Poverty, ingratitude, rejection: Jesus knows the struggles of believers because He has experienced them Himself. And that is why He can help anyone who follows in His footsteps and keeps at it.
“But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me” (Luke 22: 28–29). This was the Bible text Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider used on 6 April 2025 in Brussels, Belgium.
Trials faced by Jesus
What trials is Jesus talking about? “As a matter of fact, Jesus faced trials throughout His life, from the moment He began His mission. These trials were all the forces that were set in motion, all the spirits that were at work, to prevent Him from fulfilling His mission.”
There were doubts as to His being the Son of God. “Who do you think You are? Stop it, we know You. You are the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary,” the people said of Jesus.
There was pressure from those around Him. “No matter what He did, it was always wrong.” The people accused Him of breaking the sabbath and socialising with sinners.
He was poor. Jesus was completely “dependent on what people were willing to give Him. He was very happy that there were women who supported Him financially. He was happy that there were people who took Him in.”
He had to deal with ungratefulness. For example, He healed the ten lepers “and they were not even capable of saying thank you,” the Chief Apostle said, adding, “I think it saddened Jesus to realise that they didn’t even say thank you.”
He was misunderstood. Jesus spoke to the people about believing, and they said, “No, no, no, we want signs and miracles. We do not want to believe, we want to see.” This lack of understanding on the part of His contemporaries had a great impact on Jesus and made Him very sad, “You do not understand,” He told them.
His disciples left Him. Twelve disciples stayed with Him, but many others left Him. “Because they were disappointed, because they did not understand what He had said about His body and blood, they did not understand what He wanted,” the Chief Apostle explained. That really hurt Him.
He had to deal with hostility. Jesus was not like other people. He made them feel uncomfortable. In Nazareth they wanted to throw Him off a cliff and the religious authorities wanted to kill Him. Chief Apostle Schneider explained that it must have been hard for Jesus to live under such conditions, knowing that no matter what you do, there are always people plotting to kill you.
In all these tests that Jesus endured, His disciples never left His side. “You did not leave, you stayed with Me. You did not always understand everything, but you accepted things.”
Trials and discipleship then and now
Just like then, there are many things today that want to separate us from God, the Chief Apostle said. But think about this, “Because Jesus lived through these trials, He can understand and help us.” Trials today can be:
- Doubts about divine election: “Who do you think you are to believe that you will be part of the bride of the Lord, that you are a child of God, that you will become a king and a priest?”
- Pressure from outside: “Stay cool, relax! Stop believing that you are better than others and that you cannot do what others do. Just do what others do.”
- Ungratefulness: “There is no point in doing good, nobody will thank you for it.”
- Doing without certain things: “Our priority is to do good and, as a result, we do not always have what others have. We also always accept a certain degree of sacrifice by saying, “No, I won’t do that.”
- Incomprehension: “Today, people want to reduce the Christian faith to a series of prescriptions: if you do this, if you are good, you will be rich, you will be happy, you will not become sick. Our interpretation of the gospel is different.”
- Hostility: The world promotes values other than mutual respect, forgiveness, reconciliation, kindness, and tolerance. Also in the Christian church, there are many things that should not be happening, that are unacceptable in every respect. And as a result, people develop a kind of hostility towards any form of church, the Chief Apostle said.
- Leaving the Church: The attendance of our divine services continues to decline. It can be unsettling when congregations become increasingly empty.
“Jesus does not expect us to do everything He did. All He asks us is that we remain faithful despite all of this. Remain faithful to Jesus and follow Him!” the Chief Apostle appealed. “And then you can count on Him. He will do for you what you yourself cannot do. He has gained the victory over evil and shares His victory with you.”
