LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for May 13: He suffered voluntarily; be grateful

This week’s lesson focuses on Jesus’ suffering for us. One of my favorite passages in the New Testament on this subject is in 1 Peter 2:18-25. The passage is addressed to slaves. We don’t have slaves in this country today (at least not openly). We might be tempted to pass over this portion of Scripture, saying it does not apply to us. But that is not true.  

The wider point of this whole section is submission to authority, and this text is not so much about slavery as it is about suffering because of submission. First, we are commanded to be in submission to those in authority over us and to be respectful of them despite how they treat us (2:18). This could apply to a boss or supervisor, to an officer in an organization of which you are a part, to a team leader. The reason we are to submit to unjust authority is about God: “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.” (2:19)

In the Greek this more literally reads, “For this is a grace, when being conscious of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” This is beautiful. When we submit to an unjust authority with respect, and we do it being mindful of God, this is grace in his sight, and it is grace on display for the world.  

This goes against every natural inclination of our flesh. We are by nature people who do not want to suffer, especially unjustly. If we have been wronged, we immediately desire to see that sin paid for. Peter is saying to us that if we want to live lives that display the power of grace and point others to Christ, then we must not fight back simply because we’re suffering unjustly.  

We do not fight back not because we are weak, but because we are mindful of God, and we know that in his sight this is a precious thing. Why is that? We find the answer in verse 21: “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”

God’s desires for us are greater than earthly prosperity. God wants for his children more than worldly comfort and ease. He wants the children who are his by adoption to be made like his only begotten Son. So it is necessary, then, that we are called to suffer. Every time you have an opportunity to suffer for doing good, to suffer unjustly, you have been given an opportunity to be like Jesus Christ.

Verses 22-23 tell us more specifics about how Jesus suffered: “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled insults at him, he did no retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”

How counter-intuitive is that? How unnatural? Jesus is standing before the Jewish leaders being called a blasphemer, and he could have defended himself against their lies. But he was silent. Jesus stood before Pilate and listened to the cries of the crowd yelling, “Crucify!”

In that moment, he could have shed his flesh and radiated the glory of his holiness such that the whole universe would be burned up in an instant, but he stood quietly, beaten and bloody. Jesus was nailed to a cross while being taunted and mocked, and he could have called legions of angels to come and destroy the mockers and take him off the cross, but he silently hung there until he died of suffocation under the weight of his own body.  

That is the example Christ left for us, and instead we want to make sure people know if we were right and someone else was wrong. We want to make sure people know if this or that isn’t true, or if we were better or someone else is worse. We want to take that cruel look from the boss or those harsh words from a team leader or unfair assignment of a teacher or whatever we feel is “unjust,” and we want to make it right, right then. We want to stand up and say, “You and not going to treat me like this! I have rights!”  

Jesus set aside his “rights” as God (Philippians 2:6-8); he left the glory of heaven and took on flesh; he lived in this filthy and fallen world—not as a king or ruler living a life of ease, but as a servant, a slave with dirty and calloused feet. He humbled himself to the point of dying the most humiliating death one could experience publicly at the time. And as Jesus hung there on that cross, Jesus knew it wasn’t “right.” He knew it wasn’t fair. But he hung there in miserable agony, and he took the shame, until he breathed his last.

Do I want people to see Jesus when they look at me? Do I want people who are far from God to look at me and see the power of grace in my life, follow the example of Jesus, and endure suffering for doing good. Then I need to keep my mouth shut and not be defensive. I must continue to show respect, even to the people who have treated me nasty. People will notice because that is not the way we naturally behave.

So how do we do this?  Well, we follow the example of Christ. Jesus “entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (v.23). The word “himself” isn’t in the Greek. Jesus just continually entrusted to God. He handed everything over to God, recognizing this vital truth about who God is. He is a just judge.

So when Christ hung on the cross knowing this was not right or fair, he knew also God would settle all accounts and every sin would be paid for. He knew there was something greater coming. Being shown “right” before the Jews and Roman authorities was nothing compared to what God had in store for him.

We are to follow the example of Christ by trusting God will make sure every wrong is made right. We trust he is able to do that in a way beyond anything we can do. Peter reminds us of this gospel truth with his next words: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (2:24).

We have every reason, in good times and bad times, to trust a God who gave his Son up for our salvation.