Chapter 18 describes Jesus’ arrest and His trials before the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman authorities. A lot happens in these 40 verses, but I was struck by something Jesus did and why He did it.
In verse 4 we’re told that Jesus “went forth” or “went out” to meet those who had come to arrest Him. As they were approaching, Jesus did not hide. He went to meet them. Even more telling, He did this “knowing all the things that were coming upon Him.” As the HCSB translates it, Jesus did this “knowing everything that was about to happen to Him.”
We have insight into why Jesus did this in verses 10-11 when He told Peter to put up his sword after Peter had tried to defend to Jesus. Jesus explains that the suffering He was about to endure was “the cup” the Father had given Him to drink and He would drink it. In other words – it was the Father’s will that He suffer on the cross and He was choosing to endure it.
Many people believe that every time we suffer it is because we have done something wrong. We hear comments like: “I don’t know what I did to cause God to let this happen to me.” In other words – my suffering must be tied directly to a specific sin I committed.
This is not what the Bible teaches. The truth is that suffering is not always a result of some sin we committed. It is not always God’s punishment for a wrong we did.
Jesus was not suffering because of any sin He had committed. He was about to suffer because of OUR sin.
While our suffering is always because of sin – it is not necessarily the direct result of a specific sin we’ve committed.
Our suffering can be because we live in a sinful and fallen world that has been corrupted by sin. Thus natural disasters happen, which cause suffering. A tornado or flash flood which causes suffering is not the result of a sin we committed. It is the result of humanity’s sin that has subjected the creation to futility and death (Romans 8).
We’re diagnosed with cancer, because our bodies are not perfect – they too were made subject to death because sin entered the world. Each human body has a sinful nature and the result of that sinful nature shows up differently in each of us when it comes to disease and sickness. It is not because of a specific sin we commit, but because we are sinners with a sinful nature.
Another person makes a sinful choice – like driving drunk – and we suffer. We suffer because of their sinful choice – not ours.
Life is not fair. Sin is not fair. Everyone suffers and some suffer more than others. Indeed sin is a cruel and hateful master. We do not live in a bubble where sin cannot touch us. We live in a sinful and fallen world where sin touches us every day. When sin touches us, we hurt – always.
But something else that stood out to me in this part of Jesus’ story is the fact that He went forward to meet those who had to come to arrest Him knowing what they were going to do to Him. He did this because He knew it was the Father’s will. I want you to really get this: Jesus knew the Father’s will for Him involved suffering and He went forward anyway.
If you knew God’s plan for you was not going to be easy, would you still do it anyway? If you knew God’s will for your life would involve challenges and hardships, would you still obey Him? That is what Jesus did!
Obeying Jesus when it means we receive good things is easy. Obeying Him when it means we receive hard things – well, that is the true test of His Lordship in our lives.
We all experience good times and hard times in life. The question we must answer is this – “Are we going to follow Jesus through it all?”
Pastor Steve Hogg
Leave a Reply