And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

Acts 9:4

At the beginning of Acts 9, things must be going well for Paul (Saul). He’s expanding his work, asking the high priest for letters authorizing him to go to Damascus to exterminate the Jesus movement after the execution of Stephen. The opening verse of the chapter couldn’t be any clearer: he is breathing out murderous threats against the disciples. If he finds believers in Damascus, he is to bring them to Jerusalem as prisoners. Knowing his story as we do, we see the irony: this is ultimately the direction Paul’s own story will head.

And I am intrigued by the words Jesus spoke to him on the road to Damascus: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting ME?”

How is Paul persecuting Jesus?

There’s only one answer: by persecuting His followers.

We can infer a powerful truth here. Jesus is so intimately connected to His followers that He experiences their persecution as His own.

This is amazing. Jesus is the living embodiment of what Paul would later teach: rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

Paul has gotten it all wrong. These Christ-followers aren’t the dangerous rogues Paul assumed them to be with their claims of a crucified and resurrected Messiah. This small but resilient band of believers has rightly discerned that God’s Messianic promises to Israel have now been fulfilled in Jesus. And all of this comes crashing down upon Paul on the road to Damascus as he hears, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” (Acts 9:5).

This is a word of comfort, a word of Good News — that Jesus feels what His followers feel.

God has put me in a position to hear people’s pain on a regular basis. My heart breaks for the suffering and adversity so many good people have to endure. But one of the only things that seems to truly bring comfort is the knowledge that we don’t suffer alone. To have someone join you in your suffering is often the only practical form of comfort we can experience.

And to know that Jesus feels the persecution of His people is one of the greatest proofs of His identity as Immanuel — God with us. The cross itself is a testimony to His willingness to join us in our pain. We’ve often pointed to the cross as the place where Jesus identifies with our sin. And this is certainly true, as the atonement theories will testify.

But this is not exclusively true. It’s not the only thing going on at the cross. Yes, this is where Jesus identifies with our sin — but it is also the place where He identifies with our suffering. Roman crucifixion was specifically engineered to maximize pain. It was the most shameful death human minds could ever devise. And Jesus HAD to die THIS way.

The scriptures are clear: Jesus had to die at Passover because of His identification as the Lamb of God who takes away our sin. This is the necessity of WHEN He died.

But He also had to die in this particular way in order to most fully identify with our suffering. He had to die on that cross — the necessity of HOW He died.

And in His resurrected state, He still identifies with our suffering.

As these early believers are being persecuted, Jesus experiences this as persecution within Himself.

And as His followers today suffer for righteousness’ sake, He feels this as well.

This is Good News, that Immanuel is still with us, that He feels what we feel. In this, I find comfort and hope. And I hope you do, too.