Why Me?
There is only one person in the history of the world who would be justified in uttering the words, “Why me,” and that is Jesus of Nazareth. However, at some point, nearly everyone has either thought those words or said them aloud. The remarkable thing about Jesus was that he knew why it had to be him and no one else. On the other hand, we are ignorant of understanding who we are and the path we follow, and we don’t understand why we must endure hardship and suffering.
As I read the accounts of the Savior’s final mortal ordeals, I found irony and injustice at every turn. There was not one thing just in how he was arrested, judged, mocked, and treated by everyone. His family and friends were powerless to help and forced by circumstance to abandon him. His accusers made up things as they went along that were contrary to their own rules and were based solely on self-interests of power and control. Pilate, the only one with authority to condemn him to torture and death, absolved himself of his responsibility in favor of a mob of bloodthirsty ignorant imbeciles, who cried out, “His blood be on us, and on our children.”
The details of the story indicate that everyone who interacted with Jesus after his betrayal went against their moral ethics and duty, and Jesus knew it. However, he held his peace because he knew he had to suffer injustice to satisfy the eternal law of justice and offer mercy to us all. He had to traverse the depths of hell, so we don’t have to or don’t have to stay in hell when we find ourselves there.
Jesus was not the only one to suffer the things he suffered. At some point, most of us will find ourselves in an undeserved or unjust situation. It is not a problem to ask, “Why me” in those situations. But if we ask, we need to be prepared to accept the answer, and we cannot keep asking it over and over again. The answer probably won’t come quickly, and relief may not come in our lifetime, but it will eventually come because of what the Savior did.
Suffering is a part of life that cannot be avoided, but is not permanent. We can either constantly ask, “Why me,” or voluntarily take up our crosses and follow Jesus to Golgotha. That is where things go to die, and our negative behaviors and attitudes need to die. Corruption must remain in the grave, and incorruption must rise from the dust. The transformational effects of repentance make that possible.
The bad things that happen to us, which are a matter of choice, can be dealt with by making better choices. Things like illness or situational constraints can also be mitigated by our choices to meet or deal with them with a positive attitude. In the most dire suffering, we can be confident that, eventually, all things will be resolved because of what Jesus did for us. We cannot allow ourselves to wallow in self-pity.
On the contrary, we seldom ask “Why me” when contemplating our blessings. A phrase attributed to John Bradford upon seeing criminals being led to their execution said, “There but for the grace of God, go I.” If we find ourselves in unusually favorable circumstances, we should offer prayers of gratitude and seek to share joy with others. We do not know the good we can do when we are happy, pleasant, and loving.
Our attitudes and behaviors during times of suffering do not affect only us. Those we interact with inevitably pick up either our negativity or positivity. We have all heard of people who can “light up a room” or someone who can kill a mood. In either of those situations, we could ask why they have that effect. Could it be that they consciously choose to be that person? I think so.
If we are unsure about the good and bad things that happen to us, maybe we should be asking, “Why not me?”. Accepting whatever comes our way is more than half of the battle. Denial always leads to more suffering than necessary, prolonging our misery.
Occasionally, we envy those we think to have it better than us or pity those who have apparent hardships, but we must realize that we can only see what is on the surface and have little idea of what is in their hearts. When we come to that realization, it leaves little excuse for us to question our circumstances, thinking that our lives are better or worse than our peers, and when we compare ourselves to the Savior, we are left with no excuse to complain. However, it is still tempting to try, possibly because we want to garner sympathy or at least hear that we are not alone. But we are never alone because Jesus has been where we are, and the effect of his vicarious works of atonement make him ever present, wherever we may be.
Jesus understood that someone had to pay the price for sin, sickness, pain, and death, so all those things could be overcome. Jesus said, “Behold, I God have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink.”
Jesus did not shrink and drank the bitter cup for us. Praise and honor and glory be to God and His Son Jesus the Christ, who didn’t ask, “Why me?”