Reaction to Suffering: Why Christ Is Perfect

[Guest Mores]

We sang Hymn #191 this week: Behold the Great Redeemer Die.

Verses two & three read:

Quote

While guilty men his pains deride,
They pierce his hands and feet and side;
And with insulting scoffs and scorns,
And with insulting scoffs and scorns,
They crown his head with plaited thorns.

Although in agony he hung,
No murm’ring word escaped his tongue.
His high commission to fulfill,
His high commission to fulfill,
He magnified his Father’s will.

The bolded line caught my attention this week.  I've glossed over it so many times.  But this week, I was drawn to it.  I pondered how he could have endured the simple earthly pains alone, nevermind the agonies of the infinite Atonement.  Yet He didn't complain.

Much of the overall song focuses on the additional lines (that he was focused on his Father's will).  And certainly verse 4 seems to indicate that was what he was focused on.  But for some reason, my thoughts went to verse 2.  I wondered how I would have endured.  My response was -- not at all.  I don't do pain very well.  I can't begin to imagine how much weeping and wailing and moaning and screaming and ... that I'd be doing if I were in His place.  But I wasn't.

I prayed for understanding.  How did He do it?

An answer came to me.  He wasn't focused on himself, or his own pain.  With each stripe he bore, with each drop of blood from the plaited thorns digging into his skull, with the agony of crucifixion, He did not think of it as His pain.  He was filled with compassion for those mere mortals who had to suffer those pains. All those who suffered in the past, those were were suffering with him in the present, and those yet to come who would suffer so much.  He was filled with compassion and mercy and tenderness towards us all.

He endured because of His endless selflessness.  Whether He was focused on His Father's will, or upon the suffering of all of us, He was never focused on His own suffering.  It was always about us.  It was always about fulfilling the will of The Father.

[Anddenex]

1 hour ago, Mores said:

The bolded line caught my attention this week.  I've glossed over it so many times.  But this week, I was drawn to it.  I pondered how he could have endured the simple earthly pains alone, nevermind the agonies of the infinite Atonement.  Yet He didn't complain.

In addition to your thought I like this verse of scripture, "And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them."

Christ did not murmur because he knew the dealing of his Father who had created him and all of those he was atoning for.

[mikbone]

6 hours ago, Mores said:

An answer came to me.  He wasn't focused on himself, or his own pain.  ....

He endured because of His endless selflessness.  ...

It was always about us.  It was always about fulfilling the will of The Father.

I agree.  

I have spent quite some time trying to figure out what motivated Jesus Christ to perform the Atonement.

And I think that over the years, I have begun to come to a basic understanding.  

 

 

It took a great deal of experience as a father, and as a student, but I think that the study was worth the effort.  

 

A great clue is that prior to (Luke 22: 43), Christ petitioned His Father to allow this cup to pass from me. (Matthew 26:39)

 

After the Angel strengthened our Savior, Jesus embraced the Atonement with an unwavering love, devotion, and with a newly crystallized determination. 

Edited July 1, 2019 by mikbone

[Traveler]

@Mores  I believe it is most fitting to say "a" answer and not "the" answer.

I am a person with a high tolerance for pain.  I would rather deal with pain than with pain relieving or blocking drugs or medication.  I sometimes wonder if the pain and suffering of Jesus had little to do with physical pain - but rather more spiritual and emotional pain.  I am sure Jesus suffered great physical pain - but I believe his spiritual pain and suffering is more what we need to realize.  Plus I believe he suffered both physical and spiritual death - though it seems that we mostly focus on the physical rather than spiritual.  Though much more could be spoken of concerning this - I believe only the spirit can give understanding.

For me - I am personally more concerned about spiritual and emotional pain, knowing that for me enduring physical pain to be perhaps the easier to endure.  I have tried to understand Jesus suffering atonement but have concluded that I have little to relate concerning his suffering and not really having a desire to know the much more of his what he suffered.  And so I live with a paradox of not really understanding his suffering but quite hesitant to become more knowledgeable - hopping that what little I know and understand is sufficient.

 

The Traveler 

[Guest Mores]

4 hours ago, Traveler said:

I believe it is most fitting to say "a" answer and not "the" answer.

On 7/1/2019 at 8:09 AM, Mores said:

An answer came to me. 

Yeah  Me too.