When we think of the death of Jesus, we should remember his own words in John 10:18: No one takes my life from me; I have the power to lay it down, and the power to take it up again. So what is Jesus saying? To have power over suffering is not to stop it from happening, but to lift it up and find the meaning hidden beneath it.
Face it. We like to think of power as the ability to control a situation. We like to think of Jesus’ power as changing circumstance, making the sick healthy, feeding a crowd from a few loaves and fishes. Jesus is saying, no, my real power came in taking pain and evil and filling it with grace and meaning.
Pain is real, and we must not make light of it. I think our challenge is to see beyond the circumstance. We do this when we break through the barriers of our tangible world and enter the realm of the spirit. Jesus has shown us that power did not consist of his coming down off the cross as his hecklers wanted, but in his ability to take suffering and turn it into something fruitful, something full of grace and rich in meaning. This is the real message behind the words of Paul, that for those who love God, all things can be turned into good. (Romans 8:28)
Vicktor Frankl understood this. In his book, Man's search for Meaning, he writes: If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. (67) He saw the worst kind of evil in the concentrations camps in Germany and Poland. Yet he saw some among them rise to great heights. It convinced him that it is possible for men and women to find meaning in life, no matter what the circumstance.
It is the message Jesus gives to us today. It is not an easy thing to do. But each one of us has the power within.
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