Red Letter Words

“And Jesus answering said unto him,”

Matthew 3:15a

The arrival of the Messiah had been long-predicted and anxiously awaited. Four thousand years since the Fall man had waited for the Chosen Seed to bruise the serpent’s head. He would be called a Nazarene, one prophet said. He had no form nor comeliness, Isaiah wrote. He would be meek and lowly, Zachariah recorded. He was described as a father, a king, and a saviour. “To him give all the prophets witness.” (Acts 10:43)

Angels announced Him. Kings and wise men worshipped Him. Herod tried to kill Him. John the Baptist heralded Him. All these and more pointed to the Advent of the Lord’s Christ. Neither enemy nor friend could ignore the signs.

In John, Elijah had come. There at Jordan he would cast his mantle on his successor, his Elisha. As Moses gave way to Joshua, and Jonathan knelt before David, so John the Baptist would inaugurate Jesus Christ. What a tremendous day! What would the Messiah do first? What would He say? Seeking ears sifted every sound to catch the first public word of Heaven’s Ambassador to Earth.

And Jesus answering said unto him,

“Suffer“

In some Bibles, the words of Jesus Christ are printed in red lettering. This is the first red-letter word a reader comes across in the New Testament. This word has crimson in its context as well as its implied meaning. What a word is this!

It means to feel or bear what is painful, disagreeable or distressing, either to the body or mind; to undergo. It means to endure or be affected by. It means to sustain or allow. All of its meaning and use comes with some level of hurt or inconvenience. Often we simply say “I’m suffering,” when we are sick or injured. “Suffer” is a very human word, yet Jesus reclaimed it for Heavenly use.

Suffer- It is the introduction to the Man of Sorrows.

When a child comes into the world, parents clamor over the baby’s first word. Will it be “mama?” Will it be “dada?” The excitement may be overdrawn, yet it endears the child to that word forever. Well into his teens mom will remember exactly what that first word was.

His Father’s first word was “Let.” How similar is the Son’s first word, yet strangely, almost sadly different. “Let” and “suffer” both can mean “allow,” but only the latter touches with empathy on the human condition. “Let” could bring forth Creation from the mind of God. “Suffer” would redeem it from its condemnation.

His first word was “suffer.” How many mixed emotions well up in my heart at that primal utterance. How proud His Father must have been! To choose Matthew’s account to be first to frame and preserve this introduction to the Man of Sorrows!

Mark records His first sermon. Luke records His first question. John calls Him “the Word” that coexists in the Godhead from eternity. But the Father knows His Son the best, and to introduce Him to the world, what better word than “suffer?”

Suffer- It is the precursor to the life of faith.

John the Baptist did not understand why Christ would submit to his baptism. What the Messiah did made no sense. The full explanation? “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” John must trust Jesus by faith.

Every man has an opportunity to meet God in his life. Man is presented with truth which he must accept by faith. The Lord does not manifest Himself in signs and wonders- that would be walking by sight! The Bible says, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;”
(Philippians 1:29) So, to set the precedent for all men who would ever seek him, He starts with “suffer.”

Faith requires trust before full revelation. Suffering is that process whereby the “trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” (1 Peter 1:7-8) Suffering is the product of the Spirit, the fruit called, “longsuffering.” (Galatians 5:22) Suffering is the very grit of the Christian life, it’s what sets apart the believer from the lost. “For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God,” (1 Timothy 4:10a)

Suffer- It is the measure of the fulness of Christ.

From the very beginning, Jesus’ purpose was to suffer in someone else’s place. It was the beginning of his life, and it consumed His entire life until the very end. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,” (1 Peter 3:18) His vicarious death set Him apart from every other god that man has invented. No one else ever loved the world like that.

To suffer for others is the most Christ-like thing we can do. As Jesus told John, “Suffer… for thus it becometh us.” Jesus allowed himself to be baptized for the people’s sake who stood on the banks of the river. Later, He would allow Himself to be crucified for the sake of all who would receive Him. It became Him, and His followers, to suffer.

Paul described his intense desire to know the Lord who saved him: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” (Philippians 3:10) We mark the milestones of life by that first red-letter word.

Blood spattered word! A word made of searing scarlet. The inescapable color of danger and pain and flame put into printed form. So much more can be said of suffering, yet no one said it better than He said it first. What a mark on history it left! How far has it echoed among His followers!

A folksy proverb says, “Live by the red-letter words.” I wonder if many who say that know just how red those words are.

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