The Transformative Power of Abandonment: Redeeming Suffering Through Trust

If you were God, how would you have chosen to enter the world? Most people wouldn’t pick coming

into the world as a helpless baby, born quietly in a deserted place. As God, upon being born, would

you have chosen your first resting place to be in a manger, a feeding trough where animals ate their

food?

So much of what we read of Jesus’ life comes from the last three years of it. Those first thirty years

He lived a quiet life that is mostly unknown. The thought that our all-powerful God, in the person of

Jesus Christ, came into the world with the ability to do and possess anything and everything, yet

chose a humble and hidden life, is a comforting mystery.

God could’ve taken the world by storm through incredible demonstrations of His awesome,

unmatched power. He could’ve imposed His will upon ours, robbing us of the gift of free will. He

could’ve lived with unimaginable wealth, fame, pleasure, and power.

Yet, He chose a paradoxical life of all-powerfulness and total abandonment intertwined. Rather

than choosing self-will, He chose to entirely submit His will in total trust to the Father. Jesus lived

for the Father’s will, not the world’s approval.

“In quietness and trust shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

We know that God is both omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing), embodying

perfect wisdom. Knowing above and beyond all that we could ever understand, Jesus chose the

path of suffering.

He could’ve chosen to end the deep sufferings He endured in an instant. A simple thought could’ve

put an end to His unthinkable pain. Not to mention, He could’ve simply chosen to avoid the cross

altogether. Yet, with total abandonment to the Father, He accepted it without resistance and

transformed it into an offering of love. Rather than end suffering, He persevered in it and redeemed

it, giving it a whole new meaning and purpose.

He took the concept of suffering and turned it on its head, bewildering even His own disciples. The

perfect example of this is seen in Matthew’s Gospel.

Matthew 16:21-23

21 “From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffergreatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be

raised.”

22 “Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, ‘God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever

happen to you.’”

23 “He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking

not as God does, but as human beings do.’"

Jesus reveals His coming suffering and Peter immediately rejects the plan to redeem the world.

Before Peter denies Jesus, He first denies His suffering. Peter only sees the temporal life in that

moment. He’s fixated on the life that is passing away.

“You have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a puff of smoke

that appears briefly and then disappears.” James 4:14

God is always looking at forever, but our human minds usually can’t comprehend everlasting life.

Even when we believe in the concept, we still can’t fathom the truth it implies. Instead, we

mistakenly live as if our mortal lives will last forever, as we forget how quickly smoke actually fades

away.

How would we look at Jesus, and ourselves, if we truly believed that we will live forever? This is

especially true knowing that we are constantly offered the choice between forever with God or

forever without Him. Would we think twice about our decisions if we knew in our hearts that the

choices we make in this life will echo in eternity?

Peter is only seeing the present suffering at hand, not the glorified and resurrected Lord that can

only appear on the other side of that suffering. Without Good Friday, there is no Easter Sunday.

Without the Crucifixion, there is no Resurrection.

When Peter rejects Jesus’ prophecy of His coming death and resurrection, he seems to do so with

good intention. Of course, Peter loves Jesus and doesn’t want Him to go through the horrific

suffering and death He described. Peter also seems oblivious to Jesus saying he will be raised on

the third day. At face value, Jesus’ words seem excessively harsh. Particularly considering Jesus

speaks these words immediately following the previous passage where Peter professes his faith in

Jesus as God.

“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply “You are the Messiah,

the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:15-16.

After Peter’s profession of faith, Jesus gives Peter the keys to the kingdom saying,

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of the Netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 16:17-18

To immediately go from receiving the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven to literally being called Satan,

means Peter’s rejection of Jesus’ suffering is extremely significant! What an enormous change from

verse 18 to verse 23! It would seem that our reaction to suffering is actually a reflection of whose

voice we are listening to, either Jesus or Satan. In Jesus, we have hope and meaning in our

suffering; with Satan, we have only self-pity and despair wrapped in fear.

If we are to look like Jesus, we must suffer like Jesus.

“And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and

joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” Romans

8:17

How did Jesus respond to suffering? As He anticipated the betrayal of Judas on the horizon during

His agony in the garden, Jesus chose to abandon Himself completely to the Father’s will. While

kneeling in the garden, He responded to the Father with a childlike trust, despite having a heart so

heavy that He was sweating drops of blood.

In His humanity, He prayed in confident surrender to the Father.

“Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.” Mark 14:36.

In this perfect prayer, Jesus lives out His total trust as he speaks of the cup of suffering awaiting

Him. He begins by addressing the Father as Abba, similar to a small child crying out “Daddy” in a

moment of need. This expresses His childlike trust in the Father. He then acknowledges the all

powerful nature of the Father in whom he declares nothing is impossible. He proceeds to ask for the

horrifying suffering that awaits Him to be taken away.

Yet, he doesn’t end the prayer there. Instead, with total abandonment, He essentially says, “Father, I want what you want, more than I want what I want.” To pray “thy will be done” from the heart, is as if to say “I trust you to take care of it.”

Jesus did not seek out suffering, but He accepted the suffering that befell Him as if it had passed

through the very hands of His own loving Father. When Jesus was condemned to death and handed

the cross, He embraced it, taking it up upon His shoulder to carry. He bore His cross willingly and

silently, with each excruciating step. For Him, each moment of suffering was an opportunity to pour

Himself out in love for the Father and for each one of us. In the suffering He received, He freely

gave Himself away to the ones he loved.

"Then he said to all, 'If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'" Luke 9:23

Jesus was innocent. A completely unblemished lamb without a spot of sin on Him. He was also the

most powerful person to have ever walked the earth. Yet, the only Son of God, who could have

proven His innocence or easily defended Himself against attack, laid down His limitless power, to

embrace total abandonment. He accepted the sufferings entrusted to Him—all while believing the

Father would bring about a greater good through them, even if that good would not come before the

end of His earthly life.

"We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his

purpose." Romans 8:28

Trust is not proven in the good times. It’s easy to trust God when all is going well. Trust is proven on

the cross. Trust is proven in the midst of confusion and torment, when the pain is relentless and

there is nothing lighting the path ahead. To believe in that moment that God is good, and to have

confidence that He makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him, is the

ultimate act of faith, hope, and trust. In abandoning ourselves and our will entirely to God, we allow

Him to possess us completely. We belong to Him unconditionally, holding nothing back, as if we

were little children resting securely in the arms of our loving Father.

“Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as if something strange

were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that

when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly. As a result, those who suffer in accord

with God’s will hand their souls over to a faithful Creator as they do good.” 1 Peter 4:12-13 & 19

Prayer of Abandonment

Father,

I abandon myself into your hands;

do with me what you will.

Whatever you may do, I thank you:

I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me,

and in all your creatures –

I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul:

I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,

for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,

to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,and with boundless confidence,

for you are my Father.

Prayer By Charles de Foucauld

Written by Jennifer Horvath

https://www.unitywomen.org/