The sufferings of Christ

As I sat with my Scripture verses from Philippians 3, I was to pray, with Paul from v.10,

“…to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…”

I spent time, feeling hesitant about praying this. If I’m being honest, it felt too hard. In my mind when I consider the sufferings of Jesus, I picture Holy Week and the surrounding events: his agonized prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, a betrayal from a friend, his arrest, the physical abuse he suffered, the ugly chants of the crowd, the way his eyes must have swept over the crowds, only to see none of his friends nearby to meet his gaze, feeling abandoned in his weakest hour, dragging his heavy cross through the streets, and eventually, being nailed cruelly to the crossbeams to suffocate to death over several hours.

“Jesus”, I asked, “am I really to pray to share in your sufferings?”

I already feel such a sense of sadness at so many things going on. I feel the heaviness of events in the world: the terrible situation in Gaza and innocent children starving to death, the world politics involving Putin and his regime, and an unfair price paid by the Ukranian people who have seen their country ravaged by war in the past 2 years. And much closer to home, situations within the lives of close friends and our own family that bring me to tears.

“How can I carry even more, Jesus? Already my heart feels burdened…”

It is then that I sensed Jesus’ response:

“Will you weep with those who weep?”

An easy ‘yes’ crossed my lips.

And in this, I had a sudden realization, that for now, this is what it means to share in the sufferings of Christ. That Jesus, man of sorrows, weeps with those who weep, and comes close to the brokenhearted. When we sit with those who are in pain, when we offer up our intercession for the hard things in life, or when our words dry up and our prayers are no more than tears for the sadness we know of, in so doing we enter into the pain that Jesus feels at the hurt and the brokenness of this earthly life. And this is how we share in his sufferings.

And perhaps, this is all that is needed for now.