Obedience despite personal humiliation and pain

Jesus demonstrates obedience despite personal humiliation and pain.

The Jews, after condemning Jesus in their own religious court, have turned Jesus over to the Gentiles who have the power to free Jesus or carry out the death sentence...

Matthew 27:11-45 ¹¹ Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus said, "You say so." ¹² But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. ¹³ Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?" ¹⁴ But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed...   ²⁶ after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified... ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" ³⁰ They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. ³¹ After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him...  ³⁹ Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, ⁴² "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, 'I am God's Son.'"

Jesus has made the choice to go through this pain and humiliation in obedience to his Father.  Most of us are under the impression that if something is humiliating or painful - then we need to take action to resist it - to stand up for ourselves.  It is our right!  To do otherwise would be to act as a doormat, become a sissy.  Right?  I mean, if someone hurts our feelings, don't we have the right to retaliate or at a minimum, be hateful to them?  Shouldn't we reach out to everyone we know and raise support for ourselves? 

But Jesus shows us a different example here.  He doesn't answer the charges.  He neither falls apart with hurt feelings nor yells back with insults.  He doesn't even seek to prove how powerful or righteous he is.  He doesn't resist the humiliation and pain. Instead, he knows who he is and he is secure in it.  He knows this is happening so that through his death and resurrection, humanity can be reconciled not only to God, but to each other.

When someone hurts us - humiliates us - isn't fair to us, are we prepared to react out of knowing who we are in Christ (knowing we have infinite worth in God's eyes) instead of trying to defend ourselves with hurt feelings or insults?  Are we able to speak truth to the situation rather than judgement? Are we able to show them God's love despite whatever they have done to us? 

Do we ignore Jesus' example to be obedient even when it is personally painful and humiliating?

Note:  This does not mean God wants us to stay in abusive situations where there is physical violence and verbal abuse.  Living with domestic abuse is not God's plan for us.  Jesus, however, knew his death was part of God's plan.  Removing ourselves from domestic violence so we can no longer be hurt is almost always the only way we can demonstrate God's love to the abuser.