We need to be abased before we can be exalted. Consequently,
the greatest blessings are often preceded by intense suffering.
It was this way with Joseph and Mary. The angel had informed
Mary that she would be honored by giving birth to the Savior of the world.
However, her betrothed had initially rejected her, convinced that she had been
adulterous. However, she was vindicated after an angel had revealed to Joseph
in a dream that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-25).
Once in Bethlehem, Mary had no alternative but to give birth
in a smelly, fly-infested animal cave and to wrap her Newborn in cloths
reserved for the dead. However, Mary’s agony was followed by glory – the shepherds
arrived to adore her Child.
They had to endure a hasty and dangerous flight to Egypt, where
the family were forced to live for several years as strangers in a strange land
(Matthew 2:13-15).
They then had to endure returning to Nazareth with a son who
might have appeared to have been born out of wedlock.
While generations would call her blessed, Mary had to endure
the sight of her Son tormented by the most excruciatingly torture and death.
The mother of God then became a humiliated social reject as the mother of a
“deceiver” who had led Israel astray.
It was the same for His Apostles who grievously suffered.
Paul was shown how much he would have to suffer for His Master. He recounted:
·
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews
the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was
stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from
my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the
wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship,
through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in
cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on
me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:24-28)
Even this wasn’t enough. God allowed Satan to afflict Paul,
and He refused to heal him, lest Paul would become proud (2 Corinthians
12:7-10). On top of this, history informs us that Paul and most of the Apostles
(perhaps even all) had to suffer martyrdom to prove that Christ was more
important to them than life itself.
I am grateful for their sacrifice. They stood by what they
had taught so that we might be reassured of the truth of the Gospel (Colossians
1:24).
Jesus didn’t want to suffer crucifixion (Matthew 26:39), but
nothing was able to demonstrate His love for us better than His death on the
Cross (Romans 5:8-10). Consequently, this was the moment of His greatest glory:
·
And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain
of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it
bears much fruit.” (John 12:23-24)
Oddly, His glory was the hour of His greatest humiliation,
but of our exaltation. Somehow, they both go together, even in our own lives,
where our Lord makes room for blessing by first emptying us through suffering.
Even Jesus needed the training of suffering:
·
Although he was a son, he learned obedience
through what he suffered. And being made perfect [in His humanity], he became
the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. (Hebrews 5:8-9)
Therefore, we too must ready ourselves for the Lord’s
disciplines.
No comments:
Post a Comment