No cross, no crown (Tuesday, Holy Week, 2021)

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The Jews strongly believed that suffering is evil; and that any person who suffers misfortune or sickness must have offended or sinned against God. Recall the experience of Job. Just like the Jews, many Christians too believe that all sufferings are evil and should never be the portion of Christians. The events of this Holy Week (beginning from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday) will go a long way to help us begin to see some beauty in certain kinds of suffering.


Isaiah 49:1-6 is the second song of the Suffering Servant. Within the context of the Holy Week, the Suffering Servant that Isaiah talks about refers to Jesus. The Suffering Servant said: “Listen to me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar”. These are two clear expressions joined by the conjunction “and”. The first expression is: “Listen to me, O islands” and the second is: “Pay attention, you peoples from afar”. The second expression gives further information about the first; it is another way of expressing the sense of the first expression. This is a good example of “parallelism”, a Hebrew figure of speech. For us to know what or who the word “Islands” refers to it, we go to the second expression. From the second expression, we see that the word “islands” refers to “peoples from afar”. Some bible translations translate the expression “peoples from afar” as “Gentiles” or “those in darkness” or “people of Israel in exile”. So, within the context of the message of Isaiah, it is clear that the Suffering Servant was addressing the “people of Israel in exile”.


Now, what the Suffering Servant wanted to communicate to the exiles is that it is only in His capacity as a Suffering Servant that He the Lord will be glorified: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my servant in whom I will be glorified’”. And it is only when God is glorified in Him through His suffering that God’s light and salvation can reach the ends of the earth. All of these references to suffering and the consequent glorification of the Suffering Servant must have helped the Jews to understand that there is some beauty in suffering. Through suffering, they too would be glorified! Nothing good comes easy, not even salvation or glorification. Someone or some people must suffer for it.


At the outset of His suffering, immediately after the unveiling of the Judas the betrayer, Jesus told the disciples, “Now, the Son of man will be glorified, and in Him God is glorified; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself”. I wonder whether the apostles (who were Jews) really understood this statement. But the most important thing is that Jesus had pointed out that though the disaster of His suffering and death was looming large, there would be some glorification at the end of it all.

 

No cross, no crown! Many, if not all, of us understand suffering as a horrible experience. But through His suffering, death and resurrection, Jesus has redefined “suffering”. And I now understand that not all sufferings should be seen as a form of humiliation and a path to death. Some sufferings ultimately lead to glory and salvation. As we strive to evade “pains”, let us also learn how to continue to submit to God even when we practically cannot do anything about certain situations in life. Just like the Psalmist, “may we always take refuge in God, and trust that He will never put us to shame” (cf. Psalm 71:1).      


Prayer:

Lord, in you I have put my trust. May I never be put to shame, Amen!


Have an impactful Holy Week!



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