One of my favorite parts in hero movies is when the hero seems just about to be defeated or destroyed by the bad guys and he or she somehow manages to endure and give the last push that will save the day. Sometimes it is a memory or a message that was spoken over them that stirs up the courage or the strength to do the final heroic act. Something similar happens in the life of Jesus. In Hebrews 12:2, we are exhorted to live "...looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Here we see that Jesus endured the suffering of the Cross because He called to memory the anticipation of certain joys. Jesus is both our example of endurance and the provider of endurance.

How did Jesus endure? He endured in the present because a future joy was motivating His actions. God the Father had set future joys that were certain and secured for Jesus. As Jesus focused on those future joys, He then was able to endure, to put Himself under certain realities, even to the extent of despising the shame involved in His acts of endurance. We see in Jesus a person willing to exchange pleasures or relief from suffering for suffering itself. And the suffering He was willing to embrace was the kind an unrighteous person would have to suffer, yet He was found with no sin. Here are two examples of the joys set before Jesus:

1. They joy of being glorified by the Father Himself: "Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ (John 8:54).

2. The joy of presenting many sons to the glory of God: "For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering." (Hebrews 2:10).

—Diego Cuartas

*Please be advised that this blog represents the views, opinions and beliefs of the writer and does not necessarily reflect those of our church leadership or denominational affiliation.