Category Archives: Suffering

With a Passion

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The Passion of the Christ.“The Passion of Christ,” Mel Gibson’s movie about the crucifixion, is extremely difficult to watch, but it’s the least I can do in trying to think seriously about Christ’s intense suffering. This year while watching, something new occurred to me.

 

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In the opening scene as Jesus agonizes in Gethsemane just before being arrested, we’re shown 3 sleeping disciples who Jesus had brought with him for support during his darkest hour. I’ve always thought of Peter, James, and John as being irresponsible in their untimely napping while their teacher and friend suffered so terribly.

This year I checked my Bible for more information. Luke says that their sleep came as a result of “exhaustion from sorrow.” Untimely napping, then, isn’t an accurate description of what was happening.

Earlier that night Jesus had given these men a boatload of bad news. They were in the process of internalizing it when they’d been asked to accompany him to the garden, and when they got there, they watched him fall apart. Confusion, fear, and sorrow mixed together to overcome them completely.

Jesus’ response to finding them sleeping was interesting. Although he was “a man of sorrows” himself and knew how they felt, he instructed them to “get up and pray.” He didn’t tell them what to pray about, but he did add, “Pray so that you don’t fall into temptation.”

What temptation was he talking about? Could he have meant the temptation to get stuck in their debilitating sorrow? He needed these men to remain strong, not only to support him but to cope with everything that lay ahead. Even so, Jesus wasn’t harsh with them. He said something like this: “I know your spirits are willing to stay awake, to watch, to pray, but I also know the human side of you has been weakened right now.”

Even during his most excruciating hour, Jesus was still teaching them. Maybe he was saying, “Don’t be tempted to get stuck in your sorrow. I’m fighting the same temptation right now, but I will not give in. My spirit is willing to endure whatever my Father asks, and I want you to do the same.”

Anyone who’s been swamped with grief, even a grief much lesser than that of Jesus, knows the temptation to get stuck in it. Deep sorrow is exhausting and can immobilize us, despite our spirits not wanting to succumb. But sometimes we’re too weak to resist it.

Jesus gives his disciples (and us) the way to successfully resist: watch and pray. He implies we won’t suffer in our grief longer than necessary if we’ll follow those instructions. And when we look at how he victoriously overcame tremendous temptation in the garden that night, how can we do any less?

Sleeping in the garden

“When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow… ‘Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.’ ” (Luke 22:45-46)

Digging Deeper

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The home we raised our family in was a 100+ year old farmhouse located near a creek. I loved to think about the farmer choosing that spot to build his house, up on a rise near free-flowing water that would satisfy household needs. In the late 1800’s, this family probably drew all their water from that creek by way of heavy wooden buckets.

Our old house

After we’d bought the house, we had a surprise visit from the “little boy” who’d been part of that first family. He was in his 90’s then, bent over with age, but his memories of the house were rich. We walked from room to room, and while standing in the corner where he said his mother had worked at a dry sink, he told of the well his father and brothers had dug. It was an upgrade from the creek, but she had complained it was too far from the house.

He then told of the grand day his father had dug a closer well and linked it to a hand pump on the front stoop. (That explained the 3” round hole in the concrete.) Of course eventually they had running water, and just before we moved in, a fresh well had been dug to a depth of 127’. The water quality wasn’t good, but with a line-up of purifying tanks in the basement, it was acceptable.

A creek-water bath

After living there 12 years, one day I drew a bath for the girls, and the tub filled with very strange water. It had gritty soil in it and looked much like the creek water flowing outside. Our girls loved their “black bath” and felt like they were playing in the creek.

The next day a well-man gave us the bottom line: “Your well’s going dry, and you’ll need a new one.”

After accepting our fate, Nate told him, “Dig deeper this time. Maybe you’ll find better water.”

Dig right in.

A week (and $12,000) later, we had water again, this time from a 165’ depth. There was bad news and good: the water quality wasn’t any better, but the well pipe had hit a deep vein of water, assuring us we wouldn’t run dry again.

I thought of how quickly we were willing to “dig deeper” to get the water we needed, both in the yard and in our pockets. Are we just as willing to diligently dig for God’s truth? How much effort and expense are we willing to put forth?

In the USA we can “taste” spiritual water with virtually no effort or expense. It’s on the car radio, at the corner church, on our TVs, on the internet. The question is, have we cheapened God’s pure provision by wading through its abundance without actually drinking it in?

165'

If that’s true, God’s love will see to it that we inevitably “dry out” to the point of craving his water like someone dying of thirst. And when that happens, no effort or expense will be too great to quench our genuine thirst for him.

“Whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

It’s too hard…

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Motherhood is exhaustingMotherhood is exhausting, the most difficult job on earth. It’s a massive responsibility, it’s emotionally draining, and it’s around-the-clock.

No young woman can properly prepare for what her own motherhood will be like. She can read books, ask veteran moms, babysit for other people’s children, and make detailed preparations while she’s pregnant. But when the baby actually arrives, she’s in for an incredible shock. Surrendering virtually all of her prior freedoms isn’t easy, and sometimes she sheds tears over the many sacrifices her new role forces her to make.

“Is it too much to ask for a single night’s sleep?” she says.

The answer is yes.

But what about the babies being mothered? Women sometimes view them as tiny dictators who rule without mercy, but in reality babyhood isn’t easy either. For example, our little Emerald is in the early stages of teething. She drools like a waterfall and continually gnaws on her pudgy fists, biting down hard with her toothless gums.

Gnawing fists

Every so often, while in a good mood and playing happily with her rattles,  she cries out in pain. That’s because her baby incisors are slowly cutting their way through her gums, forcing a path where none exists. And it hurts! So as her mom endures the hard work of parenting, she’s enduring, too.

Most of us find it difficult to see a situation from another’s point of view. We look from the outside and make the best analysis we can, but without experiencing it ourselves, we can’t really know. Fathers can’t be mothers, which sometimes frustrates the mothers. But mothers can’t be fathers, either, and aren’t able to fully understand the emotions and stresses of that role.

Jesus was (and is) a pro at analyzing the needs of others. That’s because he willingly dropped from royal status to commoner, a supernatural downgrade beyond our understanding. When we talk about freedoms being taken away, he forfeited the most. And Scripture lets us know the reason: to become one of us.

He stepped inside the experience of overworked mothers, teething babies, burdened fathers, and all the rest. And because of that, he’s the one exception to the general truth that no one fully understands someone else’s plight. Actually, he does.

So when young mothers feel no one knows how thoroughly spent they are, they should know that Jesus does. All of us can be confident he’s “on the inside” of our struggles and pressures, since he can accurately say, “I’ve been there. I know exactly how you feel.”Not yet, but someday

And as soon as little Emerald can say the word Jesus (which will be right after she gets her first teeth), we’ll tell her all about him.

Jesus… “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)