Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!” Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!” So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified. Mark 15:12–15
One of the greatest challenges to faith is the question of suffering. What we might often fail to realize, however, is that not all suffering is bad. No good parent enjoys watching his children suffer, and yet sometimes suffering is precisely what a child needs to experience in order to grow. If we remove every consequence for our children’s mistakes or seek to keep them from suffering any kind of injustice, we are only setting them up for failure. The greatest example is Jesus, who suffered more than any human being ever has, but for the greatest benefit to the rest of us.
Jesus suffered greatly for us. At the order of Pilate, Jesus was scourged (Mark 15:15), probably to the point that no unbroken flesh could be found on His back. After this, the soldiers called the whole garrison together to make sport of Him by beating and humiliating this Jew who had been accused of rebellion against Caesar (vv 16–19). By the time they led Jesus away, He was too weakened to carry His own cross (v 21), and, once at the site of execution, spikes were driven through His hands and feet before the cross was raised into position. There He remained for six hours (vv 25, 34), drawing gulps of air only to release them after adorning them with Scriptures and blessings (v 34; Luke 23:43, 46). If this weren’t enough, imagine the humiliation that He suffered at the hands of the Romans and of the people filing by the cross to insult Him (Mark 15:29–32). Then think of the manner in which He was rejected by the very people He had come to serve and to save (vv 13–14). Without a doubt, Jesus suffered the worst injustice that anyone has ever endured, and yet His suffering was absolutely necessary (Luke 24:46).
If Jesus was willing to suffer so greatly for us, we should be more than willing to suffer for Jesus. Peter, who was on hand to witness the crucifixion, wrote that we are blessed when we suffer for Christ’s sake (1 Pet. 3:13–18) and that we ought to rejoice if He counts us worthy to share in His suffering (4:12–16). We need to bear in mind that suffering has its benefits. James tells us that it can yield much-needed patience (Jas. 1:2–4). Peter adds that we are refined by suffering as gold is refined by fire (1 Pet. 1:6–7). Paul says that when we share in Christ’s suffering, we are destined likewise to share in His subsequent glory (Rom. 8:16–18). If suffering brings so many benefits, we should not only be willing to suffer, but we should also bear such things with the same spirit with which Jesus endured them (1 Pet. 2:19–23).
Are you willing to suffer for Jesus? Are you willing to bear all manner of hardship and injustice? No suffering is pleasant in the moment, but it comes with the promise of an unsurpassable reward. Jesus requires no less: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it” (Luke 9:23–24).