• The sufferings of Christ were not limited to the Holy Week?!
  His sufferings were not one day, nor one week, nor one year, but throughout the entire period of His incarnation on earth.
  He never lived in comfort, nor walked on the broad way, nor entered through the wide gate, but lived with humanity in all its pain and weariness; and “in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted,” He was “able to aid those who are tempted.”
• The prophet Isaiah described these sufferings in more detail, saying:
  “He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief… He was despised, and we did not esteem Him… Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted… And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living” (Isaiah 53:1–8).

He lived a life entirely of pain: He tasted the weakness, weariness, and suffering of humanity when He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant. Even at His birth: He was born on a very cold day, without preparation; His mother found no place to give birth, nor swaddling clothes to wrap Him… He lived a poor childhood. And as soon as He grew a little, Herod sought to kill Him, so His mother took Him and fled to Egypt, and endured with Him the hardship of exile.

• He grew up in a poor house, the house of a simple carpenter, and worked with His own hands. He did not live a life of luxury, nor comfort, nor indulgence. He tasted none of life’s pleasures. He remained oppressed and unknown for thirty years. No one noticed Him during those years, and history recorded nothing about them… He tasted the pain of need and poverty.
• In His ministry, He lived in the same poverty and deprivation…
  He wandered through cities and villages without shelter, without steady provision. When tribute was requested from Him, He had nothing to pay… And He said about Himself: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
• As He tasted the pain of poverty and need, He also tasted the pain of asceticism:
  It was said that He hungered on the mountain of temptation and when He approached the fig tree. And it was said that He thirsted at the well of Samaria and on the Cross… When we say that Christ hungered, we mean real, severe hunger—His hunger after forty days of fasting was intense. And His thirst on the Cross, after His water and blood were drained, was a terrible thirst…
• Christ also tasted the pain of insult, contempt, and scorn:
  They filled Him with insults, expressions, and accusations… They said He was a deceiver, that He cast out demons by Beelzebub, that He was a glutton and a winebibber, that He broke the Law and violated the Sabbath, and that He was “a sinner.” They confronted Him saying, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

And when they asked Pilate to guard the tomb, they said about Him: “We remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said…” They continually considered Him a rebel against society, a threat to authority, and He found no honor even in His own country… They said, “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” And according to their law, He ought to be crucified. How many insults, reproaches, and mockeries He faced during His trial, scourging, and crucifixion…

• Christ also tasted the pain of doubt and offense in Him:
  When the repentant woman poured ointment on His feet, wet them with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, the Pharisee doubted Him and said in his heart, “If this Man were a prophet, He would know who and what manner of woman this is…” They doubted Him when He performed His loving miracles on the Sabbath…

His disciples also doubted Him when He rose from the dead and thought He was a spirit. All doubted, not only Thomas… Mary Magdalene thought He was the gardener, and the words of the women about the Resurrection seemed to the disciples like idle tales… How much doubt there was concerning His divinity, His miracles, and His teachings.

• As He tasted the pain of doubt, He also tasted the pain of rejection:
  They did not accept Him… “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Light shone in the world, but the world loved darkness rather than light. And it was said of Him in the psalm: “I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind.”

Rejected by His own, wounded in the house of His friends. He was not accepted in His own town, so that He could not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. As a teacher, they rejected Him saying, “We are Moses’ disciples.” And at the crucifixion, they refused to have Him reign over them.

• As He tasted the pain of rejection, He also tasted the pain of abandonment:
  Those closest to Him forsook Him. When He was seized, all fled and left Him. He Himself said to His disciples, “Indeed the hour is coming… when you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone.” Even His disciple Peter, who swore to die for Him, swore saying, “I do not know the Man.” In Gethsemane, His disciples left Him to struggle alone and did not watch with Him one hour, despite His request. He tasted the pain of loneliness, away from mother, family, home, and friends.
• He also suffered for the sins and loss of people:
  His heart melted in pain whenever He saw people’s sins, to the point that He wept over Jerusalem and over the people, seeing them “weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” He suffered out of compassion for sinners and suffered in bearing these sins—they were heavier upon Him than the Cross He carried…

He also tasted the pains of ministry, the labor of care, and concern for all:
The fatigue of walking and traveling through cities and villages, many journeys, and the toil of persuading people. The hardship of confronting people for the sake of truth. How many times He clashed with the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, priests, elders of the people, and others.

He suffered from their debates, schemes, questions, conspiracies, and their stirring up of the people. He faced the Galileans, the lawyers, Herod, Annas, Caiaphas, and the followers of all these…

He felt they were watching Him, seeking to trap Him in His words… raising doubts about Him and setting snares before Him… They considered Him a rival and sought to eliminate Him to preserve their position… They sometimes said He spoke blasphemies. Once they wanted to throw Him off a mountain; another time they sought to kill Him, but He passed through their midst and went away. It was said of Him that He “did not entrust Himself to them.”

He even suffered from His disciples’ slowness of understanding:
How many times He spoke to them and they did not understand, and He had to explain much…

• All these sufferings were added to by the sufferings of trials and crucifixion…
  He was tried before the Sanhedrin, before Annas, before Caiaphas. He was also tried before Pilate and before Herod, walking all night and day, facing lies, accusations, false witnesses, and human pride that arrogantly claims to defend truth while in sin!!

Then came the sufferings of slapping, spitting, mockery, the scarlet robe, the crown of thorns, and the words, “Prophesy, who struck You?”

We suffer on earth because of our sins, but Christ suffered for righteousness, for love, and for giving, to accomplish the matter of our salvation…

And in the remembrance of His sufferings, we remember our sins and take care not to add new pain to the Lord by our falls. Let us try to gladden the heart of the Lord by our repentance.

 Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in El-Keraza Magazine – Year Eight (Issue Fourteen), 8-4-1977.