"Jesus says in Mark 9:19: "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?" He is almost exasperated, indicating He expected more from His disciples than they were producing. Matthew 9:18-38 provides us with an example of a typical period in His life, demonstrating that service to man involves considerable self-sacrifice. The Scriptures specifically tell us that He was weary (John 4:6). At other times, Jesus headed for deserted places, but people nonetheless discovered Him and thronged to Him, cutting into any prayer and rest He may have desired. Yet, He set aside His pleasure and attended to them (Mark 6:32-56). He certainly became bone-weary at times, and there was always the possibility of emotional and psychological pain. The very people He served were likely to inflict the pain. As Scripture relates, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him" (John 1:11). Psalm 69:1-2, 19-20 gives us a small window into His feelings at such times: Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.. . . You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; my adversaries are all before You. Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. The psalmist provides a vivid picture of a person dealing with so many pressing issues at once that he feels as if he were drowning. Undoubtedly, He bore His sacrifices, rejections, and reproaches without complaint to those He was serving (I Peter 2:23). But this does not mean they did not affect His feelings and did not take them to God for comfort and consolation. Psalm 55:12-14 adds His thoughts during a particularly heartfelt circumstance: For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has magnified himself against me; then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in the throng. This brief insight reveals that the most bitter and difficult reproaches frequently come from those from whom we expect the most. Psalm 22:14-15 describes a small portion of the most horrific "grinding" Christ endured in His service to man: "I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death." Christ was ground in body and spirit. In this case, He was bruised so badly He was barely recognizable as a man (Isaiah 52:14) and was so sapped of strength that He could not bear His cross of crucifixion alone. Another was compelled to bear it for Him because Jesus was already figuratively ground and ready to be put on the altar. The lesson for us is that service to our fellow man is self-surrender and self-sacrifice. The nearer our service approaches His degree of self-sacrificing service the more we will resemble what happened to Him. We, too, will find ourselves bruised."
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 06:41:12 +0000
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