He Understands Our Suffering

God’s compassion for and solidarity with the oppressed is embodied in Jesus Christ. Christ not only suffered for his people but also suffers with them. “The decent of God to earth is the descent of God to the underside of the knife, plague, or rain of fire.”* He understands our sufferings. His identity was attacked. He was rejected and betrayed by others. He was abandoned. He was lied about, slandered, and personally attacked. He was humiliated. He was in emotional agony. He was in physical agony from being beaten and tortured. He was murdered. He experienced the worst agony imaginable, not only physically on the cross, but also emotionally and spiritually as well. At one point, he cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Justin and Lindsey Holcomb, Rid of My Disgrace, p. 57-58).

* Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking, p. 213.