“But the LORD Was Pleased to Crush Him in Infirmity” by Rev. Paul Berghout

“But the LORD Was Pleased to Crush Him in Infirmity” by Rev. Paul Berghout

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

Piety

Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. Psalm 31:6

Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,

Jesus, the Son of God,

let us hold fast to our confession.

For we do not have a high priest

who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,

but one who has similarly been tested in every way,

yet without sin. Hebrews 4:14-15

When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. John 19:30

Study

God’s humiliation of himself from a survivor of Auschwitz:

“The SS hanged two Jewish men and a youth in front of the whole camp [of Auschwitz]. The men died quickly, but the death throes of the youth lasted for half an hour. ‘Where is God? Where is he?’ someone asked behind me. As the youth still hung in torment in the noose after a long time, I heard the man call again, ‘Where is God now?’ And I heard a voice in myself answer: ‘Where is he? He is here. He is hanging there on the gallows. (“Night” by E. Wiesel).

Whenever we experience the most horrific suffering, we may think of Jesus Christ crucified on the cross.

Whatever horror we have experienced, Jesus, the son of God, has also experienced it in His crucifixion. Whenever we experience suffering, we may remember that Jesus is there with us, asking the same question, “Where is God?” in our suffering.

And the answer: There is God in us, in our suffering.

Redemptive. For others.

The answer to suffering is the resurrection of the crucified God.

Action

The revelation of Jesus Christ as the Son-of-God-in-POWER is only possible through the abandonment of Jesus Christ on the cross.

And so, suffering is not a problem to be solved, but instead, an aspect of God’s very being: God is love and love involves suffering.

The theology of the cross is a theology of hope.