Listening to Suffering- Being Silent

7He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:12)

3The chief priests accused him of many things. 4So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

5But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. (Mark 15;3-5)

Thoughts: The silence of Jesus before his captors is well known.  He did not whine or complain. He did not defend himself.
      The silence is not an accident.  It was prophesied, as an important part of the ministry of the suffering servant.  The servant suffers in silence- not complaining or whining, but full of strength, grace, and hope.   It is the silence of Jesus that shows a trust in God, and a listening to the voice and Spirit of God.  In His silence He trusts in the deliverance of God.
       In our day, we seek to distracted from suffering by texting, tweeting, snapchatting, instagramming, etc.  We need to be still and know that He is God.  We need to stop and listen in the suffering to the still small whisper of God  It is in silence that we can listen best.   Jesus did not ignore His suffering but embraced it.  Not in a masochistic or sadistic kind of way- but in a way of listening.  

Prayer: Lord, let me be still enough to hear you speaking through my pain.  

Listening in Suffering- our Alarm Clock

1Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:1-3)

Thoughts: This passage is classically described as a prophecy of "The Suffering Servant."   Christians see this fulfilled to a tee in the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus himself hinted at this several times (Mk. 10:45; Lk. 9:22; Jn. 1:10-11; 3:16-19, et al.).  God came in a rare way- He came to us and we did not believe His message.  Instead of believing we made the Messenger- God Himself suffers.  Though we despised Him and held Him in low esteem, Jesus Himself did not give up His confidence in His message of hope and love and His confidence in who He was.  In the end, it is not the applause or approval of humans that is most important.  If we know God approves of what we do, then the approval of others pales in value.
       Jesus came to suffer.  Suffering in itself can be and often is redemptive.  Suffering is not just chaotic pain.  Nor is the purpose of suffering simply to motivate us to work hard so others will suffer less.  Truth is- all will suffer.  Good people and bad people.  All will die (unless the Lord comes back first).  Too many act as if they are surprised that the good suffer.  Christians should not be surprised.  After all- Jesus the holy and loving mand suffered.  The question is, how will we handle our suffering.  We should listen to this message of one who came to suffer on our behalf.  He gave Himself fully for us.  Suffering hurts, and the Bible does not deny the reality of it (unlike some religions that say suffering is an illusion).  It is to be faced.  It is to be fought.  We should recognize that one day suffering and sorrow will end.  But it is also to be listened to.  Often suffering is as C.S, Lewis put it, "an alarm clock" to wake us up to what is really important.  It changes our perspective.  Suffering can break us- if we turn from hope and God's way, but if we listen in the midst of it, suffering can make us into better people. 

Prayer: Lord, let me listen to the hope found in your pain.  As I listen, let me find hope in my own pain.

LIsten to the Healing

14When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

16When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases." (Matthew 8)

Thoughts:  These words were written that we might listen to them.  Listen to the power in them.  Listen to  the love and response in love in them.  Jesus heals and the woman gets up and serves. Evil and sickness are driven out.  This is a foretaste of heaven- where there will be no evil, no sickness, no tears or sorrow.  Jesus brings hope and joy and a reminder of what God can do.  We forget and too often think we are left here on our own.  We to often think evil, temptation are too strong  We say, "This is just the way I am" or "This is just the way it is" as we give into sin and temptation. Jesus took our infirmities up- and threw them away.  He bore our diseases.
      There was a Marvel comic movie where the hero (Ironman) took the nuclear bomb headed toward New York out into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He was bearing the evil away.  The suspense was whether he could make it back or not- and he did.  Jesus takes our evil away and makes it back.  He carries our sorrows, our infirmities and diseases away from us.  

Prayer:   Lord, help me to look to you- to listen to your power to bear my infirmities away.  Keep me from self reliance. 

(Peter's mother-in-law's house- Capernaum)