The Right Way to Meditate on Our Lord's Suffering

A Sermon by The Rev. John W. Fenton

Mel Gibson made the movie “The Passion of the Christ” to encourage audiences to meditate on Our Lord’s Suffering. This sermon, based on a longer sermon by Martin Luther, places Our Lord’s Passion (and the movie) within the context of the Holy Mass.

To meditate on Our Lord’s suffering is a good and noble thing. But it can be done in the wrong way, just as it can be done in the right way.

In the wrong way, some reflect upon Our Lord’s sufferings so that they become angry with the Jews. They sing and lament about poor Judas, and this satisfies them.

Others consider Our Lord’s suffering as a way to avoid their own heartache. So they try hard to imagine the agony Our Lord endured and conjure feelings of empathy.

Still others get wrapped up in crying and mourning Christ’s death because He was so innocent. The cross makes them feel badly simply because of what happened to Jesus. They think that, if only they had been there and seen Our Lord’s suffering or experienced the event, this would help them. These people are like those who think they get some benefit, not by going to the Lord’s Supper but simply by listening and watching when the Supper is served. What good is the Body of Christ if it is not given to you? Likewise, what good does it do you to meditate on the suffering and death of Christ if you don’t consider why He suffered and don’t remember that He died for you?

The right way to meditate on Our Lord’s suffering is not to focus on the gore or Christ’s pain, but to know and believe that Christ died for you. For you He endured the severe wrath and unchangeable punishment of God toward sin and sinners. You are the sinner, and you do the sin. Yet you don’t suffer God’s “punishment to the third and fourth generation of those who hate” Him and live against His commandments. In your stead, Christ suffers that punishment. And what happens to you? You are forgiven, released from the penalty, set free from the demands and threats and obligations to God.

This knowledge and belief—that the Son of God suffers because of you and dies the death-penalty you deserve—that should terrify you; because you will then realize that, not the Jews, not Judas, but you martyred Christ. You and your sins most surely did this thing against Jesus. So understand this: where one thorn pierces Christ, more than a thousand should pierce you; yes, forever and throughout eternity they should more painfully torment you.

Now you know why the Jews were terror-stricken when Peter preached to them after Jesus’ ascension and said, “You crucified Him.” It was not simply because they said, “Crucify Him,” or, “His blood be on us and on our children,” but because their sin put Him to death. And so they asked what they could do. And Peter said, “Be baptized.” In other words, “The blood Jesus shed for your sake cleanses you from the sin that caused Him to suffer and die.”

And now you also know what Bernard of Clairvoux meant when he said this: “I imagined I was secure, [that all was well] when I knew nothing of the eternal judgment passed on me in heaven, until I saw that the eternal Son of God had mercy on me, stepped forward and offered Himself on my behalf [to bear] my judgment. And now, it is not right for me still to play [and live as I please] when such seriousness lies behind those sufferings [of Christ].”

To understand Christ’s suffering the right way, then, means that you understand yourself better —not just what you do but also who you are. And then also, to understand what Christ did for your benefit—to save and deliver you from God’s rightful wrath in spite of who you are and what you do. For the person who does not come to this knowledge and belief about himself and Christ but insists on being blind and deaf to this true reason for Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross—for that person Our Lord’s death does no good whatsoever. For he has rejected the work of Christ and chosen to rely on his own ability to survive God’s wrath and punishment.

That person should tremble and fear. For you cannot have it both ways. Either Jesus suffered and died the suffering and death you deserved, or He did not. Either you and your sins crucified Him, or they did not. Either His Body was given for you and His Blood shed for you, or it was not.

Pray, then, that God soften your heart and open your ears so that you take to heart the real reason Christ suffered and died. For the work is in God’s hands and depends upon His grace and favor towards you. And be confident, then, that because of Christ’s suffering and death God is gracious and favorable toward you, that He no longer holds your sin against you, that He truly does forgive and love and embrace you.

And then do not any longer carry the heavy weight of your sin, your suffering, your guilt, your heartache, your fear; but cast it all on Christ. For He is the Lamb of God come to relieve you and bear your load. For that is why the Son of God came into this world and suffered death upon the cross—so that His wounds, holy and glorious, might satisfy God’s wrath and divert God’s punishment from us to Him. St. Paul says it this way: “Him who knew no sin was made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteous of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

“Upon these and like passages you must rely with all your weight, and so much the more the harder your conscience martyrs you. For if you do not take this course, but miss the opportunity of stilling your heart, then you will never secure peace, and must yet finally despair in doubt. For if we deal with our sins in our conscience and let them continue within us and be cherished by our hearts, they become much too strong for us to manage and they will live forever. But when we see that they are laid on Christ and that He has triumphed over them by His resurrection and we fearlessly believe it, then they are dead and have become as nothing. For upon Christ sins cannot rest; there they are swallowed up by His resurrection, and you see now no wound, no pain, in Him; that is, no sign of sin.” (Luther)

The work, then, is all done by Jesus. His suffering and death endures it all. And His resurrection makes it all good for you. So do not grieve about Christ’s suffering any longer. His suffering is over. Rather, consider and meditate on and take to heart what His suffering won for you—a conscience free from sin, a heart free from fear and the terrors of death, a death free from its curse and punishment, a life free to love God and live for Him not to meet demands but to give thanks. That is the good Christ’s suffering has done for you. And that is the benefit Christ’s suffering gives you whenever you take to heart His forgiveness and partake of His broken Body and shed Blood.

Finally, let the sufferings of Christ work in you the desire to bear your suffering and cross with patience. That is what St. Peter means when he says, “Since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind.” And the same mind is this: to find in Christ strength and comfort when life is hard, or when sinful desires keep surfacing, or when pride and meanness, despair and depression threaten to control you. Then return to Our Lord’s suffering and death, not just by thinking about what He endured, but more importantly by receiving what He won for you by His Passion, Death and Resurrection.

And what Our Lord won for you on the cross—the relief and comfort you so desire and long for—that is already yours since you were planted into His suffering and death by Baptism. And yet that relief and comfort are also given again and again in the Absolution and Supper—given again so that you may not stumble or despair or lose heart or grow weary, but so that you may be strengthened and preserved in the true faith unto life everlasting. All because Our Lord suffered and died in your place.

28 March 1993