Jesus In Mental Pain.

Jesus said, "But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!"
Luke 12:50

Sometimes I think of Jesus as being super-human but this verse denies that. He was God, but when he came here he had laid down his power and was a man: The second Adam. He lived his life relying on his Father as we must do. He had the same feelings as us and needed God's strength to go through trials. 

"For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15

As I read this verse this morning, I knew Jesus was speaking about his trial and death. He thought of what he would have to go through and wanted it to be over. My heart went out to him. Here are some commentaries on this verse:

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

The baptism of which the Lord now speaks is that of one who is come into deep waters, so that the floods pass over him, over whose head have passed and are passing the waves and billows of many and great sorrows. Yet here, too, the Son of Man does not shrink or draw back. What He felt most keenly, in His human nature, was the pain, the constraint of expectation. He was, in that perfect humanity of His, harassed and oppressed, as other sufferers have been, by the thought of what was coming, more than by the actual suffering when it came.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A baptism - See the notes at Matthew 20:22.

Am I straitened - How do I earnestly desire that it were passed! Since these sufferings "must" be endured, how anxious am I that the time should come! Such were the feelings of the Redeemer in view of his approaching dying hour. We may learn from this:

1. That it is not improper to "feel deeply" at the prospect of dying. It is a sad, awful, terrible event; and it is impossible that we should look at it aright "without" feeling - scarcely without trembling.

2. It is not improper to desire that the time should come, and that the day of our release should draw nigh, Philippians 1:23. To the Christian, death is but the entrance to life; and since the pains of death "must" be endured, and since they LEAD to heaven, it matters little how soon he passes through these sorrows, and rises to his eternal rest.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

...these words express both the trouble and distress Christ was in, at the apprehension of his sufferings as man; which were like to the distress of persons, closely besieged by an enemy; or rather of a woman, whose time of travail draws nigh, when she dreads it, and yet longs to have it over: and likewise they signify, his restless desire to have them accomplished;

Psalm 22 - The Psalm about Jesus Suffering.

Psalm 22 - Verse One.

 "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?"

Pulpit Commentary
Verse 1. - My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Not a cry of despair, but a cry of loving faith, "My God, my God - Why hast thou for a time withdrawn thyself?" It is remarkable that our Lord's quotation of this passage does not follow exactly either the Hebrew or the Chaldee paraphrase - the Hebrew having 'azab-thani for sabacthani, and the Chaldee paraphrase metul ma for lama. May we not conclude that it is the thought, and not its verbal expression by the sacred writers, that is inspired? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? It is very doubtful whether our translators have done right in supplying the words which they have added. The natural translation of the Hebrew would be, Far from my salvation are the words of my roaring.And this rendering yields a sufficiently good sense, viz. "Far from effecting my salvation (or deliverance) are the words of my roaring;" i.e.of my loud complaint. Our Lord's "strong crying and tears" in the garden (Hebrews 5:7) did not produce his deliverance. 

 "My God, my God!" The spirit of adoption was strong within the suffering Son of Man, and he felt no doubt about his interest in his God. Oh that we could imitate this cleaving to an afflicting God! Nor does the sufferer distrust the power of God to sustain him, for the title used - "El" - signifies strength, and is the name of the Mighty God. He knows the Lord to be the all-sufficient support and succour of his spirit, and therefore appeals to him in the agony of grief, but not in the misery of doubt. He would fain know why he is left, he raises that question and repeats it, but neither the power nor the faithfulness of God does he mistrust. 

What an enquiry is this before us! "Why hast thou forsaken me?" We must lay the emphasis on every word of this saddest of all utterances. "Why?" what is the great cause of such a strange fact as for God to leave his own Son at such a time and in such a plight? There was no cause in him, why then was he deserted? "Hast:" it is done, and the Saviour is feeling its dread effect as he asks the question; it is surely true, but how mysterious! It was no threatening of forsaking which made the great Surety cry aloud, he endured that forsaking in very deed.  Hell itself has for its fiercest flame the separation of the soul from God. "Forsaken:" if thou hadst chastened I might bear it, for they face would shine; but to forsake me utterly, ah! why is this? "Me:" thine innocent, obedient, suffering Son, why leave me to perish? A sight of self seen by penitence, and of Jesus on the cross seen by faith will best expound this question. Jesus is forsaken because our sins had separated between us and our God.

"Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?" The Man of Sorrows had prayed until his speech failed him, and he could only utter moanings and groanings as men do in severe sicknesses, like the roarings of a wounded animal. To what extremity of grief was our Master driven! What strong crying and tears were those which made him too hoarse for speech! What must have been his anguish to find his own beloved and trusted Father standing afar off, and neither granting help nor apparently hearing prayer. This was good cause to make him "roar." Yet there was a reason for all this which those who rest in Jesus as their Substitute well know.


Jesus took our eternal death upon himself. "Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Jesus felt as we would feel if we were to go through the second death in which our soul will die.

Jesus Learned Obedience Through Suffering.

I'm all moved in to my new apartment and finally feel rested enough to write. I love our new place - it is so roomy and bright with the sun. 

I read this article on Jesus' suffering that helped explain this Bible verse to me: "Though he was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered." Hebrews 5:8

Charles Spurgeon writes: "We are told the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, therefore we who are sinful, and who are far from being perfect, must not wonder if we are called to pass through suffering too. Shall the head be crowned with thorns, and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon the dainty lap of ease? Must Christ pass through the seas of his own blood to win the crown, and are we to walk to heaven dry shod in silver slippers? No, our Master's experience teaches us the suffering is necessary, and the true born child of God must not, would not, escape it if he might.

But there is one very comforting thought in the fact of Christ's suffering - it is that he can have complete sympathy with us. "He is not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities."

One of the early martyrs said, "I can bear it all, for Jesus suffered, and he suffers in me now; he sympathizes with me, and this makes me strong." Lay hold of this thought in all times of agony."

Spurgeon says, "Suffering is necessary," even for Jesus, which got me to wondering why? Why would Jesus need to learn from suffering? Doesn't he already know all things?

"He learned obedience." Why would Jesus need to learn obedience? Wasn't he already perfect?

The commentaries at the site below add some insight: http://biblehub.com/hebrews/5-8.htm

Barnes' Notes on the Bible
 "Though he were a Son - though the Son of God, though he sustained this exalted rank, and was conscious of it, yet he was willing to learn experimentally what is meant by obedience in the midst of sufferings."

People's New Testament

5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience. He claimed no special exemptions because he was the Son, but learned and taught obedience in the supremest test that the world ever saw.

By the things which he suffered. He learned obedience experimentally.

Geneva Study Bible

Though he were a Son, yet  learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
He learned in deed what it is to have a Father, whom a man must obey.

Wesley's Notes

 He learned obedience, when be began to suffer; when he applied himself to drink that cup: obedience in suffering and dying.

I sometimes forget Jesus was God and a man. He is called the "second Adam" who came to restore this world. So, perhaps it was as a man he had to accept and feel this great suffering; not as God. It is all hard for me to understand, but I do appreciate what he went through for us. He came into this world he created as one of us; to experience all we experience and of course, not only that, but to take the guilt of the sins of the world on his shoulders. That is something I will only understand when I am in heaven.

Sharing in God's Suffering.

The fellowship of His sufferings.—PHI.3:10.

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.

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.—In the world ye shall have tribulation.—Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

I looked for some to take pity, but there was none.—At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.

The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.—Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

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.

Matt.10:25.Isa.53:3.--John 16:33. -John 15:19.Psa.69:20. -II Tim.4:16.Matt.8:20. -Heb.13:14.Heb.12:1,2.