“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Romans 8:18 ESV
One of the most intimate scenes in Scripture is the night Jesus was betrayed. All four gospels present this night in their own way, but this night is drawn out and detailed best by John’s account. The narrator of John manipulates and plays with time in the story of the life of Jesus; John 7- John 21 chronicle the last six months of Jesus’ time here on Earth and the stories included in John are reflective of a particular point the narrator wants the audience to connect with their own experiences about who Jesus is. This night is not only important in the life of Christians, but Jews as well. This night was the commemoration of the exodus and remembering how Yahweh visited Egypt and delivered His people from bondage. But this particular Passover night almost 2,000 years ago is different from all others before it. Passover is all about remembering where God brought you from, while being mindful that God is doing something new. This is what we see when we engage with the stories of the night Jesus was betrayed— they were remeeebing God’s salvific power, but the stage was being set for God to deliver His people yet again.
This was not initially a solemn night because Passover wasn’t a solemn occasion. It is good to not forget where God brought you from. Passover is the equivalent to our Thanksgiving here, so picture Thanksgiving with your family and loved ones— the stories, the jokes, the laughter, the food. But imagine this being the very last time you would have this experience. Though the followers of Jesus didn’t particularly grasp this truth in the moment, this was the last time they would have Jesus as He was. Jesus began to speak of suffering, betrayal, and death and all these things fulfilled Scripture. This fulfillment is not simply in light of fulfilling a prophet’s message about things to happen in the future; suffering, betrayal, and death fulfill Scripture in that these things are woven into the fabric of the human experience. Even Jesus experienced trouble.
Though John 13 informs us that at a certain point Jesus became troubled in His heart, Jesus demonstrates His trust in God with how chapter fourteen opens up, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” He gives them the reassurance He needed for Bimswlf because the sufferings we face in life don’t only apply to us. Those around us feel the effects of the trouble in our hearts. After reassuring them and encouraging them to continue to trust in God, Jesus and the disciples engage in one od the most memorable parts of the night. Thomas asks Jesus to show them the way to where He is going and Jesus responds, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
This verse has become one of my favorites in the past few months. It’s taken on a new meaning for me personally and I take the words of Jesus more seriously than I did when I assumed I knew what Jesus was talking about. I thought Jesus was making a theological point that if I give my heart to Him that would be my golden ticket to heaven. For the longest time these words were an abstract command to have faith in Jesus and be Christian so that when I die I know that I’m going to heaven. And if like Bobby Brown this is your prerogative, then that’s kool and the gang, but I would suggest that Jesus is being a bit more practical and He’s calling us to be part of something much more fulfilling than our indicidual acceptance of faith.
Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say that He wants us to go to heaven. The goal for Jesus is found in John 14:6– “No one gets to the Father except through me.” For Jesus it’s deeper than just going to heaven; He wants us to enter into the Father’s presence. That should be our utmost desire and the reason we trust in Jesus, to be in the presence of the Father. How do we get to the Father through Jesus? By doing the will and the work of the One who sends us. Jesus didn’t simply kill time doing good, healing the sick, and preaching the gospel until it was time for Him to die, His life was dedicated to the will of God. And for those of us who have followed Jesus for any length of time, the will of God is not always easy.
For Jesus to be the way, the truth, and the life is to first say yes to the will of God and walk the way Jesus calls us to follow. This is the narrow way Jesus talks about in other gospels. This narrow way involves suffering, betrayal, and for some it involves death. Saying yes to God is accepting the invitation to glory, but the road to glory doesn’t come with pomp and circumstance. It’s laced with tears, trouble, struggle, lamentation, and the like but walking in the way of Jesus, holding on to the hope of glory after suffering, is trusting in God to be faithful to who He is. The glory Jesus exhibits for us is not one of a king sitting on a throne, it’s the glory that a single kernel of corn that falls into the ground and dies just to produce a plentiful crop. That is the glory Jesus is calling us to—sacrificial living that increases into something much bigger than ourselves. This type of living gives way to the life Jesus lived and the life He ia living now. Salvation is not the stopping point for our trust in God, it is merely the beginning. Salvation is the call to endure the suffering of this present age in anticipation of the glory to come.
Suffering and hardship seem senseless, pointless, and meaningless at times. I can’t give an answer for all the brokenness and de-creation we live with. I don’t know why babies get sick, I don’t know why children die from cancer, or why certain diseases aren’t curavle. I don’t have any answers to the parents of a child whom they outlive. I don’t have an answer to all the pain we endure in life, but what God is teaching me is that if He extends mercy toward us in our suffering, He wants to give meaning to it. We have to accept Him at His word. The ultimate meaning in all of life’s tragedies is the cross of Jesus. The cross is the example we ought to live by because trusting God in the face of suffering gives way to a hope much more truthful than the reality of what we face. Trust God. Follow Him in the way, accept His truth, and live the life God has called you to.
Until next time, continue stay guided by grace,
Tra
Guided by Grace 