And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Luke 9:21-22)
Interestingly, we’ve been going through Luke devotionally for almost a year now (well exactly one year tomorrow), and I couldn’t have predicted that we’d end up in chapter 9 at this specific section, but God worked it out that we’d be in this exact section right before Easter.
Peter had just finished answering Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” by responding with, “The Christ of God.” The very next thing Jesus did was command them not to tell anyone that truth. Now He didn’t just command them not to tell, but He also prophesied His suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection.
Christ’s Suffering
When we look at the suffering Jesus endured, it is excruciating – He was betrayed, beaten, mocked, and mutilated by whippings in which ribbons of flesh tore His back open, exposing muscle and bone. Then was forced to carry His cross on His tore open back. He had nails driven through His hands and feet, lifted high on the cross naked as He watched those whom He loved looking onward as He gasped for breaths while slowly suffocating. And the most heart breaking was being forsaken by the Father, with Whom Jesus had shared a perfect unity and oneness with until that point in time, when He became our sin and completed His mission of reconciliation.
The natural question to that image of suffering is why. Why did Jesus have to suffer many things? Why couldn’t He just have had a quick death and then resurrected on the third day?
Old Testament Law
To understand this, we have to look back at the Old Testament. When God delivered His people out of Egypt, He gave them the Law through Moses. This set, what Galatians explained it as, a guardian or tutor over us until Jesus came. When Adam and Eve sinned by eating that fruit, that brought a knowledge of good and evil. However, the Law brought a knowledge of our transgressions.
When the Law defined the sacrifices for atoning sin, it gave a picture of how bad sin was, how serious God took sin, and foreshadowed His plan for our redemption. The fact that an innocent, blemish free animal would take the penalty of death, in place of the person who had committed the sin, showed God’s mercy. The fact that the person was part of the sacrifice in which they placed their hand upon the head of the animal, signifying that the animal would be taking on the sin, showed the seriousness of the sin – the person offering the sacrifice had to look at that animal’s face and see the innocent die to atone for the sin they had committed. And the bloody mess of sacrifice as the animal was slain showed both a visual picture of the utter atrocity sin is to God as well as foreshadowing that the blood of the sacrifice would cover the one who was being atoned for. The sacrificial process was an up close and personal process, not a far-off observation.
Jesus, our perfect Lamb of God, became sin. He became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. That process of atonement could get lost on those of us who have never sacrificed an animal to atone for our sin according to the Law. But the picture we get from the description in the Bible, of Jesus hanging naked and beaten beyond recognition from the cross, shows us that process perfectly fulfilled once and for all. It shows us what our sin looks like to God and it’s excruciating to see.
Beyond what the Law could do, since it couldn’t offer a clear conscience nor give true life to the transgressor, Jesus did for us. He came to give us abundant life in Him in which we will be raised with Christ just as He resurrected, because He is our resurrection.
He was forsaken so that we never have to be, but we do share in His suffering. Yet, sharing in His suffering is a privilege as we are being molded and shaped into His image, and the momentary and light affliction that we face here on earth is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
Happy Easter
As you go throughout this Easter weekend, I encourage you to take time to remember all that Jesus did in becoming your sin, all so that you could be reconciled to God and be called His child. And in your thanksgiving to Him for His steadfast love, grace, mercy, and for being your resurrection, tune your ear to hear what the Spirit says as He reminds you to take up your cross daily and follow Jesus. Happy Easter!