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About this session

Isaiah spoke of a “suffering servant” (Is. 53) by whose “bruises we are healed.” Jesus, talking about himself, said, “the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mk. 8:31). The suffering that Jesus endured, the early Church believed, brought about something new. The first Christians believed that they could share in Christ’s suffering and, therefore, found meaning in their individual and collective experiences of suffering. What do these beliefs mean for us today? Do they still resonate with us and carry the same meaning? How do we relate to Christ’s suffering on the cross? Did he have to suffer? And what exactly did he suffer?