The Way of the Cross: Pain That Transforms into Purpose

Written by Betsy Sunny

Day 1: The Choice to Continue

Jesus didn't have to keep going.

That's the part that's hard to sit with. He could have walked away. When His friends fell asleep while He agonized in Gethsemane, when Judas arrived with soldiers, and when Peter denied Him when the accusations twisted the truth, He could have chosen differently at every point.

But He didn't.

We often focus on Jesus' divinity, but in Luke 22-23, we see His humanity on full display. He pleads with God for another way, sweat-like blood dripping from His face. He is beaten, insulted, and paraded before leaders who hold His fate in their hands. And yet, He continues forward.

We don't like the idea of suffering having meaning. Most of us spend our lives avoiding it—numbing, escaping, searching for the fastest way out. The idea that Jesus didn't just endure suffering but entered into it willingly is unsettling. If suffering is part of the story of redemption, what does that mean for us?

Maybe the invitation is not to seek suffering but to stop running from it. To trust that God is still present, somehow, even in pain.

Jesus did not suffer so we would never suffer—He suffered so we would never suffer alone. And that changes everything.

Take a moment to watch this video, "The Way of the Cross":

Next Step

• Contemplate: What would it mean for suffering to be part of your story but not the end of it?
• Act: Name one place where you resist something hard, even though you know it's the right path. Ask God to meet you there.
• Pray: Practice a breath prayer today. Breathe in: "Not my will, and breathe out: but Yours be done."