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ISAIAH 50:1-7

EPHESIANS 2:5-11

LUKE 19:28-40

LENT REFLECTIONS (DAY 40 – SUNDAY REFLECTION)

Suffering for a purpose is the theme of our reflection. Suffering is the state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship. A Purpose is a reason for which something is done. As we prepare to observe the Passion week, it is important to deliberate on the reason for which Jesus had to suffer. We shall reflect on the theme as we discuss the following two points.

1. The suffering of Jesus revealed God’s love for humanity.
2. The suffering of Jesus completes our salvation

Firstly, the purpose of Jesus’ suffering enables us to understand and appreciate the depth of God’s love for sinful humanity. In the first Scripture reading, the Prophet Isaiah foretells God’s intention of sending His obedient but suffering servant who will teach His people to obey His will and understand His ways. “The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.” (Isaiah 50:4) In carrying out His duty of sustaining the weary and the lost with His words, He will be persecuted, but He has hope that “…the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. (Isaiah 50:7). Dear friend in the Lord, Jesus was God’s suffering servant whose purpose for suffering is to demonstrate God’s love for humanity and enable us to understand God’s intention and will for humanity. Jesus was not only the suffering servant but the awaited King who will come and deliver humanity from sin and the power of Satan. In the third Scripture reading, Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem marked the beginning of His suffering although “the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:37-38). Truly, He is our King but he was also the suffering servant of the Lord whose purpose for suffering is captured in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17). If you have truly experienced God’s love through the suffering of Jesus then what is your response? Paul admonishes us to respond in this way when He wrote in Roman 12:1-2 that “… I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. “

Secondly, the purpose of Jesus’ suffering is to complete our salvation, apart from the fact that it demonstrates God’s love for us. Paul makes this point unequivocally clear when he wrote to the Ephesians that “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9). In other words, our individual suffering or works cannot grant us salvation except the suffering of Jesus. The Prophet Isaiah could not have said it better when said that “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5). The purpose of Jesus’ suffering brought us total salvation and grace through faith in God. Dear friend, all you need to do is to repent and accept the fact that Jesus came to suffer and die for your transgressions and through His resurrection, He has made you a new creation and a beneficiary of God’s grace and eternal life. This is the foundation of the Good News we preach to the world.

In summary, our Lord Jesus’ suffering was for a purpose. His suffering enabled us to experience God’s love and will for us. Again, through faith in Him, His suffering has guaranteed us total salvation through the grace of God. Holy Spirit, strengthen us to remain steadfast and faithful to our Lord and Master Jesus Christ and help us to share the purpose of His suffering with our lost brothers and sisters so that they may come to the saving knowledge of our Saviour. Amen