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"Facing Christ: Facing Suffering"
“Christ at the Column” by Antonello da Messina
Source: www.louvre.fr
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and
familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their
faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
In our Lenten theme of Facing Christ, we have come
face-to-face with God each Wednesday. Every week, we
have examined a different piece of artwork depicting
the final days in the life of Jesus Christ. First,
Facing Humility, then Facing Service, Facing Temptation,
Facing Betrayal. Today, with the painting “Christ at
the Column” by Antonello da Messina, our focus is
Facing Suffering.
I have to admit that I wasn’t thrilled when I saw my
name next to this theme on the preaching schedule. If
there’s one thing we all don’t like, it’s suffering. In
fact, our entire lives are spent on a quest to avoid
any kind of suffering at all costs. Drug commercials
utter the word “suffer” as if it were a vulgarity:
“Do you suffer with back pain?” “Avoid suffering
from headaches!” Modern conveniences attempt to
alleviate suffering entirely from our lives. And
people sometimes choose to end their own lives through
suicide when they judge the suffering they are
experiencing is too great to bear. No one prays
for more suffering.
Yet here we are today, faced with the reality of the
suffering Jesus experienced, and facing the uncomfortable
truth that this suffering should have been ours to bear.
I don’t like this painting. I don’t like looking at
it. I don’t like thinking about it. You see, this
painting makes me face the fact that my sins do have
consequences. That when I hear the pastor pronounce
that my sins are forgiven, it doesn’t mean that those
sins carried no penalty. The sins are taken from me,
but nevertheless they have an expensive cost. My sins
are paid for, not with my own blood as the law demands,
but by the innocent, precious blood of Jesus Christ. I
don’t like this painting because it serves as a vivid
reminder that it is only through the suffering and death
of Jesus that my sins can be forgiven, for He is the one
who paid their cost.
I like to think of Jesus standing on mountaintops, feeding
the poor, healing the sick, comforting the sorrowful. I
like to think of Him weeping with loving compassion before
He raises Lazarus from the dead. I like to think of Him
on a boat, calming the storm with a word. I like to think
of Him smiling, laughing with delight as little children
run to Him. I like to think of Him telling touching stories
like the parable of the Good Samaritan.
But this Jesus, this one facing us today, this Jesus
tied with a cruel rope to the Roman flogging column, whose
face betrays the anguish in His soul, who gasps for breath
through a half-open mouth, with drops of blood and spit
fouling His skin, bearing a twisted thorny crown pressed
into His head, His brow furrowed in agony… no, this Jesus
makes me uncomfortable. It’s hard for me to look… and yet
my eyes are drawn to the painting with an almost irresistible
force.
What is it about this painting that keeps me looking? There’s
something about His eyes. There is a look of peace and of
trust in them which seems so out of place. He gazes heavenward,
expressing an amazing thought: “Father, not My will but Yours
be done.”
And then I realize that it is not the rope which holds
Christ to the column. It was not the nails which held
Christ to the cross. The rope and the nails are no match
for the power of the Son of God! No, He was held there
not by rope and nails but by His steadfast love for you
and me.
Now this painting takes on a new dimension, an overwhelming
beauty. For this is not just a painting of suffering – it
is a painting of love, ultimate love, perfect, self-sacrificing
love. God showed His love for us in this: that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us. [Romans 5:8]
God did not want to be separated from us by our sin. Yet
God is just, and justice demands that sin be punished. By
willingly suffering and dying for our sins, Christ took our
punishment on Himself and reunited us with our Heavenly
Father. He was not forced to do this; He chose it. As
Jesus told Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Do you think
that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send
me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should
the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?" [Matthew
26:53-54]. And so Jesus suffered, and He died, for you.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet
we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But
he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for
our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought
us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like
sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
[Isaiah 53:4-6]
And three days later, on Easter Sunday morning, with all
suffering behind Him, God proves His crushing victory over
sin, death, and Satan by raising Jesus from the dead. If
Christ had not been raised, then nothing would matter. Our
faith would be pointless, and, as St. Paul writes, “we
should be pitied more than anyone else.” [1 Corinthians 15:19].
But the tomb is empty. Christ has risen from the dead! And
we have His promise that He will never leave us, never
forsake us, never abandon us to pointless suffering. No
matter what we go through here on earth, we do not go
through it alone. Jesus Christ is with us, showing us
the Father’s love and sending us His Holy Spirit. Jesus
refers to the Holy Spirit as the “Comforter” – and there’s
a good reason for that! Cast your burdens on Jesus, for
He cares for you. [1 Peter 5:5]
And one day, Jesus will bring us to the place He has prepared
for us in heaven. There will be no more suffering, no more
pain and anguish. No more sin! Listen to John describe it:
“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death
shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying
nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away… No
longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God
and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship
him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their
foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light
of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they
will reign forever and ever.” [Revelation 21:4, 22:3-5]
You know, I think I like this painting after all.
Amen.
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