has already endured all that we had to, we should be free
from any suffering from this point forward.
But our experience post-salvation does not seem to say so? What does the
Bible tell us about suffering, here and now?
“It is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. How is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pet 2:19-21). Oh! So Christ suffered not only as a Vicar but also as a Model. Our suffering can never purchase us our redemption, and he had to suffer and die in our stead. We understand that. But there is another suffering that He expects us to undergo, following His footsteps. We often miss this. We cannot suffer to buy our own salvation, but we need to suffer so that we are made into the image of our Model.
Suffering in this world is guaranteed. What else can we expect from a fallen world? In this dog-eat-dog world, people return evil for good. Selfish exploitation of resources, people, relationships have led to natural catastrophes, sicknesses, and emotional breakdowns. We can choose to retaliate with evil, bitterness and complaining. Or we can choose to follow our mentor and take the suffering in our earthly stride. “When they hurled insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered He made no threats. Instead He entrusted Himself to Him who judges fairly” (1 Pet 2: 23). People do not want to suffer this way. And when they don’t follow the Mentor, they suffer the wrong way, for their own wrong-doing. Binge eating leads to obesity which in turn leads to cardiac arrests. Promiscuousness leads to venereal diseases. Drunken driving leads to accidents and deaths. We saw Peter already telling us that such suffering is not as a Christian; it brings no credit. “Jesus committed no sins and no deceit was found in His mouth” (1 Pet 2:22). Suffering like Christ while doing good is commendable, because such enduring is enabled by god-consciousness.
Paul too talks about being moulded into our Mentor’s image through suffering. He says that he bears on his body the marks of Jesus (Gal 6:17). When he was wronged, he prayed like Jesus. “At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them” (2 Tim 4:16). The words of his mentor “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” echoing in his own response to the evil that confronted him.
“It is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. How is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pet 2:19-21). Oh! So Christ suffered not only as a Vicar but also as a Model. Our suffering can never purchase us our redemption, and he had to suffer and die in our stead. We understand that. But there is another suffering that He expects us to undergo, following His footsteps. We often miss this. We cannot suffer to buy our own salvation, but we need to suffer so that we are made into the image of our Model.
Suffering in this world is guaranteed. What else can we expect from a fallen world? In this dog-eat-dog world, people return evil for good. Selfish exploitation of resources, people, relationships have led to natural catastrophes, sicknesses, and emotional breakdowns. We can choose to retaliate with evil, bitterness and complaining. Or we can choose to follow our mentor and take the suffering in our earthly stride. “When they hurled insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered He made no threats. Instead He entrusted Himself to Him who judges fairly” (1 Pet 2: 23). People do not want to suffer this way. And when they don’t follow the Mentor, they suffer the wrong way, for their own wrong-doing. Binge eating leads to obesity which in turn leads to cardiac arrests. Promiscuousness leads to venereal diseases. Drunken driving leads to accidents and deaths. We saw Peter already telling us that such suffering is not as a Christian; it brings no credit. “Jesus committed no sins and no deceit was found in His mouth” (1 Pet 2:22). Suffering like Christ while doing good is commendable, because such enduring is enabled by god-consciousness.
Paul too talks about being moulded into our Mentor’s image through suffering. He says that he bears on his body the marks of Jesus (Gal 6:17). When he was wronged, he prayed like Jesus. “At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them” (2 Tim 4:16). The words of his mentor “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” echoing in his own response to the evil that confronted him.
Paul tells the Church at Colosse, “I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church” (Col 1:24). He is not saying that Christ’s suffering for our salvation, as our Substitute, is incomplete. Christ himself had said on the cross, “It is finished”, having paid the full ransom. What he is talking about is the other suffering that Christ underwent setting an example, that we should follow in his footsteps. This suffering will be completed only when Christ returns. Till then, the church will undergo suffering, even as our Lord himself participates in it alongside us. That is what he told Paul when he was tormenting the Church - it was Christ himself who he was persecuting.
Would we submit to God in our suffering, as our Mentor did? We have the assurance that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom 8:28,29). Knowing fully well that the present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us, he tells the church at Philippe, that it has been granted to us on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him (Phil 1:29). Suffering is not a curse, it is a blessing. It moulds us too like Paul, into the very image that we lost because of Adam’s sin.
In God’s view, suffering for Christ is not a Loss. For a Christian, profit-and-loss accounting does not close here. The day is coming, when we will see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not (Mal 3:18). True followers of the greatest Leader who ever walked on earth, disciples of that Perfect Mentor, are those who are willing to suffer here. Their citizenship is in heaven, from where they eagerly await their savior coming with weighty rewards.
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