What Can We Learn From the Most Stressful Day of Jesus’ Life?

Jesus Christ faced more stress than anyone in history and handled it perfectly. What can we learn from this extreme case to help us in our daily struggles?

The only light was from their lanterns and torches, and possibly flickering reflections dancing off their weapons as they came to arrest Jesus.

It was night, so perhaps they did not understand the depth of Jesus’ response to them: “This is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53). These wicked men, acting under the influence of the spiritual forces of darkness, were coming to try to destroy the Light.

Then followed a series of horrific events. The day leading up to Christ’s death was surely His most trying and stressful day.

Our stress

Stress is the underlying factor behind many illnesses, marriage problems, relationship issues, disagreements and other negative issues. It easily turns us inward as we begin to see our own problems as disproportionately larger than everyone else’s with no escape route.

God warns us that we will face stress. We will go through difficult days that will test our weakest points at our weakest moments (Psalm 34:19; 2 Corinthians 1:5-6; 2 Timothy 3:12). He even tells us to rejoice because these trials test our character—and this life is all about building character (James 1:2-4; Romans 5:3-5).

Along with this warning of stressful times, we are told, don’t stress. How? Instead of worrying about it, take it to God and let Him take care of it (Matthew 6:25-34).

It sounds easy, but everyone knows it is terribly difficult to let go of something we dislike so much. In a weird way it energizes us; we feed on it without realizing it. But if we are to be like Christ, we need to let go of it.

Christ exemplified the perfect way to handle stress.

Jesus’ stress

On that dark night Jesus stood facing a small army with weapons ready for action. At that moment most of His closest friends deserted Him. Later, even God momentarily turned away and allowed Him to bear the weight of sin (Matthew 27:46). Throughout the night Christ was insulted, punched and spit on, His head was punctured with thorns and His body slashed with a whip. The torture itself had killed many victims before Him.

As He staggered beside the man carrying the stake He would be crucified on, He carried the future of the world on His shoulders. Everyone who had ever lived and would ever live depended on this moment, though no one seemed to know it.

If He hadn’t followed through, there would have been no future for humans. Satan would have won.

Concern for others

Yet through all this suffering, Christ never turned inward. Instead, He reached out to others. Many times while He was being betrayed, beaten and left hanging to die He reached out to take care of other people:

• The future Church. His intercessions began about the time His mental anguish began in earnest. It was so intense His sweat became like great drops of blood (Luke 22:44). While He was crying out to God to take the trial away if possible, He was also praying for a group of people who didn’t exist yet, those who would be called to serve Him in the future. Members of God’s Church today, along with Christians in the past 2,000 years, were among the first people Christ reached out to take care of during His most stressful day (John 17).
• The world. Hanging on the stake, His skin raw and bleeding, pushing Himself up on the nails in His feet to breathe, Christ didn’t angrily curse the people who cried out for the death of the One who created them. Instead, He asked God to forgive them. He knew what was happening and why; He was bringing hope to a disillusioned and confused world, He was offering the gift of salvation. Others did not understand, but He did, and He kept that perspective throughout that dark period (Luke 23:34).
• Women of Jerusalem/mourners. He told the women who watched and mourned for Him not to weep for Him, but for themselves. He saw what they couldn’t see and prepared them for their own future. He knew the plan for His death and was prepared for it. He could also see the difficulties they would face after His death when Christians would be persecuted and Jerusalem would fall (Luke 23:28).
• Criminals. Even in the last few hours of His life Christ continued preaching the gospel of the Kingdom. Sandwiched between two robbers, He did not resent one of the robber’s irreverent challenge to save Himself—and them. Instead, Jesus used the other criminal’s request to remember him as an opportunity to talk about the future when the criminal would be resurrected and live under the rule of the Kingdom of God (Luke 23:39-43).
• His mother. Just before His final words, Christ focused His attention on the person who had seen Him through everything, the one who kept matters she didn’t understand about her unusual Son in her heart, the one who was instrumental in His early training and spiritual education: His mother. In the absence of His father, He, the oldest Son, made sure she was taken care of. He assigned His closest disciple, “the one He loved,” to take care of her when He was gone (John 19:26-27).

How to handle stress like Christ did

How did He do it? How could Christ be more concerned about His friends, family, associates and enemies than Himself during those last hours when the future of the entire world would be determined by His very thoughts? How can we reach out to others instead of turning inward during our times of stress—both the intense trials and the daily distractions?

There are two things we can note and practice from Christ’s example that will help us move in this direction.

• Keep perspective.

Christ kept His eyes on the big picture throughout the entire ordeal of His sacrifice. He knew those events had to happen. Even though people attacked Him, questioned His credibility and challenged His power, Christ was able to look beyond that. He saw people in their human weakness instead of letting their Satan-fueled anger affect His perspective and opinion of them. He saw them as misguided human beings carrying out the events that needed to occur. 

• Be compassionate.

Christ looked beyond Himself to those around Him who were hurting: His disciples, who didn’t understand what was happening and were afraid of being tortured due to their association with Him; His mother, who was watching her oldest Son die a painful criminal death; the Jews, who were blinded by their anger. He saw the confusion, the hurt, the fear, the lack of understanding, even the misguided anger and He took care of them in the ways they needed at the time.

The world doesn’t revolve around us

The world revolved around Christ that day (and it still does). It doesn’t revolve around us. If we are to react like Christ, and He, the Creator, was able to see past the suffering inflicted by the creation He came to save, we must be able to see past our stress and suffering too.

Our tendency is to turn inward during stressful times, when reaching out would often enable us to manage our stress better.

Whether it’s daily stress or an intense trial, Christ gave us the weapons we need to combat it: look at the big picture beyond the immediate situation and reach out to others, even our enemies, instead of turning inward.

For more about handling stress, see “Coping With Anxiety,” “The Busyness Trap” and “Four Keys to Defeating Toxic Emotions.”