Friday, March 21, 2025

He suffered and was buried;

First, let’s put this part of the sentence into context of the creed: we believe in Jesus Christ who “suffered and was buried”. What does it mean to us that we believe “he suffered and was buried”? Why are these two features added to the list of His identity? What if you would take them out of the creed?

The first thing I noticed in this creed about whom we believe our God is, is that the part concerning the Father is only four lines, while the part about the Son, Jesus Christ, is about half of the complete creed. It seems that what we believe about Jesus is essential.

We believe that “he suffered and was buried”. What does this mean for us? One could think since he is “the only Son of God begotten from the Father”, that even though he became human, it was rather easy to pay for our sins. Okay, he did not enjoy it, but suffering? I mean, how hard could that be? After all, he is also God. In ancient stories and other religions, heroes and gods die for glory, from hubris, and for their lovers, often with a heroic end in battle.  Even in death, they show off their might and their greatness. Everything is for their own honor and glory. It is all about them. In contrast, in the early Christian period, pagans struggled to believe that Christians would worship a crucified God – why would any real god submit themselves to crucifixion? Crucifixion was a death reserved for slaves and the lowest of criminals - it was considered so embarrassing that Roman citizens were not allowed to be crucified. Not only was it embarrassing, but it was also extremely painful - the word “excruciating” comes from crucifixion. So why is it important we believe Jesus suffered? Because unlike the pagan gods and heroes who died for glory, Jesus suffered the death that was reserved for only the lowest of criminals, to atone for all our crimes. It was not something he did out of luxury or divine ability. No, he gave Himself up! It cost Him everything.

I also became aware of another dimension of Jesus’ suffering and burial. One of our sons is recovering from a serious illness but was mocked by so-called friends because he was so “weak”. When I read that, I became furious with them. I wanted to hurt them, to lash out at them. Almost at the same moment, it came to my mind that our God offered his Son to save us who mocked him. To give a new life to those who made him suffer and buried him. Imagine!

Jesus’ suffering and burial are a profound demonstration, a proof of his endless love for us. His sacrificial love for you, for me. If we realize this, namely that Jesus is the suffering servant (Isaiah 9:6-7, Psalm 22) how can we not be touched to the heart? How can we not have time to have a living relationship with Him?