He himself has suffered, you see, through being put to the test, and that’s why he is able to help those who are being tested right now.

When we think of the suffering of Christ, much of the time, it seems, we refer to His physical suffering. And then we try to transpose it to our own lives to find comfort in the fact that He died horribly and violently, therefore, He knows what we are going through right now. Yet most of us, thankfully, are probably not going to experience a death or physical violence anywhere near what Christ experienced.It may be good to sit and think of the other kinds of suffering He experienced in His life here among us. This morning I was ruminating on His being misunderstood. How awful it feels to be misunderstood and misrepresented. Inside we crave what Curt Thompson says is to “Feel felt.” That’s why it feels so good when we meet someone who “gets us.” They can relate and understand why you like what you like or do what you do.

At a deeper level, we seek to be validated, which is what some say is one of the five human priorities (more on that another day).

And really, no human can really get us totally. No one truly understand everything about us. Heck, we don’t understands everything about ourselves*. Which hopefully drives us to Jesus, because He does get us, everything about us. He can relate to being misunderstood. Was there anyone in history more misunderstood than this guy?

Some wanted to worship Him, some wanted to kill Him, some wanted to make Him king, some wanted to throw Him off a cliff, some wanted to follow Him to death, some wanted Him out of their town…at some point, being human, it had to affect Him in some way, people just not getting Him or what He was about, even though He was laser focused on the Father and His mission.

Here’s an imaginated conversation I had with Jesus in which He told me this story while reminiscing:

“Yeah, I remember in one small town where I was able to heal almost fifty people one day. Afterward, I turned to my left to walk to the other side of the town to see who was in need over there, and I was immediately stopped by an angry woman yelling at me. ‘Sorcerer! Fake! Get out! Get out of here! Leave us alone, magician!’ I know she was scared, but it really hurt. I just wanted to help those in need, and started to reply gently, ‘No, I just want to–‘ ‘LEAVE!’  That’s what the group of five or six men with clubs and staffs said before I could say another word. I could see there was no changing their minds or convincing them that my intentions were good. It saddened me, but I turned around and left their town. The people I healed watched, but did not defend me, as they appeared to not really understand themselves what all happened that day. Feeling very misunderstood and alone on my walk, I knew I needed to be with my Father  and fill with Him to remind me of my mission and His will for me in the midst of all this confusion. He assured me to keep on going, and that not everyone is going to accept me, get me, or know where I’m coming from. But He does. And now I do. I accept you, get you, know where you come from, and where you are going. I get being misunderstood, and it doesn’t feel good. But together, let’s keep moving forward, because I GET YOU!”

In the Name of Jesus, 
Soli Deo Gloria

 

P.S. I think of the song sung by Adam Levine on a Slash album, “You just get me, like I’ve never been gotten before.”