NỖI ĐAU CỦA CHÚA

Kinh thánh: Lu-ca 23: 13-15

Câu gốc: Ê-SAI 53: 5 – Nhưng người đã vì tội lỗi chúng ta mà bị vết, vì sự gian ác chúng ta mà bị thương. Bởi sự sửa phạt người chịu chúng ta được bình an, bởi lằn roi người chúng ta được lành bịnh.

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THE SUFFERING OF JESUS CHRIST

Bible: Luke 23: 13-25

Main verse: ISAIAH 53: 5 – But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

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– All Christians know the suffering of Jesus Christ. It’s so familiar to us that we can recall exactly how Jesus suffered on that particular night without any struggle.

– Tonight, we will remember again of His suffering for us, and we are going to try to put ourselves into His place in order to feel the pain that He endured that night.

– We will focus on the three types of suffering He went through: the insult when He was spit on, the pain of flogging, and the agony of being hung on the cross. In another time, we will consider other sufferings that He was subjected to.

– None of us has been “spit on,” so we will never experience that dreadful feeling, but we have been ignored by others. It could happen from the people we know, like family members, friends, colleagues or fellow co-workers. It would be more hurtful if we were ignored by the ones we loved.

– We should try to remember our feeling when that happened. It hurts somewhat, but not to the extent of the pain that Jesus felt when that happened, because He is God and we are just mere mortals.

– Throughout history, there were many occasions that when a king or a ruler was insulted, he would put the ones who insulted him to death, but Jesus, as King over all kings and Lord over all lords, never condemned those who insulted Him. His love was so great that He forgave them all:

LUKE 23: 34 – Then Jesus said: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

LU-CA 23: 34 – Song Đức Chúa Jêsus cầu rằng: Lạy Cha, xin tha cho họ, vì họ không biết mình làm điều gì.

– None of us have never suffered the pain of flogging. Some of us had been put in communist prisons before, and were put under some form of torture like deprivation from food or water, or pulling yoke like water buffaloes, but all of them cannot compare to flogging of the ancient way.

– According to research, flogging was meant to inflict maximum pain both physically and mentally. Too much flogging could make the victim become permanently mad, disabled, or even dead, and Jesus suffered it because of mankind, not because of His own fault.

LUKE 23: 39-41 – Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying: If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying: Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.

LU-CA 23: 39-41 – Vả, một tên trộm cướp bị đóng đinh cũng mắng nhiếc Ngài rằng: Người không phải là Đấng Christ sao? Hãy tự cứu lấy mình ngươi cùng chúng ta nữa! Nhưng tên kia trách nó rằng: Ngươi cũng chịu một hình phạt ấy, còn chẳng sợ Đức Chúa Trời sao? Về phần chúng ta, chỉ là sự công bình, vì hình ta chịu xứng với việc ta làm; nhưng ngươi nầy không hề làm một điều gì ác.

– When a person was at fault and suffered the consequences of their actions, the pain could be bearable because they deserved it and they mentally accepted it. However, the pain would increase tremendously if he was innocent and was framed for the crime by someone else.

– With that in mind, we can understand that Jesus suffered a lot of pain through the flogging because of others’ sins, but He had endured the suffering so that mankind can be healed from the sickness of body and soul.

ISAIAH 53: 5 – But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

Ê-SAI 53: 5 – Nhưng người đã vì tội lỗi chúng ta mà bị vết, vì sự gian ác chúng ta mà bị thương. Bởi sự sửa phạt người chịu chúng ta được bình an, bởi lằn roi người chúng ta được lành bịnh.

– We have heard many people say that they are not afraid of death, but that they are afraid of the pain that goes along with it. If death comes quickly, many people consider it as a great mercy, but suffering long before they are dead is what all people are frightened of.

– Experts on human’s injuries let us know that the most painful death is a shot or a stab wound in the abdomen. It is very painful and there were many cases on the battlefield that without treatment, soldiers take more than three hours to die with the wound.

– But it cannot compare with the pain a person suffering on the cross. Ancient history recorded that in some cases, it took almost three days for a victim to die after being nailed on a cross, and Jesus had suffered that kind of horrible punishment for human’ sins.

– Jesus has went through so much pain before being nailed on the cross, so it only took him a few hours before he was officially dead:

LUKE 23: 44-46 – Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said: Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit. Having said this, He breathed His last.

LU-CA 23: 44-46 – Khi đó, ước giờ thứ sáu, khắp xứ đều tối tăm cho đến giờ thứ chín. Mặt trời trở nên tối, và màn trong đền thờ xé chính giữa ra làm hai. Đức Chúa Jêsus bèn kêu lớn rằng: Hỡi Cha, tôi giao linh hồn lại trong tay Cha! Ngài vừa nói xong thì tắt hơi.

– If we remember Jesus’ suffering, we will understand His love for us. So, we should live accordingly in order to be worthy of His love forever. That’s why the Bible has warned us Christians not to subject ourselves under the influence of sins again:

HEBREWS 6: 4-6 – For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

HÊ-BƠ-RƠ 6: 4-6 – Vì chưng những kẻ đã được soi sáng một lần, đã nếm sự ban cho từ trên trời, dự phần về Đức Thánh Linh, nếm đạo lành Đức Chúa Trời, và quyền phép của đời sau, nếu lại vấp ngã, thì không thể khiến họ lại ăn năn nữa, vì họ đóng đinh Con Đức Chúa Trời trên thập tự giá cho mình một lần nữa, làm cho Ngài sỉ nhục tỏ tường.

– Therefore, we must be careful even with the idea that Christians could commit millions of sins and still be forgiven by God. We should always remember His suffering. Every time a Christian commits a sin deliberately, it counts as nailing Jesus to the cross for the second time.

– May God be always with us, and help us live a life worthy of his love. Amen.