so this is my question of the week:
did Christ really experience full solidarity with us in the incarnation if He never experienced guilt? He can be in solidarity with us in other kinds of suffering because He experienced such things but what about sufferings brought on by our own sins? is He present with us in that kind of suffering?
my answer to my own question:
maybe, while He himself did not suffer from self inflicted guilt, on the cross, as He bore the complete burden of humanity's sin and was abandoned by the Father because of it, he experienced a form of guilt. true, it was not his own guilt but maybe because He was bearing our sin and its consequences he felt something of what we feel. still i wonder if He could feel guilt to its fullest extent.
and:
in light of a recent tragedy i have been wondering if Christ can be in complete solidarity with us in grieving death. part of why death is so disturbing to us is because we cannot understand it...it remains very uncertain and unknown. we have faith that something better comes after our earthly life but we cant be certain what that is. did Christ experience this kind of suffering? does He know what it feels like to feel at such a loss regarding death? im not sure that He could because death was not unknown to Him...He fully understood what happens after death so He could not be as burdened by it as we are.
what do you all think about this stuff? where is God in the middle of stuff like this? can he be present in such circumstances with us if He has never experienced those kinds of things? or has He?
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Good question. I believe that Christ did experience full solidarity. He experienced it while on the cross. Now although it was not his own sin and guilt, He still experienced that suffering. In a way he has experienced the greatest form of full solidarity, more than anyone can ever imagine because He bore the sin of ALL mankind. That means all the guilt, all the depression, all the starvation, all the evil in the world. Past, present and future. Because of this, He was abandoned by the Father. That is the essence of full solidarity.
You bring up a good point with your second question and whether or not Christ can truly grieve with us in death. Yes He can. Go to John 11:35. It simply says. “Jesus wept.” If you read what happens earlier in the chapter, Jesus finds out that one of his friends, Lazarus, has just died. Although Jesus already knew this, He felt sorrow and cried with them. This is so important to understand. Jesus knows what it feels like to feel at such a loss regarding death. He was just as burdened by it as Mary was, even though He knew where Lazarus was after death.
I hope that made some sort of sense and answers some of your questions.
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