Why did Jesus have to suffer?
Over the past few months I’ve been having on-again off-again conversations about the Christian faith with someone who lives locally. They are what one of Jess’s colleagues calls ‘Jesus curious’! On Friday they asked this:
I was talking to my best friend one night and he said that he didn’t really understand why Jesus had to die on the cross, in such a sad way, and how in doing so he was able to absolve the sins of humanity. I tried to explain it to him but in trying I found that I myself don’t really understand either. So my question is: why did Jesus willingly undergo such hardship and pain and why does that mean that we may be forgiven for our sins?
I love it when people ask such great questions! I wonder what you would say if one of your friends said something like that? How would you respond? May you have the same question but are too afraid or ashamed to ask…
Peter encourages us: ‘always be prepared… to give the reason for the hope that you have… with gentleness and respect’ (1 Peter 3.15). Being prepared means thinking and praying about it beforehand – so let me share some thoughts and encourage you to think about it for yourself.
First, what matters most is the heart not the head. People want to know faith makes emotional sense far more than they care about it making logical sense. (Don’t get me wrong, that is important too, and we’ll come to that.) But this is how I began my response:
Jesus was willing to undergo all that because he loves us and obediently shares the Father’s desire to give us new life with him – everlasting life – far richer and deeper than this life. Jesus tells parables of people finding ‘lost’ things – sheep, coins, sons – to illustrate both his love for us and how far he is willing to go to bring us home.
So as a Christian, when I look at the cross of Jesus Christ of course I see his pain, but in truth far more than that I see the ultimate expression of love, willing to do and go through anything for the sake of the one who is loved. I see the reality of humanity’s brokenness – killing its own creator, let alone one another – and God’s relentless patience and faithfulness not to let us go, even when we let go of him.
And as a Christian, when I look at the cross I see not so much the suffering of Jesus, but my own brokenness which led him there. It makes me fall to my knees (sometimes literally) in sorrow and joy: grief for my sin and gladness for the wonderful gift of forgiveness and life that is mine in Jesus.
I wanted to share with my friend how the depth of God’s love for me – even in my sin – how that connects with me on an emotional level. And there’s a reason Jesus told parables about lost things being found… often people feel lost and need to know Jesus is searching for them.
Second, it’s important to begin helping people see the truth and wisdom of God in the cross. To do that we need to recognise God’s Love and his Holiness. The Bible – and ultimately the cross – could be described as the story of how God can be both Loving and Holy at the same time, when confronted with the rebellion and wickedness of humanity in general and his people in particular.
For God to ignore sin would go against his character in at least two ways:
- It would go against his Love for him to force his people to stay in a place of brokenness, distance and enmity from him – when he made us and calls us to be in relationship with him.
- It would go against his Holiness and Justice to pretend sin doesn’t exist or doesn’t really matter or isn’t that serious – the Bible calls us God’s ‘enemies’ for a reason.
Jesus had to suffer and die because our sin, our rebellion against God, is so bad it couldn’t simply be ignored or wiped away. And he did it willingly and obediently because of his great love for us.
So I ended my response like this:
Ultimately I find most helpful the idea of an exchange: my death becomes his death, so his life can become my life (2 Corinthians 5.21). He wins, I get to celebrate – and if a victory is easy, it is hollow. What Jesus had to overcome is all the rebellion of all people across all time, every unjust structure, every evil power and authority, all spiritual opposition to God –
Is it any wonder he had to die?
But what a victory he has won by dying, bringing life and light and love to all who want it! Which is why St Paul writes, ‘Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!’ (2 Corinthians 9.15).
Amen!
Revd Ben Green – Vicar