The path of suffering started for Christ our Lord since His birth not just with Passion Week. The prophet Isaiah said of Christ, "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." (Is. 53:3) Christ was born in a manger because St. Joseph the righteous and the Holy Virgin Mary had no room in the house (Luke 2: 7). On the day of His birth, He suffered from the bitter winter cold. Then He endured Herod’s chase and escaped to Egypt as a small child. He lived as a poor man and had no place to lay His head (Matt. 8: 20). He endured weariness (John 4: 6), hunger (Matt. 4: 2), and thirst (John 4: 7 & John 19:28).

He faced the Jews’ rejection, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." (John 1: 11), thus fulfilling the prophecy which said, "I am, the beloved, rejected as a despised dead man." (Ps. 27:21) He endured criticism and insults; they said of Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" (John 8: 48) They accused Him that by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons, He casts out demons (Matt. 12: 24), that He broke the Sabbath (John 5: 16), that He was a glutton and winebiber (Luke 7: 34), a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Matt. 11: 19), that He blasphemes (Matt. 9: 3), that He stirs up the people and perverts the nation (Luke 23: 5, 2), and that He forbids paying taxes to Caesar (Luke 23: 2). Even after His crucifixion, they said that He was "a deceiver" (Matt. 27: 63-64). Christ endured being striped, beaten, slapped, and spit on, as well as ridiculed.

Finally, He endured the cross and they crucified Him with two thieves. It was a long journey, full of different forms of suffering, characterized by the following:

1. Christ endured suffering by His own will: Christ was not forced to endure suffering; He did that of His own will. When Christ our Lord talked about giving Himself up for us, His sheep, He said, "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John 10:18)

2. He endured suffering because of His love for us: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16) "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 10)

3. He endured sufferings with joy: Christ our Lord accepted suffering by His own will and because of His love for us. By His life-giving sufferings, He saved us and gave us life. For Christ, the Cross was the cause of happiness and joy, "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb. 12: 2)

4. By His suffering, Christ changed the meaning of suffering: The Passion of Christ made us see our suffering with Christ as a gift given to us, "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." (Phil. 1: 29) The road of suffering became for us the road to glory, "if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." (Rom. 8: 17) Christ suffered for our sake and granted us the opportunity to suffer with Him so we may be glorified with Him.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

God won't be looking for your medals, degrees or diplomas--, He'll be looking for your scars.