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SACRED SORROW
By REV. GUSTAF F. JOHNSON, Pastor, Swedish Tabernacle,
Minneapolis, Minn.
"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is
behind of the aflaictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which
is the church" (Col. 1:24). I think the Swedish translation has it,
"that which is lacking in the sufferings of Christ."
Frequently I have been asked, with reference to this passage, if
the sufferings of Christ were not complete, if anything could be lack-
ing in them. Did He not fill the cup to the brim? Did He not drink
the cup to the dregs?
Christ is the Head and the Church is the body. His body. Only
the Head is as yet glorified, the body is yet on the battlefield. The
Head is beyond all suffering. They cannot spit in His face any more.
But the members of His body are still on earth and as long as there is
one member left, suffering will continue. As long as the body is here,
unknown to the world, misunderstood by the world, someone must
share the suffering that will go on as long as Christ is here in His
mystical body.
Fellowship in Suffering
We recall the expression of Paul in Philippians 3:10, as to "fellow-
ship with the sufferings of Christ." To me it seemed strange for some
time that the apostle first mentioned the power of resurrection, and
afterwards fellowship with the sufferings. The sufferings came be-
fore the resurrection. "Suffering, death, resurrection," that would
have been the order to me.
But I soon learned that no one can know the fellowship of His suf-
ferings unless he first knows the power of His resurrection. It seems,
sadly enough, that very few Christians have any heart for fellow-
ship with Jesus in His sufferings. Like John and James and their
mother, they would love to have prominent places in the kingdom
glory, but do not like the way that leads there, the bloody way.
There was a dark valley between the place where the disciples stood
and the hilltops of glory beyond and not even Peter likes the looks
of the shadows of that valley. When with the Lord on the Mount
in Transfiguration Peter was elated. "Lord, let’s stay here," he said,
"this is fine!" But when the Master spoke of suffering and death,
Peter said, "Do not let us hear any more of that." But when Peter
knew the power of the resurrection, he feared nothing more.
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