He Suffereth It - The Fellowship of His Suffering

I was pondering Mosiah 15:5 this morning and “suffereth” caught my attention. Here is the verse, “And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people” (Mosiah 15:5).

Typically, I believe, when we see the word suffer or suffering or suffereth, we think of feeling physical or mental anguish or pain. But, it is clear in scripture that there is a dual meaning found in the word suffer. The second phrase in the verse quoted above says, “but [He] suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people.” Here another definition of the word suffer is very evident. He “allowed” himself to be mocked, and scourged, etc. When focused on in this light, “to allow,” then we gain greater depth for the Lord’s perfect control of His emotions, feelings and ultimately His love for others and His willingness to allow them to exercise their agency, no matter the consequences.

Websters 1828 Dictionary’s third description of suffer is, “To allow; to permit; not to forbid or hinder. Will you suffer yourself to be insulted?”

Jesus truly “allowed or suffered” Himself to be mocked, scourged, cast out and disowned by His people (see Mosiah 15:5). His miracles prove that He had the power to stop the personal suffering, but He “allowed” it to happen.

“And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men” (1 Nephi 19:9).

Here suffereth may be using both aspects of suffering, to allow and to feel pain. This adds great depth and meaning to our understanding of what will be expected of us as we truly come unto Him as true disciples of the Lord, Jesus Christ and His Father.

Jesus allowed or suffered others to hurt Him because He honored and respected everyone’s agency the same way Father does. He loves us so much that He willingly allowed or suffered Himself to feel pain or suffer to fulfill the demands of justice because of the consequences of our sins. We can repent. We can change. We don’t have to suffer any longer because He suffered for us already. He willingly “allowed” Himself to suffer for all of our sins. It is so beautiful! The magnitude of His love is beyond expression. Why? Because He loves us!

Father allowed all things to happen because He loved us enough to let us find truth and become one with truth through exercising agency and then changing, repenting. He needed a son willing to suffer himself to be slain for the sins of the world, willing to receive the justice of our sins. Jesus was that Son. Because of Him my sins can be remitted as I repent fully. I love Him. I testify of His reality.

On this path of becoming like the Savior, we come face to face with suffering, feeling mental and physical anguish and allowing all evil to happen to us. Experience has taught me that if we truly seek to know the Savior of the world, we will be required to willingly suffer others to do to us similar things to what they did to the Savior. As we LEARN the truth, ACT on that truth and then SHARE that truth with others, in some form or another we will have opportunities to be mocked, scourged, cast out and disowned by our people whom we love too. I would suggest the scriptures are replete with that truth (see John 17:3, Moses 1:39, Alma 7:11-14). Joseph Smith is an example of this too. He learned the truth about God, He acted on what he learned and then shared what he learned. Ultimately he was killed for this.

Some would say that because Jesus suffered, we won’t have to or because He allowed bad things to happen to Him, then we won’t have to. This is true to some extent as found in Doctrine and Covenants 19:16-19. We won’t have to pay the price of justice for our sins, if we repent. But there is another side to this. If we are required to become like Him to live with Him and His Father, then we will have the great opportunity to enter the fellowship of His suffering (Philippians 3:10). Here are two other great commands given to us by Jesus Christ, “...for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;” (3 Nephi 27:21). “...what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (3 Nephi 27:27).

On this journey we won’t handle these experiences perfectly. We won’t suffer these things to happen to us exactly as the Savior did until we have perfect charity. If we truly come unto Him, we will learn to suffer all things as the Savior did. I’m so grateful for His suffering the demands of justice that He can allow me to live in this grace period as I practice becoming like Him, as I practice charity.

To summarize my thoughts on suffering posted here, I might say this. If we are to become one with Christ, we must suffer as He did by suffering others to exercise their agency to our suffering. We join the fellowship of His suffering. I pray for strength to truly allow or suffer others to exercise their agency to my great pain. This pain is swallowed up in Christ as I give it to the Savior and trust in Him.

He is the ONE! He is the WAY! He is the LIFE and LIGHT of the world!

(See also Isaiah 53 and Mosiah 14).