Suffering And Death Of Christ;

Preamble; why was Christ on earth? Or for whom was Christ on earth? Was He comprehended? Do we also suffer Him? How often do we suffer Him? Was He defenseless? Of what important is the Suffering and Death of Christ to you and I? These are questions among others this paper shall address.To understand our theme of discussion, we must be familiar with the concepts of Suffering and Death. In this context, suffering, simply put feeling of pains while Death is a stage of unconsciousness.

Prior to the coming of Christ to the planet earth, there was a good rapport between man and God the creator and controller of universe. But when the relation was broken through Adam as recorded in Genesis 3, there was the need to reconcile man to God which the blood of animals could not do. Jesus Christ who is the only child and son of God had to forfeit His rightful place for a while to amends the broken relationship between man and God. It is pathetic to note that those whom Christ came to rescue could not understand and despised Him. Isaiah 53:3-5 "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed".

Christ had the power to have opposed His foes, but could not exercise the power just to accomplish His purpose of coming to earth. Matthew 26:53 "Do you think I can not call on my father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" But how then the scriptures would be fulfilled…………………..

After words, they mocked, flogged and nailed Him to the cross. Yet He couldn’t open His mouth, He went to the cross quietly though in agony for no any other account than to salvage mankind. To worsen the situation, the passers-by have this to say "you who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the son of God" but at the due time, Christ spoke to God "Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani?" which means, ‘my God, my God why have you forsaken me?’ father into your hands I commit my spirit" when He had Said these words among others on the cross, He breathed His last.

Subsequently, a man named Joseph of Arimathea a member of the council, a good and upright man requested for the corpse. His request was granted and he and the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee bury the corpse.

If your answer is yes, then Christ is not the lamb that was slained to reconcile man to God. But if you believe in the other side of the coin that He shouldn’t be crucified over and over, then be mindful of the fact that Jesus is crucified afresh in every injustice done, in every liberty or right deprived, in every truth suppressed, in every victim sacrificed, in every person put to the wall, in every needy person neglected, in every case of discrimination. Tom Houston [1986 p. 113] in his book ‘Characters Around the Cross’ has this "what do we do when we see Christ crucified in racial prejudice, economic injustice, or political corruption? How do we combat evil when the whole system is corrupt and injustice reigns as official policy?" The situation is sorrowful in Nigeria. What then are our roles in time like this? Do we just fold our arms while things fall apart?

We observed in the life of Joseph of Arimathea that having seen Christ been messed and crucified to death, he took the responsibility of giving Jesus Christ befitting burial. What shall be our roles when we see Christ being crucified through the afore-mentioned ways?

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