Station 5: Jesus dies on the cross | Reflection by Sterling Hernandez

Ever since I was a young child, I have believed in Jesus Christ. Up until I became a teenager, I had never heard anyone question the truthfulness of Christianity. As I encountered more people, I would hear some objections to the Christian faith. One common question I would hear would go something like this, “If God is real, then why is there so much suffering in the world?” Or, “If God is all-powerful, why does He allow suffering to occur?”

When I heard questions like this, I did not know what to say. The topic of suffering became very unsettling for me. I remember as a teenager being so shocked at seeing the tragic realities of our world, things like natural disasters, severe poverty, disease, birth defects, hunger, freak accidents, etc. I began to wonder myself how God could allow such things.

As we journey through the Lenten season, this week we take time to reflect on the death of our Lord on the cross. In Matthew 27:46, we see some of Jesus’ final words, in which He quotes Psalm 22:1. He cries out to His God in great angst saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (NRSV). Here Jesus expresses his utter vulnerability and the great suffering He experienced.

Some might interpret Jesus’ words as a sign of distrust in God. But it is actually quite the opposite. Dr. Leslie Allen of Fuller Theological Seminary reports that praying a prayer of lament (such as Psalm 22) “reveals an intimate relationship with God… And it shows an underlying attitude of contested, but continuing faith.”* CS Lewis illustrates this point quite well in The Screwtape Letters when he describes the growth in maturity that Christians undergo during a valley/trough: “[Satan’s] cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do [God’s] will, looks around upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”**

Jesus’ praying of Psalm 22:1 presents a model for us in how to respond appropriately in moments of crisis. Often times when we encounter suffering, especially unjust suffering, we tend to hide from God rather than run straight into His arms. I propose that being vulnerable before God, even being angry against Him, can be a sign of profound trust in His faithfulness. Jesus, though suffering and expressing His frustration with God, trusted His Father in faithful obedience.

But what does Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross have to do with the great suffering in our world? God could snap His fingers and remove all the problems in the world if He wanted to, couldn’t He? I’m sure He could. But the good news is this: instead of choosing to remove our suffering, He has chosen to join us in our suffering. I do not know why God has allowed such widespread suffering to occur, especially in the lives of Christians. But instead of choosing to be absent from our pain, He has chosen to respond by taking our pain upon Himself.

God has not promised us that He will explain why we go through suffering, but He does promise to be present with us in the midst of suffering. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, He has proven to us that He loves us and He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). As we choose to be vulnerable with Him, even in our anger and frustration toward Him, He promises to be with us.

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* Leslie Allen, “Leslie Allen Psalms in the Temple and Synagogue” (video), 2015, 5:27, accessed March 13, 2018, https://vimeo.com/114195828.

** C S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour Pub., 1985), 37.