“I have heard some people complain that if Jesus was God as well as man, then His sufferings and death lose all value in their eyes, ‘because it must have been so easy for him.’ Others may (very rightly) rebuke the ingratitude and ungraciousness of this objection; what staggers me is the misunderstanding it betrays. In one sense, of course, those who make it are right. They have even understated their own case. The perfect submission, the perfect suffering, the perfect death were not only easier to Jesus because He was God, but were possible only because He was God. But surely that is a very odd reason for not accepting them? The teacher is able to for the letters for the child because the teacher is grown-up and knows how to write. That, of course, makes it easier for the teacher; and only because it is easier for him can he help the child. If it rejected him because ‘it’s easy for grown-ups’ and waited to learn writing from another child who could not write itself (and so had no ‘unfair’ advantage), it would not get on very quickly. If I am drowning in a rapid river, a man who still has one foot on the bank may give me a hand which saves my life. Ought I to shout back (between my gasps) ‘No, its not fair! You have an advantage! You’re keeping one foot on the bank’? That advantage – call it ‘unfair’ if you like – is the only reason why he can be of any use to me. To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself? ”

David Skinner, UK

Another good question. But knowing that a good future is on the cards in no way minimises a present distress. Jesus in his humanity faced a horrible torture and physical crucifixion. This is nothing to gloss over. If the Mel Gibson film, The Passion, may have overplayed things a bit, it did nonetheless give some sense of the horrible cruelty, torture and ghastliness of what a Roman crucifixion was all about.

But even more than that, the son of God left the perfections of heaven, however we define that, to live amongst us, to be rejected, cursed, despised, by the very people he – as God – created, and loved dearly. Simply the experience of unrequited love, which we humans can experience on a much smaller level, would have been crushing for Jesus. He lived on earth some 33 years facing the scorn and hatred of fallen humanity. That would have been a terrible burden to carry.

I don’t know if you have children Chris, but imagine if you did, and that despite your tremendous love, dedication and devotion to them, they reject you, despise you, spit in your face and curse your very existence. Any parent’s heart would be crushed in such a situation. Magnify this a million times and we start to get an inkling of what Jesus went through.

But as I said, Jesus was both man and God in one person. His suffering on the divine side would have been even more horrendous. God by definition – in the Judeo-Chrsitian tradition – is perfect, totally holy, totally pure and without sin. But Jesus came and experienced our sin, and the punishment that we rightly deserved he took upon himself.

It is hard to come up with a human analogy of what this would have been like. But identifying with us in our sin, and taking our punishment upon himself, even though he was totally innocent would have been horrendous.

Much more can be said. Read for yourself the Gospel accounts, especially the last chapters of each. Let the pathos, the horror and the overwhelming darkness of the scene grip you. This was no picnic. It was arguably the most dark, the most horrific and the most appalling moment in human history.

But because of his great love for us, Jesus was willing to undergo all this hell on earth, so that we can escape hell, and be reunited with him. This was the greatest sacrifice ever offered in human history.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

It is a good, and important, question. It has to do with his messianic self-awareness, his sense of mission, and so on. The short answer is yes, and many passages in the Gospels make this quite clear. Consider just a few:

“Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ [the Messiah], the Son of the Blessed One?’ ‘I am,’ said Jesus. ‘And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’.” (Mark 1:61-62)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Referring to Jesus – John 1:1)

“For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” (John 5:18)

“Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” (John 10:36-38)

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies’.” (John 11:25)

“’You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me’.” (John 18:37)

“Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.” (John 2:19-21)

There are plenty of these sorts of passages which show that Jesus has a clear sense of his own divine identity, his pre-existence, his life after death, and his messianic mission.

However, a longer answer can be given, which is more theologically complex. It has to do with the Christian understanding that in Jesus Christ we have one person with two natures. He was both fully God and fully man. The early church simply had to make sense of who Jesus was, and what he taught about himself. Thus the best understanding it could come up with was this idea of one person with two natures, as encapsulated in the Chalcedonian Creed of 451AD and other earlier creeds. As a human, he had all the limitations that we do, yet without sin, but as God, he was able to make salvation possible for fallen humanity. But that is a very big topic. If you want to pursue it further, let me know. Thanks.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

When Jesus was on earth, was he in full knowledge that he was the son of God, and would live for eternity in heaven after his death?

Chris Mayer