Suffering Jesus

SUFFERING JESUS

a prayer to open

Help me experience your presence. Lead me to deeper levels of trust.

Give me the courage to put my hands in yours.

Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle. Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last.

• Use your imagination to enter into this passage of Scripture. Close your eyes and picture yourself there with Jesus. Where do you find yourself? Are you on the sidelines or at the center of the action? What do you see, hear, smell? What do you notice about Jesus?
• How did you experience Jesus in this imaginative time?
• Read Isaiah 53:1-12. What does Isaiah’s prediction about how the coming Messiah would suffer for the sake of all humanity illuminate about Jesus’ suffering?

Lord Jesus, you suffered humiliation, separation, and death

to offer forgiveness, reconciliation, and life.

May I forgive as you forgave.

May I reconcile as you reconciled.

May I live as you lived.