Symbols of God's Love

Suffering and Shame

In my experience, which I admit is limited, I have always found that in Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, because we don’t always follow the church calendar as closely as the mainline churches, Palm Sunday, Passion Week, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday can jump up on us what seems to be all too quickly. Because of this, this year as we approach this season, I hope to give it a little more justice as we look at some of the symbols of God’s love.

This morning, I want to take some time and look at Jesus suffering and shame, and as we get closer to Good Friday, we will look at the agony and shame that Jesus suffered for us.

Let’s read John 19:1-11

John 19:1–11 NLT

Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face. Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.” Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!” When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.” The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer. “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?” Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

I usually don’t preach a lot of topical sermons, because I often preach from a book of the Bible, but when there are certain times and seasons that I will zoom in on a topical series.

As we look at symbols of God’s love, we’ll look at the stripes, the cross, the crown of thorns, just to list a few examples.

When I think of the title, “Suffering and Shame,” I think of the old hymn that George Bennard wrote,

Here’s some of the lyrics:

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, The emblem of suff’ring and shame; And I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Refrain: So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it someday for a crown.

The first thing that Jesus did that allowed Him to suffer and bear our shame was:

He never pulled His Trump card...

You might be thinking, what are you talking about?

Philippians 2:6–7 NIV

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Philippians 2:6–7 CSB

who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,

How could God, in human flesh, empathize with us, if He didn’t deny Himself of attributes that only God has?

How could Jesus be tempted if He wasn’t human?

Hebrews 4:15 NIV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Even though Jesus could have called a stop to everything, He could have called 12 legions of angels. He could have said to God the Father while He was in the garden, “I can’t and I won’t drink this cup of suffering, He chose the suffering and the shame.

Let’s take a few minutes and look at

Jesus’ Suffering

To what length will God go to show His love?

Jesus is the full demonstrative of God’s love.

John 19:1 NLT

Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip.

39 Stripes...

Growing up, I always thought that Jesus took 39 stripes on his back. Where does this thinking come from?

Paul was beaten 5 times with 39 stripes.

2 Corinthians 11:24 NLT

Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.

In Deuteronomy 25:1-3

Deuteronomy 25:1–3 NLT

“Suppose two people take a dispute to court, and the judges declare that one is right and the other is wrong. If the person in the wrong is sentenced to be flogged, the judge must command him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate to the crime. But never give more than forty lashes; more than forty lashes would publicly humiliate your neighbor.

You’ve maybe heard that it was 39 because 40 lashes could kill someone. May you’ve heard that Jesus took 39 stripes on His back which represents 39 known diseases of His time.

Here’s the deal! Scripture doesn’t tell us how many stripes that Jesus took on His back.

When the Passion of the Christ came out in theatres, I went, and when I saw the man playing Jesus at the whipping post I could hardly watch. They flailed on Him and scourged Him. He was beaten so badly, I felt like saying, “That’s enough!”

It seemed like so many more than 39, how is this possible?

In Jewish law, it was thirty-nine stripes so that your neighbour wouldn’t be publicly humiliated. There was nothing saying that Roman soldiers would stop at 39.

What was prophesied about His suffering?

Isaiah 50:6 NIV

I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.

Here’s what Isaiah prophesies about the Messiah.

Isaiah 52:13–15 NIV

See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

He continues:

Isaiah 53:1–5 NIV

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He 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. He 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. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Here’s what David prophesied in Psalm 22.

Psalm 22:14–18 NLT

My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me. My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead. My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. My enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing.

Jesus was treated like a criminal. The beating with the cruel whips with metal and chips of bone. His skin was lacerated and then His flesh was torn.

He who had done no violence. There was no deceit in His mouth. The One that healed blind eyes, cleansed lepers. The One who bound up broken hearts, and even raised the dead, suffered violence so that we could be healed, and that we could be forgiven.

It’s Jesus that I’m speaking about. He suffered in our place.

Not only did He suffer, but

He bore our shame...

John 19:2–5 NIV

The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

Here’s what Mark had to say about the soldiers actions.

Mark 15:16–20 NIV

The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

Was it not enough to be beaten? Was it not enough to suffer betrayal from one of your twelve closest friends?

He had already been tied to a whipping post and been flogged with a whip that many refer to as the cat of nine tails. Then to have a crown of thorns weaved together and a purple robe placed on his torn flesh.

To add insult to injury, to slap, and to strike Him with a staff, to spit on Him, and then to bow down and in mocking tones, shout, “Hail! King of the Jews!”

I wonder if Jesus said under His breath, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do?”

It was like the soldiers were saying, “You think that you’re a king, here’s your crown. You think that you’re a king, here’s your robe.”

“What kind of a kingdom do you have? You think that you are a king, You are no king! We have defeated you. We will mock you and we will kill you.”

He despised the shame...

If Jesus had only looked at the shame of the beating, mocking, rejection, and even the shame of the cross, how devastating it would have been, but

Hebrews 12:2 NKJV

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus knew the joy that would come long before He suffered the shame and the agony of the cross.

Is it enough to know that Jesus endured suffering and shame? Does this break our hearts? Is it enough to feel some of the sorrow He must have endured?

How does Jesus’ suffering and shame bring me hope?

1. He gets it...

He can understand our shame and our suffering. He doesn’t just understand in theory, Jesus endured suffering and shame so He knows what it’s like to walk in somebody else’s shoes.

2. By His stripes we are healed...

Psalm 103:1–5 NIV

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

3. We have confidence because we are not alone...

Hebrews 13:5–6 NIV

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

We have several promises in Scripture that give us hope that we are not alone. Because we are not alone, no matter what comes against us, we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper.”

4. We know that God is for us. He is not against us.

Romans 8:31–39 NIV

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

His love for us calls us to take up our cross daily and follow Christ…so as we take some extra time this next month as we prepare for Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, let’s take time and remember His suffering and shame: the stripes, the beating, the crown of thorns and the ridicule that was hurled on Him to show us His great love.

Let’s pray!