Station 5: Jesus dies on the cross | Reflection by Daniel Garcia

“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.”
Philippians 1:29, ESV

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds...”
‭James 1:2, ESV‬

‭Joy and suffering often seem to be the two areas that draw quite a bit of confusion in the people of God. Both are biblically ensured as an inevitability in the life of those who believe in Christ and yet it is often that I see a misunderstanding of the two that leaves most either experiencing a superficial happiness that is confused for joy or a joyless angst that leaves some at the brink of giving up. ‬

‭What I think is crucial for the believer to see in order to fully experience what, as Paul would say, is granted to us and see what James says should produce joy in the believer, is to view the two as somehow working in sync with one another rather than them being mutually exclusive as is the common case.‬

‭It is difficult to imagine that Christ had any sense of joy in his final moments. As is the common Lenten reflection, we are drawn to remember the sufferings that Christ endured. What if those sufferings, though extreme as the Gospel writers record, had an underlying joy that would make Jesus’ last words on the cross, “It is finished,” more than mere rhetoric but an announcement that included expectant, assured, and even joyful implications?

‭What would be even more of a controversy to our expectations is that these sentiments of joy and strength in no way minimized what he was enduring in the lowest point of his life. See, it is not that joy reduces, disqualifies, or even replaces our sufferings; rather it empowers, qualifies, and strives side by side with our sufferings to form in us a character that James would claim is “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (Jas. 1:4, ESV). It’s hard to imagine the crucified Christ breathing his last breaths with a smile on his face, since chances are that he didn’t, but what is described in the text of Scripture is much more than that. It is a type of joyful steadfastness that was certain to even leave some of the Roman guards trembling at the knees. It was certainly a connection with telos, or the things, purposes, and finalizing that was to come.‬

Escapism, elated optimism, and even cynical pessimism are never presented in the Scriptures as appropriate responses or remedies for suffering. Joy is not something experienced only when we get away from our sufferings. Nor are we to muscle a smile on our faces to convince ourselves and others that we have joy in the Lord. And certainly giving up on the notion of joy does not seem to be the answer either.

Though seemingly contradictory, joy remains the means by which the church should embrace difficulties. If we can learn to suffer well, then, and only then, will we be able to be "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

It may be that joy is an attitude that finds itself outside the frame of time. It may have an eschatological nature that ties us into the fabric of not only what was and is, but what will be.

Joy is the product of surrendering from the tyranny of our wants. Our desires can be so cunning that we become blinded in them, not seeing that they are in fact not what we want (Rom. 7; 2 Cor. 4:3-6).

H‭aving even our deepest wants be so manipulated by sin and deviation, it is up to God to present us to what our hearts truly long for. Him. Christ. This I have been not only the witness to in small fraction in my own life, but in those who have come before and around me. There is a certain confidence in the believer who has come to realize what it is that truly matters having had suffered “various trials.” It is a kind of maturity that would be so bold as to be willing to endure and even boast in their sufferings simply because it in some mysterious way is setting them free to see the very depths of the Kingdom of God. Let’s face it, it’s either the apostles were crazy for boasting in and embracing hardship or truly they were seeing something that we have yet to see.‬