His Unstoppable Love

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| His Final Hours series |

• How He Loved at His Arrest
• How He Loved When He Was Accused
• His Unstoppable Love
• How to Love Like Jesus Did

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Jesus Pain Leading to the Cross

Thus far, I’ve emphasized the emotional, mental suffering Jesus endured leading up to the cross, but even before the cross He also endured incredible physical suffering. While our focus in this series is the emotional suffering He endured, let’s remember what He did endure for us physically.

After He was arrested, He was brought to the Jewish high priest where He was struck, spat on, mocked, blindfolded, and beaten. He was then delivered to the Roman Governor Pilate. When Pilate was unable to satisfy the crowd, he had Jesus scourged (a Roman judicial punishment where He was severely beaten with a whip that had bone and metal in it). Then Jesus was delivered to be crucified. The soldiers made a crown of thorns and pushed it onto His head while they mocked Him. He was made to carry His cross to the site of His crucifixion (though He was unable to do so, having already been beaten so severely). Only after all of this was Jesus crucified: the most painful death allowed under Roman law.

We’ve seen though that, in spite of all this, Jesus remained focused on loving and serving others. Whether it was the very people who abandoned and betrayed Him, like Peter and Judas, or just the people He came across along the way, like Pilate, Jesus’ heart was turned towards us even in His darkest hours.

Loving through the Pain

In being crucified, literally every breath that Jesus took caused Him excruciating pain. He would have to push up on the nail in his feet to be able to breath in. With how weak He was at this point, this was incredibly difficult (which was why He died before the soldiers were able to break His legs). So every word He said came at great cost. Whatever He said must have been very important to Him. What did He say?

The Soldiers

After Jesus was delivered to be crucified, the soldiers continued to mock, beat and abuse Him. How did Jesus respond to this? He forgave them. More than that, He asked the Father to forgive them. As they were crucifying Him, He said this:

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Luke 23:34

He endured pain to utter these words. Through the pain He made it a point to forgive the soldiers who were mocking and mistreating Him.

The Criminal

What else did He say on the cross? He was crucified next to two criminals. One of them mocked Him, but the other repented to Him and asked to be saved. Even though Jesus was in the midst of incredible pain, that did not stop Him from comforting this man that he would be saved, saying “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

His Mother

One of the last things that He said was to His mother, Mary, who was there at the cross. Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, had likely died when Jesus was younger. As the eldest son, Jesus had taken care of his mother for many years. After His death, who was going to take care of her? Jesus was concerned about his mom. So, despite the pain it caused Him to say this, He looked at Mary, his mother, and John, his disciples and said this:

He said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

John 19:26-27

Jesus Was in Agony

In saying all of this, I want you to see the suffering that Jesus endured for us. We have all felt physical pain, but nothing in comparison to the pain that Jesus endured on and leading up to the cross. Similarly, we have all felt sorrow, but nothing in comparison to the betrayal and abandonment Jesus faced in His final hours.

Furthermore, Jesus knew what He would go through. He knew the extent of the physical and emotional anguish that He would face. It was in knowing this that He was overcome with agony as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane:

Being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Luke 22:44

That word agony is found only once, here in the New Testament. It is a very direct translation, coming from the Greek word ‘agonia’ where we get our English word for “agony”. And agony is defined as “extreme physical or mental suffering” and “the final stages of a difficult or painful death”. There is no more perfect word to describe what Jesus went through for us. He faced extreme physical AND mental suffering in the final stages of His difficult AND painful death.

Yet, somehow, in the throughs of this devastating sorrow, this excruciating pain, this overwhelming agony, Jesus loved us. He loved us not just in His heart, but in His actions. Over and over, throughout this suffering, He pulled Himself together, stood up under its crushing weight, and reached out His hand to care for us. THIS IS LOVE. THIS IS WHO GOD IS. THIS IS HIS LOVE FOR US.

Next Time

What does this teach us? What does it tell us about God’s heart for us? What does His example show us? How should this example change us? How should this example change what we do? Next time Monica and I will explore these questions with you together as we talk about what we’ve seen in this series.