A Parent's Pain
Thursday, February 13, 2025
“We are prone to ascribe the honor of our salvation, or at least the depths of its benevolence, more to Jesus Christ than to the Father. This is a very great mistake. Yes, Jesus came, but didn’t His Father send Him? He spoke powerfully, but didn’t His Father pour grace into His lips, that He might be an able minister of the new covenant? Whoever knows the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit… sees them together at Bethlehem, at Gethsemane, and on Calvary, all equally engaged in the work of salvation.” – C.H. Spurgeon
When I first read this quote by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, I was taken back a bit because it is a trap that I have occasionally fallen into myself. Yes, there is absolutely no way to underestimate the physical, emotional, and (especially) spiritual torment that Jesus went through on the cross.
After all, Jesus had been brutally beaten, mocked and spat upon, and now – in His moment of greatest need – His Heavenly Father was turning His back on Him while Satan and his devils danced for joy (Matthew 27:46). Meanwhile, the crowd gathered around the cross and – at least initially – both the criminals being crucified with Him ridiculed Jesus in very disparaging terms.
“And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!’” (Matthew 27:39-40)
But what about God the Father’s pain? Because He is 100% holy, He demanded that man’s sin be judged and punished. However, constrained by His love, He provided a Substitute and then poured out His wrath on His own Son.
It wasn’t until I became a parent and a grandparent that I began to – in a very limited way – understand what God the Father was feeling at Calvary. Because it pains me to see Bethany, Matthew, and Christopher (or their spouses) endure any pain. I would much rather that I experience their pain myself… and that goes double for Brady, Sadie, Levi, Dylan, Bella, and Charlotte Grace.
Yes, God the Father suffered just as much as God the Son on Golgotha. So too did the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
“Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!” I John 3:1 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
