What was Jesus Christ's greatest suffering?
42 Answers to "What was Jesus Christ's greatest suffering?"
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when he was being executed, there was a point when God removed his spirit and protection from Jesus... no longer did he feel his father's presence..
that's when he cries out "Father, why have you forsaken me?"
i think this was the greatest suffering he experienced.
not only did he suffer like a fleshly man, he understood what it was like to be alone during persecution. to not be with his father. because all of his life, God had been there for him.. but for those few hours, Jesus endured heartbreak. and he still made it.
i just think that's amazing..Like (9)
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This sense of being abandoned by God comes from Jesus standing in the place of sinners and was said to accentuate the depth of His suffering. I agree with you; it is just amazing, almost incomprehensible, that Jesus, the Son of God, could have felt forsaken by God. His last words follow shortly after, "It is consummated." He knew He had triumphed, that HIs sacrifice was accepted, that He had redeemed the world.
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I believe it was the time when Christ was on the cross and asked God why He had forsaken Him. According to my understanding, that was the time when Christ actually became Sin and so, for the first time, experienced what it was like to be separated from God the Father spiritually. It's one of the more complicated and mysterious Christian beliefs, how that all worked, but it enabled a once and for always sacrifice, not just for sins, but for Sin.
That is the worst suffering...to be separate from God and to be lost in sin. That is the essence of going to Hell.
To be betrayed and hurt by people is one thing. To feel a close relationship and then to feel forsaken by God is altogether different.
Update: Thanks. :) Actually, in regard to what Christ's death meant as sacrifice on the Cross, there are several schools of thought. Some theologians do hold with the idea that blood sacrifices performed by proxy, as in someone being sacrificed for someone else's actions or sins (as in the OT animal sacrifices), were only considered effective because the sin of the individual is actually transferred to the sacrifice. So, in a sense, not only was Christ a sacrifice in the sense that he died for the sins of man, but also he became Sin itself and so became the eternal sacrifice. I heard one theologian phrase it that "Not only did He die for sins, He became Sin so that when He was killed, so was Sin made powerless". It's definitely a complicated issue-way over my head, and exactly what it meant to sacrifice God incarnate has been debated time and again. Honestly, I think this is one of those issues that "we see through a mirror darkly". But the subject deals with the Son of God, his death and that death being undone, the idea of one price being paid for all time in a way that is hard for a human brain to get around.......not exactly on the human plane.Like (6)
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I agree so much with the essence of what you are saying. I particularly like your last sentence, "To feel a close relationship and then to feel forsaken by God is altogether different." I do believe there is a spiritual pain in the soul that very few have ever experienced that was suffered most accutely by Christ at this point of HIs passion. I would just add though, that I doubt that it is theologically correct to say that Jesus actually became sin, but rather, that He had taken the place of sinners. It was not sin that was destoyed, but rather the victory of sin that was vanquished.
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leaving his construction business.
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Seeing people lost n confused....I would say.
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I like this answer, too. It reminds me of how Jesus called HImself the Good Shepherd, and of how moved to pity He was by the poeple being "like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36)
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listening to me wine and complain of how bad i think my life is
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I love this answer. You have prompted me to think of so many ways I do this in my own life. Really, there is nothing to complain about. Everything I suffer, all these little insignificant pinpricks, are nothing more than I deserve. How many ways does God pour out HIs kindness and generosity upon me? Thank you for moving me to address my ingratitude.
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persecution
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In just one word you have summed up everything. Jesus was in every sense, a voluntary vicitm, the suffering servant. For this, He came into the world.
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I have not been able to ask him yet...... :0
but I would think mankind.
I can not even imagine the frustration he must have felt that people still did not believe in God his heavenly father. Even after his peachings and so on.
That had to be quite annoying!Like (4)
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Thank you for your reply. What you are saying is true, that it is incredible that people will not believe in the face of such beautiful doctrine, accompanied by the most astonishing and convincing miracles. But Jesus also said, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luke 16:31)
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Probably his knowing that he was going to his death willingly, and with a greater love than any human being would ever know, knowing that the vast majority of them would reject his love, reject his actions, reject his message, and reject his father, and wind up in Hell for their efforts, when to avoid that, all they had to do was to BELIEVE.
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I totally agree with you, that unrequited love was the greatest suffering of Jesus Christ.
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Having to move back in with his parents.
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probably the strap. It was a leather strap covered in random shrapnel (steel, bones, glass)
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Oh! This was for sure the most horrific of His physical sufferings. Did you see the Passion of the Christ? From what I have studied, I do believe this portayal was dead accurate. I personally believe that Jesus kept Himself alive miraculously during the scourging to be able to endure more suffering.
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Probably knowing that he died for sinners who cant control themselves and kill others in his name, He gave us the freedom of morality, and for that we all suffer
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This is both the scandal and the mystery, that He died for us while we were yet sinners, knowing full well that we would continue to sin. What madness of love! If only we could love one another like that!
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Trying to convince his disciples that there is a God who loves us and is able to bring peace to the world, heal the sick, and be kind and loving to the unloved. Oh and raise the dead.
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Trying to explain the Ultimate Realm to Humans. Using metaphors and having people be so simple that they take it literally and cause even more suffering with it. It must have been like explaining physics to 3 year olds. He tried to dumb it down with words like "father" and "son" to give people an idea of his unknowable relationship to the ultimate. People just took it and ran with it. Ultimately, it is unknowable. We must stop contemplating the unknowable nature of God and start working to relieve suffering.
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And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. And we saw hIs glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John1:14
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Jesus' great suffering was that he was required to walk among and alongside man, as a last resort in an attempt to bring them back to a right relationship with their Father and Creator. I do not feel that God created the universe and specifically man, with the intention of having to become one of his creations.
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This is a most interesting thought. I always thought that man was created in spite of the knowledge God had that he would sin and that God would come to redeem His fallen creatures. However, it stands to reason that there are other creations on other planets not under quarantine like ours where people made to the image and likeness of God live as they always did without sin.
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I would say when He took the sins of world and His father looked away from Him.The part where He said Father forgive then for they know not what they do, is still going on today,How people can not love Him is behond me.
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There is not a single action or word of His that wasn't aimed at winning our love. I totally agree.
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After ALL that he has been through for the benefit and vouching of mankind, if you look upon the direction of the world, this is how we repaid him?
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That is the all important question, HOW to repay Him? Yet He counts what we do for our neighbour as having been done for Himself.
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Jesus Christ if he existed probably had the same "suffering" as any human in this world. Jesus was/might have been a person in the Past... There is no way "He" could do anything in this Present time etc. but in an indirect way of having millions of people perceive that He a long dead person could have any influence what-so-ever over their lives. There is no such thing as "sin"... there is only learning. Jesus can't take away something like learning or a perception/judgment. An individual chooses to change his/her mind and may decide they are not learning. It is said that strange beliefs like this could still last as long as it has.
A human being alive today cannot take away another person's suffering or judgement/perception. They can take away objects. This perception of duality, having "God" perceived as being separate from Nature and Humanity creates this perception that an entity like "Jesus" could be in Heaven somewhere watching. A contradiction because simultaneously Christians believe that Jesus Christ is in their hearts.
Human belief is so strong.Like (2)
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BluOmni, human belief is so strong. I do believe in Jesus because I want to. I do need a Saviour and I do want to believe in one as good, loving and strong as Jesus.
I also believe that He is what He said He is: God.
No-one seriously disputes the historical fact of Jesus Christ's existence on earth or His crucifixion. The significance attached to these events is another question.
I am not a lawyer, but I know enough about the rules of evidence to be sure that the evidence for the Resurrection and therefore the divinity of Jesus is sufficient enough to stand up in a court of Law.
If Jesus is what Christians fairly believe HIm to be, then there is no contradicition about Him being both in heaven and in our hearts; He is omnipresent.Like (1)
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becoming human.
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Your answer reminds me of the pain of childbirth, that until you go through it, you do not know what pain is, and yet you suffer it gladly. I think becoming human was something like this for Jesus; on the one hand, it was extremely painful on account of His extreme sensitivity; on the other hand, it was a joy, because He knew He would be winning for us eternal life.
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all of the hateful, disgraceful, violent, mysoginistic, abusive, exploitive, small minded and ignorant things christians have done in his name.
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Indeed, all too true. Instead of a beautiful lesson it is an archetype. We still find Caiaphus upon committees; murder is still the sequel to His sacrament.
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Best Answer (Chosen By Asker):
Posted by alicia87 Apr 18th, 2011 at 6:22AM
Rejection. Nothing hurts more than loving someone and not being loved back.
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Reply by perseverer Apr 12th, 2011 at 6:57PM
Rejection by Judas Iscariot who was one of HIs closest friends, followed by the his dreadful despair and suicide. Rejection by Peter who three times denied knowing HIm. Rejection by the other disciples who fled under persecution. And yet, these later rejections were tempered by the knowledge that they would heroically witness to Him, even to the point of martyrdom, even crucifixion.
And then there was the rejection for Barabbas, a seditiious murderer.
But none of these rejections equalled that of those who know Him but will not love HIm.
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