Choosing

“Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit” 1 Peter 3:18

We don’t like to think about suffering. There is something wrong with choosing to suffer. Jesus suffered for our sins, but He did not choose to suffer. Before you throw those rotten tomatoes at me, let’s talk about what Jesus actually chose. He chose the will of the Father. Knowing what was ahead of Him, Jesus prayed in such agony on the Mount of Olives that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. Jesus knew the cross was ahead of Him, but He didn’t choose to suffer. He chose the will of the Father. His prayer in the garden was, “Your will be done, not mine.” He chose the will of God even if it meant suffering.

As agonizing as it was to be betrayed by His own disciples, arrested, denied, mocked, flogged, condemned, and ultimately crucified for something he never did, Jesus chose the will of the Father to pay the price for your sin and mine. The will of the Father meant a path of suffering. Jesus chose the will of the Father and with that, He accepted the path of suffering. The Bible says that because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. (Heb. 12:2)

The joy awaiting Jesus was not that he would sit in the place of honor. Jesus could have abandoned His mission at any time and taken His rightful place of honor at the right hand of the Father. That was not the purpose of the cross. The purpose of the cross was to bring you and me safely home to God. That was the joy awaiting Him—our sin debt forever paid and our fellowship with God restored. This was the will of the Father. The will of the Father is always worth the suffering.