Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into
the praetorium and gathered the whole company
of soldiers around him. They stripped him and
put a scarlet robe on him and then twisted together
a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They
put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt
in front of him and mocked him. Hail, King of
the Jews, they said. They spit on him and took
the staff and struck him on the head again and
again. After they had mocked him, they took off
the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then
they led him away to crucify him. As they were
going out, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon,
and they forced him to carry the cross. They
came to a place called Golgotha, which means
the place of the skull. There they offered Jesus
wine to drink mixed with gall, but after tasting
it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified
him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots,
and sitting down, they kept watch over him there.
Above his head, they placed the written charge
against him, This is Jesus, King of the Jews.
Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his
right and one on his left. Those who passed by
hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and
saying, you who are going to destroy the temple
and build it in three days, save yourself. Come
down from the cross if you are the son of God.
In the same way, the chief priests and the elders
and the teachers of the law mocked him. He saved
others, they said, but he can't save himself.
He's the king of Israel. Let him come down now
from the cross and we will believe in him. He
trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants
him. For he said, I am the son of God. In the
same way, the rebels who were crucified with
him also heaped insults on him. From noon until
three in the afternoon, darkness came over all
the land. About three in the afternoon, Jesus
cried out in a loud voice. Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,
which means my God, my God, why have you forsaken
me? When some of those standing there heard this,
they said, he's calling Elijah. Immediately,
one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it
with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered
it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, now leave
him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save
him. And when Jesus had cried out again in a
loud voice, He gave up his spirit. At that moment,
the curtain of the temple was torn in two from
top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split,
and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many
holy people who had died were raised to life.
They came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection
and went into the holy city and appeared to many
people. When the centurion and those with him
who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and
all that had happened, they were terrified and
exclaimed, Surely he was the Son of God. Many
women were there, watching from a distance. They
had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his
needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the
mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of
Zebedee's sons. As evening approached, There
came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph,
who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going
to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate
ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took
the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
and placed it in his own new tomb that he had
cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in
front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting
there opposite the tomb. The next day, the one
after preparation day, the chief priests and
the Pharisees went to Pilate. Sir, they said,
we remember that while he was still alive, that
deceiver said, after three days I will rise again.
So give the order for the tomb to be made secure
until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples
may come and steal the body and tell the people
that he has been raised from the dead. This last
deception will be worse than the first. Take
a guard, Pilate answered. Go, make the tomb as
secure as you know how. So they went and made
the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone
and posting the guard. The passion of our Lord
Jesus Christ. So you're out hiking with friends
and everything is going along just wonderfully
until you see this. Ahead of you is this dangerous
piece of pathway along a mountainside. So what
do you do at this moment? You're frightened,
you're nervous, you're unsure. What's around
that corner? And so some of your group say, let's
go and look for a way around it. Others in your
group, they say, let's just turn back. I'm done.
Some in your group say, you know what? I think
we can do it. Let's just go for it. Let's just
run through there. And still, there are others
who just freeze out of fear. What's the right
way forward? Now, you might say, well, I'll never
find myself in a situation like this. I'm not
kind of a hiker. But actually, eventually, we
all do. Because you see, life is a hike. And
you can be going along and everything can just
be going so smoothly. And then it happens, a
tragedy, some kind of pain, suffering hits you.
Jesus once said, in this life, you will have
trouble. Suffering comes for all of us at some
point. Could be the loss of a loved one, could
be a sudden illness, loss of a job, financial
problems, the breakdown of a relationship. And
suddenly that path that seems so clear and so
easy to you is now dark and dangerous and uncertain.
This Lent, we have been asking ourselves the
question, what does it mean to follow Jesus?
But today we ask that question in a different
way. What does it mean to follow Jesus when following
Jesus is following the way of suffering? How
do we follow Jesus then? Well, again, some might
try to go around their suffering. You know, a
hiker sees danger. Their first thought is, let's
find another way, anything to avoid going into
what's ahead of us. And so we do the same. We
often try to go around our pain to avoid suffering,
even though it usually ends up costing us more
in the long run than if we had just stayed and
faced the pain. But we often go around. Or rather
than go around, we might choose to head back.
Many hikers would decide to head back, and so
do we. In times of pain, we are tempted just
to run away from our pain, to deny our suffering.
And actually, as a coping strategy, that works
pretty well. But it's a short -term strategy.
Sometimes that pain is something you actually
needed to deal with, and if we don't deal with
it, well then, Sigmund Freud was right. the things
that we run away from that have the most power
over us. Or others, when they're faced with pain,
they try to rush past it, put it behind you as
quickly as possible. And we're pretty good at
this too. Whatever we're struggling with, we
want a quick fix. We want an instant solution.
Take a pill or two. Take a drink or two. Get
the relief that you want without the waiting.
Because we think if we move fast enough, we can
somehow outrun our pain. But that pain is rarely
healed. And our hurts that we tried to leave
behind us will eventually catch up with us again.
And so finally, there's always the option of
just giving up. When faced with suffering, we
just stop, we freeze. And we collapse in despair.
You know, hikers, you know, faced with a situation
like this on a mountainside. Their legs are tired
and the fear is too much. And you're tempted
just to sit down and say, I'm done. That is it.
I'm not taking another step. And sometimes we
feel exactly like that. You feel like giving
up. The path is too steep. The distance is still
way too far. But listen, stopping in the middle
of a dangerous trail rarely makes things any
better for us. You know, sitting on a narrow
ledge like that doesn't get you off the mountain.
It just leaves you stuck. No, we can't go around
our pain. We can't run away from it. We can't
rush past it and we can't give up on it either.
So what do we do? Well, Jesus today shows us.
how to walk the way of suffering and get through
it. And the reason Jesus knows how to get through
pain is because, as you just heard, Jesus walked
this trail long before we ever did. Jesus has
seen the cliff edge. He has felt the ground,
the danger beneath his feet. On Good Friday,
Jesus looks ahead on a situation like this. And
he knew what was coming. He knew Judas was going
to betray him. He knew Peter was going to deny
him. He knew his friends were all going to abandon
him. He knew that down that road, there lay nothing
but rejection and humiliation and torture and
death. But does Jesus go around it? Does he run
away from it? Does he rush past it? Does he just
give up on it in despair? No. Instead, Jesus
shows us something else. And I want to just share
with you five or six things that Jesus teaches
us about walking in the way of suffering. The
first is this. Jesus shows us suffering is a
journey, actually. When we experience pain, we
often want an explanation now. We want it to
be over now. We want our problems solved quickly.
But suffering rarely works that way. You know,
pain and problems don't usually lend themselves
to kind of quick fixes and easy solutions. Instead,
it's something you've got to work through gradually.
It's something that we have to walk through,
not rush through. Psalm 23 says that even though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil. Do you notice the language?
The psalmist does not rush through the valley.
He does not escape the valley. He does not jump
over the valley. He walks through it step by
step because suffering is often a very long road.
You probably thought that that reading we read
was a very long reading. It is. It's the longest
reading we ever read all year long, and Al did
an amazing job at it. But why do we read such
a long reading? Because Jesus' road of suffering
was the longest road. Jesus' suffering isn't
just a single event that happens on a cross.
It is a journey, begins in the Garden of Gethsemane,
then the arrest, and the trials, and the humiliation,
and then, well, you heard it all. Right. Finally,
the long walk up to the cross on the Mount Golgotha.
Early Christians actually gave a name to that
walk. They called it the Via Dolorosa, the way
of suffering. Suffering is a journey. And Jesus
walked that road step by step. I don't know where
you are on that road. You may not even think
you're on that road. We may all be on a different
part of that road. Some of you are still enjoying
a pleasant hike in life. That's great. But for
others, the path just became steep. Something
happened. For others of you, you feel like you
have been walking this road for a long, long
time. Wherever you are in your journey of suffering,
it's rarely a single moment. We move through
it over time. So Jesus shows us suffering is
a journey. But the second thing Jesus shows us
is that all we can do is just take the next step.
Just keep taking the next step. On good days,
it's true. Life feels like a well -marked trail.
You can see everything. But then the fog rolls
in and all of a sudden you can't see more than
a few inches in front of you. You can't see what's
around the bend. You can't even see five steps
in front of you. All you see. is what's right
in front of you and that is what suffering is
like there's no map that tells us how we're going
to get all through this sometimes and what's
going to happen just like on a dangerous trail
you need enough courage just to take the next
step in fact tradition tells us that jesus carried
this cross through the streets of jerusalem and
as he did he fell along the road. And that's
understandable. Two or even three times he fell.
The weight was just too much. But each time he
got back up again and he kept walking, not running,
mind you, not escaping, not giving up, just taking
the next step, the next. And that is exactly
how we walk through suffering. We walk by faith,
not by sight. Because you can't see what is around
that bend or down that road or where it is all
going. And we may stumble and we may fall. But
when we fall, faith means we get up again and
we take the next step. And even if that next
step is just a small step, that... is okay because
small steps are how we walk the way of Jesus
on the road of suffering. The third thing Jesus
shows us is on the road of suffering, God walks
with us. You know, a hiker might be willing to
tackle a dangerous trail if they knew that somebody
else was with them, someone to kind of hold on
to. The hardest part of suffering is actually
not the pain itself, but it's the idea that you
feel like you're alone. And many people feel
like in the midst of their suffering that God
has abandoned them too. Because if God were here,
then why would I be going through this in the
first place? But that's not how Jesus walks the
road of suffering. Because you see, before Jesus
went to the cross, he went to the garden. And
he went there to pray. And he fell with his face
to the ground and he prayed, my father. And he
poured everything out to God. But what he was
really doing in that moment was not just giving
his stuff to God, but inviting God into his suffering.
Reassuring himself that God, yes, was walking
this road with him. It's like the psalmist says,
even though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I fear no evil. We heard that
part. For you are with me. God is with Jesus
in his suffering. And that means that when we
walk the road of suffering, God, he's not watching
from a distance. He's not way ahead of us. He's
not way behind us. He's right beside us. So as
it turns out, we do actually have someone we
can hold on to. God is with us in our suffering.
But the fourth thing we learn from Jesus as we
follow him on this road is that suffering can
actually shape us. You know, if you're a hiker,
it's the steep trails, right? It's the really
rugged terrain that develops a hiker's muscles
and their endurance. And the same is true in
our suffering. It can make us stronger. Now,
I want to say this very carefully because, you
know, pain is real and loss is real. And Good
Friday reminds us, you know, suffering is never
something to celebrate or pretend is good. The
cross was brutal. And whatever pain you're going
through, it is not beautiful either. And yet,
the mystery of the Christian faith is that God
can take our suffering. And use it to shape us,
to teach us, to grow something in us. We even
see this in the life of Jesus. Believe it or
not, the book of Hebrews says this most surprising
thing. It says that although he was a son, Jesus
learned obedience through what he suffered. Now,
just think about that for a moment. Jesus, the
son of God, who was perfect, they say, and yet
even he learned. Through suffering. With every
step toward the cross. With every fall under
the weight of the cross. Every moment that he
could have turned back and he did not turn back.
He was growing in his obedience. His suffering
was not pointless. Of course it wasn't pointless.
It changed the world. But his suffering also
changed him somehow. And if that was true for
Jesus, then it should not surprise us that God
uses suffering to shape us as well. God has the
power to take the very pain that threatens to
break us and use that pain to transform us. The
apostle Paul said it this way. He says, suffering
produces perseverance. Perseverance, character,
and character, hope. Psychologists, they point
out that those who walk through suffering often
become more resilient. Their relationships grow
deeper. Their priorities become clear, and many
of them discover a deeper spiritual life than
they had before. In other words, when we keep
walking with God through suffering, something
changes in us. Our faith deepens, our hope becomes
stronger, and our lives are slowly being shaped
by the grace of God. It's funny, but the road
we most wanted to avoid can be the road. where
God forms us the most. But how about the fifth
thing we learn about this road of suffering?
We don't walk alone. I mean, if you've ever hiked
a difficult trail, you know something important.
The hardest trails are actually meant to be hiked
together, right? When the path is narrow and
the climb is steep, you need people beside you
who are going to encourage you, say, you can
do this. Keep on going. I'm here for you. Now,
I know that in the reading we just heard, yes,
Jesus' friends, they seem to eventually abandon
him, but they were there for him. In his difficult
times too, in the Garden of Gethsemane, just
before he hits the, as he hits the road of suffering,
Jesus turns to his closest friends and he says,
hey, listen, just stay here with me. Keep watch
with me. He knows what's happening and he doesn't
want people around him to try to fix it. He doesn't
want people to try to explain it. He just wants
people to be present. And sometimes the greatest
gift we can give to someone who is suffering
is simply just to walk beside them. Or, you know,
what about this moment? You heard this in the
reading. Jesus is walking toward his crucifixion,
and they end up yanking this man named Simon
out of the crowd, and they get him to carry the
cross for him. Jesus was exhausted, so what?
God provides another person to carry his burden.
It's just amazing to think that even Jesus didn't
carry the cross alone. And we need to remember
that when suffering comes, we're not meant to
carry it by ourselves either. God meets us through
the presence of other people. Maybe that is just,
you know, you've got a friend who listens. Maybe
you've got a parent who prays for you. Maybe
you're part of a church community who can help
bear the weight of all that you're going through
when we cannot do it on our own because the road
of suffering is too heavy. For one person to
walk alone. But together, together we can keep
on walking. And now the final thing that we learn
from Jesus about the way of suffering is this.
The road, believe it or not, leads somewhere
good and beautiful. You know, on a hike, I suppose
it's easy to be discouraged when all you see
is dark skies and rain clouds and dangerous cliffs.
But you see, hikers know something important.
They know. that trails turn corners. And what
looks like an endless struggle may actually suddenly
open up into a clearing. What looks like a steep
climb may level out. What looks like rough road
may actually smooth out. And the most amazing
view might appear, will appear, when you least
expect it. And the same is true on the road of
suffering. When Jesus walked that Via Dolorosa,
the way of sorrows, It must have looked like
the end of everything. The crowds watching must
have said, this is a failure. The disciples assumed
that all their hope had died. But you see, they
couldn't see around the corner. The road was
not the end of the story. The writer of Hebrews
tells us that for the joy set before him. Jesus
endured the cross. He kept walking because he
knew the road led somewhere beautiful and good.
Through that cross was going to come forgiveness.
Through the cross was going to come redemption.
Through that cross was going to come healing
and resurrection. At the end of his journey,
we would have a whole world made brand new. And
so Good Friday reminds us that yes, while the
road is long and it is not endless, And though
suffering, it has its limits. And that eventually
we too are going to round a bend and we will
see our heart's desire. So I want to tell you
guys, no matter what your road looks like today,
God is taking you to a beautiful destination.
So let's return to where we started. The dangerous
path. The winds are blowing. Steep. drops beside
you. You're afraid to keep on going. What do
you do? Well, today Jesus tells us what to do.
When suffering comes, you don't try to go around
it. You don't run away from it. You don't rush
past it and you don't give up on it. We follow
Jesus down the road of suffering. He shows us
that suffering is a journey. He inspires us to
take the next step. He reminds us that God walks
with us. He reveals that suffering can shape
us. And he encourages us to walk together. And
finally, he assures us this road leads somewhere
good. So today, yeah, today we stand at the darkest
part of the trail. We stand staring at the cross.
And the road seems to end here, but we know it's
not the end. So if you're finding yourself walking
a hard road today, if the path feels steep, if
the future seems unclear, just take heart. Jesus
has walked this road before us, and Jesus is
walking this road with us, and he will bring
us safely home. Thanks be to God. Amen.