Passion - Suffering - of the Christ Writ ten “I want to know Christ - yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11; NIV). One of the things that I have grown to understand about God is His desire to be known intimately by His children. The Bible is filled with scripture relating to being known, but one of my favourite scriptures comes from Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian, “ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1:17). The big question is: why mix suffering with knowing God? Could suffering be one of the gateways to knowing God intimately? If so, why is that? Peter, Paul and the other early disciples certainly believed it can. I would like to argue that perhaps one reason among many would be to cultivate empathy. Not just 13
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for one another (humankind) but to understand Christ at a deeper level. Suffering, from my own experience, has always induced empathy and compassion in my life. An ability to walk in another person’s shoes causes me to shift the way I think and respond to situations. It is often in your own pain that you can identify with other people’s pain. In his book The Fruit of Pain, Hardship and Disappointment Is Empathy, Jack Schafer -a behavioural analyst - says “True empathy and understanding take place only when we have something against which we can judge the physical and emotional experiences of others. The accumulation of our personal experiences becomes standard against which we judge other people’s behaviours and emotions”. Joy perhaps comes in the knowledge of knowing the other person intimately and the sharing of each other’s experiences. What greater honour should it be to know the suffering of Christ, to share in His mission and unwavering commitment in the redemption of humankind.
