Absorbing Injustice

Absorbing injustice like Jesus. That was the theme of a sermon I heard last month. It's only about 30 minutes long, and I encourage you to listen to it if you have time. When the pastor read through Mark's account of the trial of Jesus, I was struck by the phrase he used to describe Jesus' posture during His trial.

Absorbing injustice.

Not just enduring injustice, but absorbing it. What is it about the difference in those two words that hit me so hard? As I thought back on it, the word endurance gives the picture of insults that run off like water on a duck's back. It's injustice, but it doesn't impact me deeply. I'm able to deflect it and therefore endure. But the word absorb paints an altogether different picture. Now the injustice inflicts me deeply. I feel the pain deeply--it cuts me and wounds me. But I absorb the injustice and bear it like Jesus.

This can not be done on our own. We can not absorb injustice done to us apart from deeply abiding in Jesus, staring into His face, and getting a clear vision of His trial and crucifixion. It isn't until I get a deep understanding of the injustice Jesus absorbed for MY sake that I can begin to absorb another's injustice to me.

Here is a link to some of Mark's account of the trial of Jesus. It has caused me to think deeply about how I respond to sins against me. When I am sinned against, I often feel completely alone. But that is a lie from Satan, because it is in suffering the sins of others against me that I most start to identify with the life and death of Christ. And there is something profoundly transforming in fellowshipping with Him in this way. (Phil. 3:10)