Last month, five young Muslim Turks entered a Christian publishing office in Malatya, the southeastern province of Turkey, and murdered three Protestant Christians, who were found tied hand and foot to chairs. Their throats had been cut and their bodies marred by multiple stab wounds.
One of the victims was a 36-year-old man named Necati Aydin, a Turkish convert from Islam. He left behind his wife Shemza and their two children — a son and a daughter, ages 3 and 7 respectively.
When Shemza was asked during an interview, “What do you most remember about your husband?” she responded, “What I most remember is that he was full of love and he was a holy person. He loved us so much and made us happy. He was a close friend of my spirit, body, and soul. It‚Äôs torture for me to live without him. There are times that I miss him most. For example, yesterday my son Elisha fell down and hit his head. He began to cry. In that moment, I pictured what Necati must have suffered. Because I saw his body twice after he died, I know they beat him badly on his head. When Elisha cried I imagined Necati‚Äôs pain too.‚Äù (Resource: FoxNews.com)
Consider again the words of this widow: “I pictured what Necati must have suffered…. When Elisha cried I imagined Necati’s pain too.” How many times do we imagine the pain that Christ endured for us when we see a Christian brother or sister endure some affliction for following Jesus? In reference to his own suffering, the apostle Paul spoke of filling up in his flesh what was “lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Col. 1:24). The author of Hebrews exhorts us to “go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb. 13:13).
What amazes me is how Christ Himself identifies with the suffering of His people. Remember when Jesus appeared to Saul (before he became Paul) on the road to Damascus and said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Saul had been persecuting the church, but by doing so he was persecuting Christ Himself, because Jesus identifies with the pain of His people.
Do we, in turn, identify with the suffering of our Lord? When we encounter pain or see a fellow Christian endure some form of suffering, do we imagine the pain our Bridegroom endured for us even as Shemza imagined the pain her husband endured for Christ?
Alas! and did my Savior bleed? And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?
Was it for crimes that I had done He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown! And love beyond degree!
But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself to Thee, — ‘Tis all that I can do.