When Christ Feels What You Feel

Reflection

So many times, we seem to experience the pain of those we love. When someone mistreats a family member or a close friend, it can feel as if they have done it to you personally. We tend to take it deep into our hearts because their hurt becomes our own. Even in small moments, like when a grandchild falls and scrapes a knee, those big tears roll down their face and you feel the sting of it too. Their pain pulls you in instantly because love makes us share the burden.

This very human experience gives us a small glimpse into something much greater. In Acts 9 verse 4, when Saul was persecuting believers, Jesus stopped him on the road and asked, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Jesus did not say, “Why are you hurting my followers?” He said, “Why are you hurting me?” He feels what happens to His people  that goes far beyond what we experience with our loved ones.

When someone touches the lives of those who belong to Christ, He takes it personally. Their suffering reaches His heart. Their wounds matter deeply to Him. Acts 9 verse 4 reminds us that Jesus is never distant from the struggles of those who walk with Him. He stands with us so fully that our pain is seen as His own, and our burdens are never carried alone.

So when Jesus asks Saul this question, I understand the weight of it. Although our situations are not exactly the same, we as believers are unified members of the body of Christ. What is done to one member affects us all. If a brother or sister is hurting, it impacts the entire body. If someone is mistreated, rejected, ignored, or wounded, it reaches all of us in some way.

Think about it. When one believer suffers, the church feels it. When one is encouraged, we are strengthened. When one falls into temptation, the entire body feels the sting of it. And yet our care for one another does not even begin to compare to how Christ feels when one of His own is harmed. He is the Head of the body, and He identifies so deeply with His people that to touch them is to touch Him.

Saul knew about Jesus, but he did not believe. He certainly did not understand that the believers he was persecuting were united with Christ Himself. Yet when he heard that question, he immediately asked who it was speaking. Before Saul was even converted, Jesus revealed the truth. When you hurt one of Mine, you hurt Me.

Sometimes we can be harsh to one another and unloving. Sometimes we forget that the one we are impatient with, the one we disagree with, the one we talk about or avoid, is also someone Christ loves and identifies with. Ephesians 4 tells us that we have one body and one Spirit and one glorious hope. We are told to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit with peace and to make allowances for each other because of love.

If Jesus cares this deeply about His people, then we should take seriously how we treat one another. We are not enemies. We are part of the same body. We are united in Christ, and what we do to others, we do to Him.