One of the most bitterly painful sufferings Christ had to endure at His
crucifixion was the charge of megalomania leveled against Him. As He hung there
on His cross naked, in agony, the people, especially the rulers of the nation,
ridiculed Him for His delusions of grandeur as they put it. He's a fool! He
thinks He is somebody! "He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will
have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God" (Matt. 27:43). Wouldn't it have
been great if the Father had spoken audibly from Heaven declaring, He IS the
Son of God! But there was no such voice. The Sufferer was left alone with
Heaven's silence and cried out in His agony, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
His experience has fitted Him to sympathize with everyone who has been forced
to endure ridicule for his/her faith. Ridicule and the charge of delusions of
grandeur are painful. "So you think you're right and everybody else is wrong!"
Often in families when one person discovers new truth from the Bible, such as
the Sabbath truth, he/she has to endure such ridicule.
In fact, ridicule has been one of Satan's sharpest arrows with which he assails
God's people. Noah had to endure it as he built the ark on dry land. You can
almost hear the people making jokes about him. His relatives probably thought
Abraham was fanatical for leaving his fine house in Ur of the Chaldees to go
out and live in a tent the rest of his days. And when he was old and had never
owned even a foot of land ("not so much as to set his foot upon," Acts 7:5),
hear them discussing the simple-minded "old man," and chuckling. Hear the
Egyptian royal family talking about what a fool poor Moses was to give it all
up to go with a bunch of slaves. And hear wealthy Nabal ridiculing young David
as an outlaw. And Jeremiah--what pain he had to endure as the priests, rulers,
and people laughed at him. Hear him pray, "Know that for Thy sake I have
suffered rebuke" (15:15).
Among the most bitter of all experiences humans have suffered is Peter chafing
under the ridicule of what must have been a flippant teenage girl, "You talk
like one of Jesus' disciples!" And then her contemptuous laughter. To endure
such ridicule in one's childhood and youth is particularly painful. But it is
possible to endure, and Christ is near at hand to encourage and to strengthen.
If you KNOW that God is with you, you CAN endure it! And Christ will truly
appreciate your loyalty. Make Him happy, and you be happy too.
--Robert J. Wieland
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