Demonically-inspired events are so commonplace in our world these days that people hardly notice them anymore, but two of them unfolded in the past week that struck my mind and heart in a way that I simply couldn’t ignore. One was the latest lethal terrorist attack perpetrated against Israel by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. In the town of Majdal Shams in northern Israel, death rained down on 12 innocent children and inflicted injuries on dozens of others. These children weren’t killed because they had ever hurt or threatened anyone. They were just playing soccer and enjoying a reprieve from school and other chores, but to the murderous Islamic terrorists who killed them, they deserved to be annihilated simply because they lived in Israel and were assumed to be Jewish.
Intentional Mockery and Ridicule ~
The other event I couldn’t ignore was a demonstration presented as part of the opening ceremonies preceding the Summer Olympics in Paris. Included in the pageantry was a scene
that depicted a twisted, perverted mockery of DaVinci’s painting of the Last Supper. The hateful display revealed to the world what lengths Satan’s minions will go to in their obsession to counter God’s designs with some diabolical, twisted perversion. The scene was a clear and undeniable public mockery of Jesus Christ intended to demean Him and all those who love and serve Him.
Every time I think we’ve plumbed the depths of human depravity, I soon discover that we’ve found some way to sink lower. The incidents I just mentioned left me in a tug of war between heartbreaking grief on the one hand and rage on the other and in the process, Isaiah’s sobering declaration about the state of God’s people in his day kept coming to mind, and it seemed so descriptive of our country today. He said:
Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands afar off;
For truth is fallen in the street,
And equity cannot enter.
So truth fails,
And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. (Isaiah 59:14–15) NKJV
Another Voice Joins In ~
As I was having this internal discussion with myself about all the awful things the followers of Jesus are having to put up with, another voice seemed to join in. It was like the Lord interrupted and said, “Let me suggest a perspective on this issue that you may not have thought about.” And immediately, the extent of the distressing things Jesus had to deal with throughout His life began to pour through my head, and as they did, another descriptive comment from Isaiah came to mind. This one wasn’t about pointing out Israel’s sinful rebellion. Instead, it was a revelation of what their redemption would cost and the suffering their Redeemer would have to endure.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isaiah 53:3) NKJV
It occurred to me that we really know only a tiny portion of the things Jesus had to deal with. 
When we think about His suffering, we’re quick to focus on the physical abuse inflicted on Him in the final hours of His life, but that was not the only source of distress Jesus had to endure. He was God’s only sacrificial Lamb. That meant that the sin of the entire world would be laid on Him and that all injustice affected Him. The world’s cruelty and hatred pierced His compassionate heart long before the crown of thorns, or the nails, or the soldier’s spear ever pierced His flesh.
Unavoidable Impact ~
Because He was who He was, Jesus endured more suffering than we often consider. Throughout His life, His perfect righteousness had to endure the impact of living in a violent, hateful, broken world. As a living embodiment of God’s love, He felt the effects of the cruelty and evil being perpetrated around Him. As the flawless Judge of all humanity, Jesus was repulsed by the injustices being inflicted on innocent victims every day. And we must not forget that like everything He did, His response to that suffering serves as our guide as well.
As I thought about that principle and recalled how I was responding to the events mentioned earlier, I thought about the kinds of things Jesus and His followers were subjected to by those who considered them a threat to their power and authority. In the midst of that, a passionate declaration the Apostle Paul made to the believers in Philippi unexpectedly came to mind. After discounting every religious and academic accolade he could have boasted about, Paul revealed the deepest desire of his heart:
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings … (Philippians 3:8–11) NKJV
An Expanded Perspective ~
Much has been said and written about what it means to share the fellowship of His sufferings.
The sense of dying to ourselves and the world in order to experience the freedom of resurrection and new life is obviously intended, but what if we consider the suffering He endured prior to the torture of the cross? Shouldn’t we acknowledge the impact on Him from simply being immersed in a world that hated Him and wanted to destroy everything precious to Him? Shouldn’t our fellowship with His suffering include that as well? And wouldn’t we be better equipped to deal with the evil surrounding us if we followed His example and walked in fellowship with what He endured in that realm as well? When we begin to think about it from that perspective, some interesting observations emerge.
To begin with, in spite of living in a world inundated with all kinds of evil, Jesus embodied qualities like joy, love, peace, hope, and faith. Even though He was more aware of cruelty and injustice than any of us could be, its presence didn’t dictate His attitude or His behavior. He never lost sight of who He was and why He was here. Jesus kept His attention focused on those in touching distance of the love and forgiveness He had to offer and the new life He could impart. He devoted His time, energy, and resources to meeting the needs of those He could reach where He was. He fed the hungry who gathered around Him. When He met lame beggars 
on the road He was traveling, He lifted them up and gave them a new life they never thought they could have, and when He encountered the outcast and rejected, He embraced them with unconditional love. When Jesus encountered suffering, He put it on a collision course with resurrection power.
Another Course Available ~
Until Jesus comes again, evil will continue to manifest itself in ways that make us feel helpless against it. News cycles will continue to report atrocities that fill us with waves of grief and anger. But we’re not helpless, and our joy and peace aren’t based on favorable conditions. In addition to praying for those victimized by evil and speaking out against it, we can respond to it like Jesus did. We can reach out to those within touching distance with the unconditional love and defiant joy that we’ve been given. Maybe if we apply the gifts we’ve been given to the burdens they bear and become sources of hope they never expected, we can watch Jesus put their suffering and loss on a collision course with resurrection power and show the world once again what “Good News” is all about.
So, as the world continues to inundate us with graphic reasons to feel anxiety, fear, rage, and grief, we have an example to follow. The Spirit of that radical, resurrected Rabbi from Nazareth lives in us, and because He does, we can engage suffering and cruelty in the world like He did. We’re His emissaries, and He has commissioned us to be His means for bringing resurrection power into a soul-saving, life-transforming, joy-imparting collision course with suffering and loss wherever it confronts us.
“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below. Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .
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- “Jesus embodied qualities like joy, love, peace, hope, and faith. He was more aware of cruelty and injustice than any of us, but its presence didn’t dictate His attitude or His behavior. He never lost sight of who He was and why He was here.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) https://ctt.ec/REsy1
- “Jesus kept His attention focused on those in touching distance of the love and forgiveness He had to offer and the new life He could impart. He devoted His time, energy, and resources to meeting the needs of those He could reach where He was.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- “Until Jesus comes again, evil will continue to manifest itself in ways that make us feel helpless against it. But we’re not helpless, and our joy and peace aren’t based on favorable conditions. We can respond to it like Jesus did.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- “Pray for those victimized by evil. Speak out against it. Respond like Jesus did. Reach out to those within touching distance with the unconditional love and defiant joy that we’ve been given. Become sources of hope they never expected.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- “The Spirit of the radical, resurrected Rabbi from Nazareth lives in us. Because He does, we can engage suffering and cruelty in the world as He did. We’re His emissaries. He commissioned us to be His means to bring resurrection power into … ” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
Gallagher's Pen ~ 
Of all the posts you’ve penned, Ron, this one just might be the most powerful and convicting. You’ve made me realize, in a whole new way, what it means to truly reflect the light and love of Jesus in a world broken by hatred and evil, and the seemingly endless desire for power. Only He is worthy of all honor and glory and praise. And if we are to be His emissaries on earth, showing others that resurrection joy, let us love one another above all else. Easy? Of course not! But we know that the Lord will come along beside us when we are doing the will of the Father.
Blessings always!
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You are such an incredible encourager, Martha, both in your own writing ministry and the gracious comments you share. Isn’t is amazing how that regardless of how old we are and how long we’ve been endeavoring to follow Him, Jesus never stops granting us fresh glimpses of who He is and how many ways He can reveal His principles in ways we never imagined.
And as a matter of fact, I thought about you this morning. We had just gotten up and Diane called from the foyer and said, “Come quick, you’ve gotta see this!” When I got to the window opening to the circular courtyard in front of our house, there were six deer just casually grazing on the wet grass. We have seen one or two here and there since we moved here but this was the first time we’ve seen so many that were so close. Diane whipped out her camera, of course, and recorded a few seconds of video, and I thought that your Danny would have made that scene into a beautiful backdrop for you to weave a message from God into it. Thank you again, my dear friend, and may God continue to bless and use all of us to make His love visible and His presence unmistakeable.
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