When Would You Suffer for Another?

I struggle a bit with Easter.  That Christ had to die for our sins never held much logic to me.  It makes more sense that Jesus died because of our sins, rather than for our sins.  And the focus during the Easter season on the suffering of Jesus seems to risk overshadowing his teachings.

This week, though, it occurred to me that maybe I've been looking at Easter the wrong way.  It happened when I learned that a good friend's son has a frightening diagnosis.  I wondered if my friend wished she could trade places with her son...if she, not him, could undergo the treatments and the pain.  I thought if one of my sons had a similar illness, I would want to do the suffering for them.  Then I wondered, how far out would I go?  Would I trade places with her son?  Would I take on the suffering of a teenager in the inner city?  Would I trade places with a child in Gaza?  Jesus would certainly do that.  He would take on all that suffering.  He would go that far out.

So maybe there is an important lesson in focusing on the suffering of Christ.  He loved us so much that he willingly died for us.  Perhaps the image of the cross is a challenge to us all to go further out.

Holy one, help us to love more widely and wildly...

Help us alleviate the suffering of others, in whatever way we can.

Judy is a founding member of Peace Church and mom to Ted and Johnny.