Sometimes it’s hard to see past the suffering we are walking through. Sometimes it’s easy to feel all alone.

As we near Resurrection Sunday…I pray this encourages you.

Take some time and read over Matthew 27:11-26 a few times.

¹¹ Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

¹² When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³ Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” ¹⁴ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

¹⁵ Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶ At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus^[b] Barabbas.¹⁷ So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸ For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

¹⁹ While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dreambecause of him.”

²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

²¹ “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

²² “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

²³ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁴ When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

²⁵ All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

²⁶ Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

There is no question that Jesus endured immense physical suffering on his road to the cross. The flogging mentioned in verse 26 alone was severe enough to kill a man; in fact many people never survived the whip to finish their crucifixion sentence. Jesus was beaten, flogged, forced to carry his own cross, and then nailed to it. It is easy for us to focus on the undeniable physical suffering of our Savior on his journey to the cross, but we can’t overlook that His emotional suffering was just as intense.

• In this passage we see Jesus standing trial before Pilot, the Roman governor while the Jewish leaders hurled false accusations about him. He stood silent while he was lied about, his character was attacked and his purpose was completely misconstrued.

• He was abandoned by everyone who cared about him, even those who promised to stand with him, no matter what. Alone, with no one on his side, Jesus was so isolated, completely on his own. The fully God, fully man forfeited His trump card and put Himself at the mercy of his captors, and found none.

• When faced with the choice between the release of a dangerous criminal, Barabbas, or Jesus’ acquittal, the same crowd who loved Him on Sunday, shouted with passion for Barabbas. Jesus is face to face with both their private and public rejection of Him. His life’s work, His mission to love people and lead them to God was completely and recklessly rejected.

• When asked what they wanted to do with Jesus, the crowds that had shouted “Hosanna” on Sunday, shouted “Crucify Him!” on Friday. His intense love for them was met with their intense hate. Think about that. A crowd of people that you love so much that you know you will die for them…and they not only don’t want you, they want to kill you because they don’t truly know you. They want you dead…and not only dead, but beaten, bloody, go-through-hell dead.

Some of us go through physical anguish, but many of us are suffering so severely emotionally that we can’t see past the hell that we are walking through because of someone else’s reckless rejection. Whether the rejection was from the boss that fired us, the spouse that left us, the child that rebelled, or a friendship torn apart, our pain is real and its hard to see past. We can feel completely misunderstood by everyone, completely isolated. But the truth is that there is nothing that Jesus has not suffered through.

You will never find yourself so far from God that His love is not coming after you (Rom 8:38-39). He understands you. He knows what you’ve been through. He has felt your pain and He died for it and He was raised to life with victory over it.

1. What emotional suffering…emotional baggage…have you not trusted that Jesus can take care of? Here’s the deal: He died for that too.

2. We can’t forget that our sin put Him on the cross and we are the ones who also reject and cause pain to others. Are there messes you’ve made that you have yet to own? Has your rejection been reckless?

3. We’ve heard it said many times that God does not waste our pain. When we understand that we are not alone in our suffering, we can walk forward. What is Jesus leading you to through your pain?

4. The beauty of the body of Christ is that we don’t do this thing called “life” alone. So who can you come alongside and encourage through their season of suffering?