Soul Kitchen

When I was a young girl and sick or hurting, I remember my mother saying to me, "I'm so sorry you hurt. I wish I could take your place." When I was a kid, I wished she could, too! But now, being a parent, I have thought that same thing myself many times. Oh how I want to relieve the suffering of my kids. I would much rather be the one suffering than to see them in pain. I just want to hold them, and through our touching, have it transfer over to me.

While that is impossible for me to do, I know someone who does it.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows... Isaiah 53:4

Jesus, the son of God, not only identifies with our suffering, but takes it onto himself. He did it on the cross, once for all of us, and he still does it today. While the subsiding of our pain may not be instant, he makes it complete, leaving us whole, healthy and free. This does not happen apart from him, through time or any other means.

And while we are in the midst of it, we are identifying with him, "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." Philippians 3:10-11

He suffered with our sorrows, took them into himself that they would be replaced by joy. In our temporary suffering, we identify with him, sharing his sufferings for us so that we would know the power of his resurrection. The transfer - our suffering for his joy, our death for his life.

He took my sin and my sorrows,
He made them his very own.
He took my burden to calvary
and suffered and died alone.

How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song will ever be.
How marvelous, how wonderful is my savior's love for me.