Why SufferingExemplo

The Cross of Christ

Richard Dawkins remarks that the idea of God sending His son to die is “vicious, sado-masochistic and repellant. . . . If God wanted to forgive our sins, why not just forgive them, without having himself tortured and executed in payment?”[1]

In My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes, “The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue—if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. . . . The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ . . . . It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.”[2]

“Jesus died for you,” the Christian says. But what does that actually mean? Moreover, what kind of God would send His son to die? It’s a very good question. 

First, let’s look at how Jesus died. You learn a lot about yourself in moments of great pain and frustration. What comes out of us in those times is not always very attractive. What came out of Jesus was love, compassion, and forgiveness. They stripped Him, beat Him, and strung Him up on a cross—to be shamed publicly and to slowly die one of the most painful deaths possible. Jesus looked down from that cross at those who were killing Him, and prayed, “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

The final thing Jesus did on the cross—as He was struggling to take His last breaths—was to love the man next to Him (a criminal), and to promise that man salvation in response to his repentant heart and his trust in Him (Luke 23:39–43). 

Why was Jesus so perfect in death? Why did He die with such utter integrity? Because it’s why He came in the first place. There is no notion in Christianity of Jesus being forced to come and die. As the Son of God, Jesus chose to come and live a human life, and He chose to die a human death (John 10:18). 

And even on the cross, voicing those agonizing words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34), Jesus is not only giving expression to the depth of His suffering, but He is also quoting the first verse of Psalm 22—in a sense asking us to read on. And when we do, what we find is that even from the agony of the cross Jesus is reminding us that He goes to His death knowingly and purposefully. 

But why? Why did Jesus choose to come, and suffer, and lay down His life?

Jesus came to do one of the only things that can make a difference to someone in the midst of terrible suffering, to come and join them in their pain and suffer alongside them. What does that say then about who we must be to God—to a God who would rather suffer with us than not suffer without us?

John Stott identified the parental love of God as well as anyone: “He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his.”[3]

They ridiculed Jesus while He was on the cross (Luke 23:35). And with the heart of a parent, Jesus responded by preferring to die with His children than to leave His children to die and save Himself. But Jesus’ ultimate reason for suffering and dying on the cross was to save us from our sin, to take our just punishment on Himself, so that we could be free.

We sometimes work hard to avoid admitting that we’re sinful. Sin is what we do in the dark, when no one is watching. But here’s the thing: the “light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5), Jesus, sees us even in the darkness. 

Sometimes it’s hard for us to appreciate the truth about our own sin until we encounter someone holier than ourselves. That’s why when the criminal who hung next to Jesus saw the holiness with which Jesus died, he knew that his own punishment was just. On the day that we stand in God’s presence, all of us will be able to recognize our need for a savior. The staggering news of the Christian faith is that God loved us too much to let us bear the judgment for our sin ourselves.

Reflection Questions

• In your own words, how would you explain to someone what “Jesus died for you” really means?
• The Bible is clear that we all sin; we all do things “in the dark,” when no one is watching. Why is it that the cross not only demonstrates the significance of our moral choices but also offers us pardon from the judgment we deserve?

Bible Verses

• Matthew 27:46
• Mark 15:34–39
• Luke 23:34–43
• John 8:12; 9:5
• John 10:18
• John 19:26–27
• Psalm 22
• Matthew 5:21–28
• 1 John 3:15

 Citations

[1] Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (London: Bantam Press, 2006), 252–53.

[2] Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: An Updated Edition in Today’s Language, ed. James G. Reimann (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House, 1992), June 23 entry.

[3] John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006), 387.