For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted. Hebrews 2:18 KJV
For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Hebrews 2:18 NASB
Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. Hebrews 5:8 KJV
Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. Hebrews 5:8 NASB
Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously” 1 Peter 2:23 KJV
While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously. 1 Peter 2:23 NASB
When we think of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, our minds range over His life, stopping to consider the temptation in the wilderness, moving to the price paid for obedience to His Father’s will every moment of His life, and climaxing in the scenes surrounding His death.
The three Scriptures cited above all embrace these occasions and give support for our appreciation of those sufferings. But there may be an additional aspect of His sufferings of which we do not think.
Place yourself, for a moment, in the role of a teacher. Before you stands a student, not a very bright one at that, and as you repeatedly explain the lesson, the deficiency of white matter in the pupil’s brain becomes more and more evident. You come at your lesson from every conceivable angle: clear didactic teaching, illustration, examples, and even drawing from family history. Yet every attempt is met with limited understanding. No doubt you would feel frustrated. But if you are a dedicated teacher, your slow-to-learn student would evoke an additional emotion – grief. Your goal has been to teach and prepare your student; he is not “getting it.” With all the intensity and skill at your disposal, you have tried to do your job, but it has not been successful.
Now transfer all this to the ultimate Teacher (Joel 2:23, Newberry). He held many different classes. In one class were the Pharisees and leaders of the nation. Time and again He tried to instruct them as to what God was looking for: not the externalism in which they prided themselves, but internal reality, love, and righteousness. Despite the patient and repeated attempts to teach them, they failed to grasp the lesson. He must have “suffered” at the dullness and hardness of their hearts.
Then there was the nation in general. He lived an exemplary life before them, revealing not only what God desired, but revealing God Himself to them. Yet at the end of the “course,” they had viewed Him as a blasphemer, an impostor, the life-giver not worthy of life.
But His greatest grief must have been with those twelve chosen disciples. You can almost feel the pathos and grief of His heart as you hear Him say, “perceive ye not yet, neither understand” (Mark 8:17), and then again in verse 21, “How is it that ye do not understand?” They were so slow to believe in Him and so slow to understand His heart.
When He questioned Philip about how they would feed the 5,000, He must have suffered at Philip’s failure to have full confidence in Him. And Andrew’s response was not far behind in its lack of “educational progress” in appreciating His fullness. Then there was Peter, so full of zeal and devotion rebuking the Lord for even mentioning His impending death (Matt 16:22). He must have felt grief and He must have suffered in His sensitive spirit when His life-long teaching about and example of humility had failed to register with them as they sat – unwilling to move in the upper room (John 13).
Viewed in this manner, the entire life of our Lord Jesus was one of suffering: not only suffering in the presence of sin and for sin, but suffering from the hardness of men’s hearts, the dullness of their consciences, and the insensitivity of their minds. He suffered being tempted, He suffered for righteousness’ sake, He suffered for sins, but He also suffered from the failure of those around Him to grasp the many lessons He was teaching them. His life was one continual litany of sorrow and suffering. “He suffered” would be an apt biography of His life.
Consider:
Is it possible that when Peter spoke of being an eyewitness of His sufferings (1 Peter 5:1) that, since he was not at the cross, he is referring to the suffering of Christ in His life, including the suffering He knew as a result of the hardness of men’s hearts?