Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:3
I just don’t get it. It seems that I just keep running into people that have a belief that I can’t get my head around. There’s a large number of people out there that think suffering is not real. They’ve bought into the idea that suffering is an illusion.
You don’t have to look far to see lots and lots of suffering all around the world. In our country. In our neighborhoods. In our families. And yes, even in our own lives. This world is a wrecked mess and suffering is just one of the things that comes out from this brokenness. And since people are part of the world, they’re also shattered. That includes you and me too.
When it came to what the Hebrews were going through, their persecution was true. Their pain wasn’t some kind of dream. Their physical and psychological suffering was a real as real can get. They could look at their scars from the beating. There were empty places around their dining room tables where a loved one once sat. But they were gone.
There was nothing pretend about the way these Hebrews had suffered. And Jesus’ suffering was just as real. He actually and actively went through it. He had all sorts of enemies and opposition. They didn’t just casually disagree with him, but they came at him with everything they had. His foes didn’t hold anything back. They came at him and kept coming at him.
It's was so very helpful to the Hebrews to know that Jesus had suffered like them. And it’s helpful for you and me too. If he didn’t suffer, then he really couldn’t be our great high priest[1]. Even through he was God, he experienced and understood our weakness[2]. He knows that we’re nothing but dust[3].
When we look back at the suffering of Jesus, it’s really much worse than ours. We’re sinners and deserve God’s punishment. But since Jesus was without sin[4], he didn’t deserve anything but worship and praise.
Did you see where all Jesus’ suffering came from? Or, I should say who it came from. Yes, sinners. People just like you and me. People that couldn’t hit the side of a spiritual barn with our words, thoughts, actions, or attitudes. His suffering didn’t come from someone just like him. All his suffering was sourced in and through sinners.
This means that all of Jesus’ suffering was unfair. It came from imperfect people with imperfect knowledge. An imperfect view of what was going on. And their actions were not right or just.
For the Hebrews and us, our suffering and persecutions would seem insignificant compared to His. Jesus was and is perfect, but we’re not even close. But God doesn’t punish us based on what we deserve[5]. Instead, he took everything we deserved and endured it all for us. In our place[6].
This is why the writer can encourage the Hebrews to not give up. Since Jesus was a man and went through it, so can we. With God’s help and power, you and I can stay faithful to him. We can remain under the pain and suffering if we follow these two important truths.
Grow weary. This is where you get tired to the point of feeling sick or collapsing. This is our physical reaction to pain and persecution. It may sound really simple, but we don’t grow weary by just sitting around. The only way to truly grow weary is through overwork. Not just a little bit of work, but to go above and beyond what you’ve got the strength for.
Lose heart. While we do have a heart, this isn’t what the writer is talking about. You don’t lose heart because one thing happened one day. Oh no. This is an ongoing series of things that just drain our emotions and soul. But once you lose heart, it stays with you. You come to the point of fainting and you can’t shake it.
If we stop and think about both of these things, we don’t get there by doing nothing. These don’t just show up in the mail and we open them. Not on your life. We have to decide to do them. We have to take time and spend energy to get to where these two things are. They don’t just start by themselves. We also don’t just stumble into them. We have to make a decision and then act.
We may be growing weary and losing heart. Maybe we’ve been going through a lot of pain, persecutions, and problems for a long time. And if we only look at ourselves, we’re dead meat. This is why we’re commanded to consider Jesus. Not just think about him like a text, but to repeatedly reflect on who Jesus is and all he’s done for us. He’s the only one that can walk with us through this life and bring us to the life to come.
Noodling Questions
Does the idea of considering sound interesting? Attractive? Why?
If Jesus’ life was unfair, why would we think our lives should be fair?
Why is considering the cure for when we grow weary and lose heart?
[1] Hebrews 4:14
[2] Hebrews 4:15,16
[3] Psalm 103:14
[4] 2 Corinthians 5:21
[5] Psalm 103:10
[6] Isaiah 53:3-5
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