He suffered under Pontius Pilate.

     It is very important to understand why the Lord had to suffer. The Apostle’s Creed says that He suffered under Pontius Pilate, but Jesus suffered under much more than just him. He suffered under the leadership of the church for the entire three years of His earthly ministry. The suffering He endured under Pontius Pilate was the physical suffering of the lashes, beating and crucifixion. The suffering under the leadership of the church was emotional, spiritual and mental – not to mention physical.

      Jesus also suffered under what every natural man ever had to or will have to suffer. He had to suffer through the desires of the flesh, and not give into them. He fasted for forty days in the desert and had to endure hunger (Matt. 4:2), He had to endure long periods of time without sleep. He had to suffer through rejection and friends deserting Him. He truly wanted many things that He couldn’t have, too!

     How can I say that He wanted things He couldn’t have? Well, the bible says that He had to go through every single thing that ANY of us would ever have to go through, so that He could understand how we feel! (Heb. 4:15)

     Jesus had to suffer, and that suffering had to be more than any human being had ever suffered before, and more than any one would have to suffer afterwards. This had to be so that He could be “qualified” to take our place. He had to do this in order to be seen by God as being blameless and above all others. This, and only this, would qualify Him as being a worthy sacrifice for us. Perhaps the best scripture to back this statement up would be in Hebrews 5:1-9:

       For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness.

      Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

     So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He (God) who said of Him:     ”You are My Son, today I have begotten You”

     As He said in another place:   “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”

     who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a son – yet He learned obedience through the things which He suffered.

     And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all why obey Him.

     Only through this suffering could Jesus be perfected in order to be an acceptable sacrifice on our behalf. We’ll get to more about the sacrifice in the next chapter, but I think it’s evident that Jesus suffered more than any human had ever suffered before or since. He did this because He loves us and wanted us to have a door opened to restored relationship with the Father.