Why did Jesus Suffer so Much

Why did Jesus go to the cross? Why did he become a man? Why did he come to this earth to be rejected, hated, despised, to put up with our stubbornness, our selfishness, our pride, our resentment, our unforgiveness, our indifference, our lack of care, our lack of interest? Why did he come to this earth? Why did he come to do everything that he did? Why did he come to be crowned with thorns? Why did he become, why did the King of Glory, and this is the King of Glory, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and that Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. That Word created all things, and without Him was not anything made that was made, and in Him was life, and that life was the light of men. Why did that King of Glory, the Creator of all things, worshiped in eternity, ages upon ages, world without end, by every creature? Why did he come down from that into this, to be mocked, to be slapped in the face, to be spit upon, to be looked at with hatred, with frustration? Why did he come to suffer this? Why? Why did he come to this world to just be knelt to the cross, and crucified, to take those hands into his nails, and into his feet, to be shamed publicly, naked, bleeding, and dying, all for love of these people that hated him without a cause? Why did he come to do all this? He was thirsting to be our thirst. He was thirsting to become our thirst, and he was hungry to become our hunger. He knew that we were hungry to become our thirst, and he knew that we were hungry to become our thirst. He knew that we needed him more than anything, so he became what he became, and he endured all that he endured, the way that he endured it, so that he would become the object of our worship, the object of our affection, that he would become our first love, our true love, throughout all eternity, to carry us through this life, to carry our sorrows, to carry our pains, to make us what we need to be, to empower us to overcome this world, to distract us from everything that's going on around us, everything in this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of this life, the competition, just our lethargy, our laziness, our sleepiness, our lack of faith, our unbelief, all these different things. That's the reason why he became what he became, and he suffered all that he suffered, and he went to the cross and was crucified, so that our hearts would be captivated, that our hearts that are thirsting for a power that cannot be exhausted, our hearts that are hungering for food, real food, eternal food, that will produce the strength, the life, the joy, the hope, the peace, everything we need. He went through everything that he went through, because he was thirsting to become our thirst. He wanted our hearts, all of it, and he didn't demand it, he didn't command it in a sense where it's all about him and how he feels, but he humbled himself. The way that he went about capturing our hearts, it wasn't through a mighty display of power, as we would think. It wasn't through mighty, just like parting back the sky and thunders and lightnings and just speaking in a deep voice and all these things. It was through becoming a man and suffering what we suffer, being crowned with thorns, spit upon and crucified. He humbled himself because he wanted us. He was thirsting to become our thirst. He was hungering to become our hunger. He came and did all that he did to offer us something so powerful that nothing in this world would compare, that nothing else in this world could compete with him and that love that he showed us through his humiliation and suffering so that everything else would become second place, so that we would lose interest in everything else but him. And so he just humbled himself. The king of glory, worshiped throughout eternity, was slapped in the face. The spit upon his beard was ripped out. He was mocked and he turned the other cheek and he prayed for his enemies and he healed his enemies and he died for his enemies. He was thirsting to become our thirst. He was hungering to become our hunger. He came and did all that he did to offer us something so amazing, so powerful, so worthy that we would just abandon everything to have it. So taste and see that the Lord is good. If we're not hungry for God, it's possible that we really haven't experienced. If we're not thirsting for God, thirsting after him, it's possible that we really haven't experienced him or if we have, we're either unthankful, ungrateful, distracted or just something is seriously wrong. Because when we taste the Lord, we see how good he is. Nothing compares to the Lord. Nothing is more satisfying than Jesus Christ and the love that he pours into our hearts through his spirit and the purpose and destiny that he gives us in this life. The work he's given us to do, the calling, the gifts, all these different things for his glory. Nothing compares to knowing him, serving him, being with him, experiencing him. Nothing compares. He literally went to the cross so that we would thirst after him. He went to the cross so that we would be hungry for him, so that we would desire him. And that's the humility of Jesus Christ. That's the humility of the King of Kings. It's like a man that is so in love with a woman, it says in Solomon chapter 8, that if a man would give for love, all the wealth of his house would be utterly despised. Everything that a man works so hard for to achieve, to attain and to acquire in this life, if a man fell in love with something, with a woman, all the wealth of his house would be utterly despised. He'd forsake it all to have this one person. That's what Jesus did for us. He gave us everything that he may become our everything. He was thirsting for us. When you look at the cross, when you look at Jesus Christ and him crucified, you see God thirsting for us. Thank you, Lord. You see God hungry for us. And he just humbled himself to win our hearts, to win our love. May we just forever, ever, every day of our life just recklessly abandon ourselves. Lord, you're everything to me. You are my thirst. You are my hunger. You're my everything. You've captivated me, Lord. You've won my heart from this world. You've won my heart from vain hobbies and vain entertainments and vain activities and vain conversation. You've won my heart, Lord. You've won my heart, Lord. May that be our testimony in this life to the world that hears from our lips the great marvelous things of God and what he's done. May that be our testimony that Jesus Christ has won our hearts. He's our everything. He's our joy, our hope, our peace, our life, our freedom, our victory. Our only reason for being is Jesus Christ. May that be our testimony to the world, our testimony to our families, to our co-workers, to our neighborhoods, to our communities, to the grocery stores, wherever we are at. May this be our testimony that Jesus Christ is our everything, that he's the one thing that we're thirsty for, the one thing that we're hungry for, the one thing that's worth living for, dying for, forsaking everything to have is Jesus Christ. That's what he did for us. And we can only do this towards him because he first did it for us. That cross is an expression that he was thirsting to become our thirst, that he was hungry to become our hunger. Thank you, Jesus. May we feel that deep within our innermost being, that wherever we are, as Stephanie just said, he still is, that God is still thirsting to be our thirst, hungry to be our hunger, not just us here, but wherever we are. He died, he gave himself for those around us. May we always walk with purpose in our hearts, a sense of divine destiny, feeling our breast. God lives in me. God lives in me. I am a child of God. I am a chosen generation. I am a part of the peculiar people, a royal priesthood. God is with me. He is my everything. He gave himself completely for me. I give myself completely to him and it's my greatest satisfaction regardless of the cross, regardless of the thorns, regardless of how steep or rugged the pathway is. It's my joy and my peace, my satisfaction. He is my exceeding great reward. May that be our testimony. May we walk with the sense of divine purpose, this destiny, this sense that God is with us. And that communion, out of that sweet communion and fellowship, just be a witness and a light to those around us. May that become visible to everyone. That I am my beloved and my beloved is mine. He owns me completely. And this is my greatest joy. I am not my own. I'm bought with his shed blood. Amen. May we not be ashamed of Jesus Christ and of his testimony.