Mark 15:16-37 shares the Passion story. Jesus underwent intense pain and agony as He died for our sins, but why did His death have to be so cruel, and why could He not have died a quick death? A sacrificial lamb was killed quickly, so we wonder why Jesus, the Lamb of God, had to suffer.
One of the great questions in human history is, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper” (Jer. 12:1); and why do the innocent suffer? Of all the reasons given, behind the explanations, God has something to do with suffering. It is often concluded that since God is all-powerful He creates both good and evil; and thus, God causes bad things to happen.
The Bible says that God created everything good in the beginning, and teaches us how human beings, through free will, chose to pervert God’s natural order and commands, and thus evil was born. God wills the best possible good to be achieved in every situation, but does not cause the best to happen. Human choice often dictates the outcome.
Should we blame God that His Son was tortured and crucified? God knew ahead of time what death His Son would die, but He did not create the mode of death or the inventions of torture. The suffering that Jesus endured was the result of evil choices made by the people around Him; and likewise, the pain we experience is often the result of either the choices of others, or simply the evil of an imperfect and fallen world.
Jesus’ crucifixion helps to cope with suffering as we learn of God’s empathy. First of all, God knows what human pain feels like and can identify with ours; for He was present inside Jesus (John 1:1, 14), and therefore felt the pain of the cross. Secondly, God knows what loss feels like. Just as Jesus felt the abandonment of being forsaken by the Father (Matt. 27:46), the Father felt the pain of losing His one and only Son whom He gave for the world (John 3:16); meaning that God knows what we are going through!
Some would say that if God felt the crucifixion when Jesus was nailed to the cross, that God is powerless to overcome evil; or, they might say that if God is powerless to prevent suffering, then there isn’t a God. I can’t understand why people forget the part about the resurrection! Mark 16:1-6 portrays the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The resurrection is the key to finding hope and comfort in times of suffering. God is not powerless when it comes to suffering, and the resurrection is proof of this fact. During the resurrection, Jesus, who was God in the flesh, overcame sin and death. Many see death as the ultimate tragedy, but Jesus won the victory over death! Jesus suffered, bled, and died, but that was not the end of the story! As the stone rolled away, this tragedy was transformed into new life!
“The power of the resurrection works like this. It does not eliminate hopelessness and death by slaying the dragon. It works in and through death as a gentle power to re-create new life” (Tyron Inbody). We may be suffering, but through faith in God, and through the power of the cross, God will make a way! He can take our pain and loss and transform it into something brand new!