James Nisbet Commentary - Hebrews 2:9 - 2:10

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James Nisbet Commentary - Hebrews 2:9 - 2:10


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THE VICTORY OF SUFFERING

‘But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death … perfect through sufferings.’

Heb_2:9-10

What stamps a thing on our mind like a sudden change from sorrow to joy, from despair to relief, from death to life, when the treasure that was lost is found, the life that seemed nearly gone is given back, when victory comes where we thought there was defeat? That was the change that passed over the disciples who, after seeing Jesus die, beheld Him risen again: after being with Christ in His hour of darkness came out into the light of His Resurrection. No wonder then that they drew the moral—who can be so dull as not to draw it?—which gave a new meaning to pain, and suffering, and death. No wonder that they learned to ‘rejoice in tribulations,’ to ‘glory in infirmities.’ It was because they had first learned to glory in the Cross of Jesus Christ.

This is a thing which matters so much in a world of pain and sorrow and suffering like this, that we ought to do our very best to lay hold of what it means for us, of the help and comfort that there is in it.

I. They had seen in Christ the example of unequalled suffering.—But all this—so they found when Jesus rose—led to life and glory and immortality.

II. And did they not feel in part why this was—that something was done which without the suffering could not have been done—that faultless as He had always been, He was ‘made perfect’ (His goodness was made fuller in some way) ‘through sufferings’; that somehow through His death more good was wrought than even by all the ‘going about doing good’ of His life; that the purpose of His life was brought to a finish; yes, and the purpose and will of God through His life was wrought out by this Death, by the obedience which was ‘obedient unto death, even the Death of the Cross’?

III. Think a little how much this means for us.

(a) Think of labour—of our work. Our brains know the trial of overwork when the full strain passes into overstrain; and sometimes it is so with all. Rightly borne this too may turn to the workers’ good. Yes! for there is room in it for your share of the patience of Christ: for you as for Him ‘tribulation worketh experience, and experience hope.’ No wonder that the first disciples of Christ felt ready for any labour and travail, toil and moil. For the mark of His Cross was on their work.

(b) There is another great piece of hardness in the world besides the hardness of work: it is the hardness of doing right. It costs something to do right. No doubt in the end doing wrong costs much more dearly; and after all, ‘it is better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing.’ Still, there it is, doing right steadily means bearing a good deal.

(c) There is also all the suffering that comes upon us by man’s doing or God’s will. Some of it is brought upon the innocent and helpless by the thoughtlessness or wickedness of others; not only the pinching poverty and hunger of the drunkard’s or the gambler’s home, but the loneliness that nobody visits, the sadness that nobody is thoughtful enough to comfort. But need I go on? the dumb sorrows, the bitter partings, the heartbreaking bereavements of life—how they cry and plead with God for some message of pity and mercy; and what message has He given?

IV. The message of the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief, bearing sorrow, tasting death, nailed there upon the wicked, useless, wasteful Cross, from which He cannot get away, from which He will not come down—but there accepted, exalted, glorified by the power of Him that raised Him from the dead. That message comes to those who suffer to strengthen them in patience, to help them in bearing, to turn pain into discipline; enabling them to say, Thy Will be done; strengthening them to wait for the blessing promised to him whom God chastens and teaches. That message has in it the secret of Christian resignation, of the humbleness which does not cavil or murmur, or reply against God; of that wonderful faith which under God’s discipline and correction learns deeper love of God.

—
Bishop E. S. Talbot.

Illustration

‘When you hear or read of the sufferings of your Lord, apply the sacred story to your own case. See what it has to teach you, and pray for grace to put the lesson into practice. The Passion of the Lord Jesus, and the way He endured all that came upon Him, will show us where we have failed. But will that be all? No. We should be contemplating the Cross of Jesus altogether amiss, if we only learnt from it to look at ourselves. Indeed, we should only learn to despair, for, like Judas, we should find that by our sins we had “betrayed the innocent blood.” But thank God, as we gaze on that bruised and tortured Form, we find comfort and hope. For He that suffers is “the Captain of our salvation.” He is our Leader, Who beckons us on to follow Him. It is indeed a rough and stony path He has to tread, but love makes it smooth, and it leads on to victory and immortality.’