The shootings in Connecticut were a grim reminder that the world often lacks the peace that we seek. And in many cases, those who are most innocent and most deserving of that peace are the ones who are dealt heartache. As a people, unable to understand the injustice we see in the world, we often feel like turning to God in sorrow just as the Israelites did in the time of Malachi, saying, “It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered,” (Malachi 3:4–5).
Christ, having lived a perfect life, was perhaps the most deserving of peace. And yet he lived a life full of rejection and sorrow. In Isaiah, we read: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed,” (Isaiah 53:3–5).
We often focus on the pains that Christ felt during the closing days of his mortal life, which indeed were incomprehensible. However, it is important to remember that at every point of his ministry he was met with skepticism, doubt, ingratitude, and disrespect. He was constantly in danger of being assassinated or stoned or beaten. For years, he carried a heavy burden and was met with pain and trials at every turn. And this pain was not just coincidental or as a result of his own sin—in fact, it was a direct response to his righteous choices.
After these years of difficult service, he closed his mortal ministry with the toughest day that any person has ever endured in this world. He was betrayed by one close friend, denied by another, he was spit upon, beaten, and scourged. On top of all of this, he was laden with sins and sufferings of all mankind and crucified. You can imagine that he must have been completely exhausted during his final minutes on the cross. It would have been understandable if he had finished this day by cursing those who had hurt him. But in John, we read the following of Christ’s final mortal minutes: “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home,” (John 19: 25–27).
After all that he had suffered, in his dying moments, he was concerned not with his own comfort, but that his mother would be cared for as he left this world. In a beautiful way, his final moments bring us back to his mother Mary and the beginning of the story—the nativity story which we celebrate each Christmas. His work was not accomplished until he had completed this act. This final act of Christ’s mortal life is deeply symbolic of the life that he lived and how much he loved each of us. When faced with trials and suffering, he looked outward. Through service to others, he found a way to overcome the unimaginable pain he experienced. And through his suffering, he provided a way for all that is unjust about this world to be made right again.
Although we do not face the difficulties that Christ experienced, we can look to him as the perfect example of how to respond when we feel weak. Paul taught,
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin . . . . Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. (Hebrews 12: 1–4, 12) [emphasis added]
When it seems that we struggle, in spite of the good that we are trying to do, we must remember the example that Christ set. We have to remember that when his mind was weary and he was close to fainting and giving up, that he pressed on. And we too have received that call to press on, and we do so by looking outward—by looking for opportunities to “lift the hands which hang down” and to strengthen the “feeble knees.” I know that Christ is our savior and I pray that we will all feel the peace that he offers during this Christmas season.