I’m not saying “it’s not uncommon” but to say “it is easy” to lose sight of Jesus’ suffering would not be a stretch. What do I mean? It is easy to lose sight that Jesus’ whole time on earth was one of suffering. I’m not going to reiterate all the ways Tripp says Jesus suffered, but I can repeat his opening statement:

Jesus endured suffering in the here and now so that I could escape suffering for eternity.

Psalm 22 (the supplemental reading) is a Messianic psalm. It foreshadows the Messiah.  “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” (V.1) That first part is straight out of Jesus’ words on the cross. After exalting God as holy (Vs.3-5), he says he was “scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me” (Vs.6-7) Many of the rest of the verses are descriptions of the suffering of Messiah.

Tripp says, “His calling, his mission was to suffer, and suffer he did…For the Messiah, suffering was an everyday thing, even a moment-by-moment thing. And every act of his suffering was substitutional.” (Emphasis mine).

“Father, let me NEVER take for granted the suffering of Jesus. When I whine; when I whimper; when I complain; when I cry; please remind me I had Someone go before me who suffered a whole lot more than me. I have absolutely nothing to complain about.”