On Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate an empty tomb—but do we pause to remember the depth of Jesus’ suffering that makes our healing possible? In this powerful Easter reflection, Nina Pajonas explores how Christ—fully God and fully human—endured emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual trauma, and why that matters for our own wounds today.

Drawing from Isaiah 53, Hebrews 2, Gethsemane (Mark 14/Luke 22), and the crucifixion (Matthew 27), this episode shows how Jesus understands our pain intimately and invites us into restoration, redemption, and resurrection life. If you’ve wrestled with disappointment, doubt, or the question “Where was God in my suffering?”, this message will anchor your heart in the truth: by His wounds we are healed—and the same power that raised Jesus lives in you.

Remember, the Lord can turn your wounds into wings—you were Born to be a Butterfly! 🦋

📩 Have questions or want to connect? Send me a DM on Instagram at Born To Be A Butterfly or email me at ninapajonas@gmail.com.

Born to be a Butterfly © 2025 Nina Pajonas All rights reserved. The content of this podcast is for informational and inspirational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. For the full disclaimer, visit ⁠ninapajonas.com.

Welcome to Born to be a Butterfly, where we embrace healing and growth to experience true transformation.

My name is Nina Pajonis, and today's episode is a special Easter reflection titled From Suffering Servant to Savior.

On this Resurrection Sunday, while we celebrate the victory of our risen Lord, I want to take a moment to to reflect deeply on the trauma that he endured in his final days on earth.

Because it's only when we understand the depths of his suffering that we could fully appreciate the power of his resurrection and the healing that he offers to each and every one of us.

Unfortunately, we have all experienced some sort of trauma in our lives.

Our stories might be different, but we all share the same result.

The Commonality of Pain Sometimes it could be prolonged pain, perhaps multiple seasons of sorrow or anxiety,

while at other times it could be a tragic event that wounds us.

I know that if I had been given a choice before I was born, I would have chosen a life without pain.

Although I'm honestly glad I didn't get that choice. Because I wouldn't be the woman that I am today.

I'm not sure that I'd be a woman on fire for God.

I know that I would love God, but would I seek him as much if I hadn't needed restoration so desperately?

Would I have the same relationship that I have with him today?

I have to say that I really don't know. But what I do know is that for nearly 27 years, from the ages of 17 to 44, I ran from Jesus.

I wanted nothing to do with Him. Because of the traumas in my story,

I declared myself abandoned, unloved and unprotected.

I declared those things because my life was difficult and I didn't trust him with my pain.

To this day, I deeply regret that I ran away from the Lord when I should have been running to Him.

The hardest part of suffering is when or if we wonder,

how could God let this happen to me?

In those moments of despair, we can become disillusioned.

We can start to question the greatness and goodness of our God. And that's exactly what the enemy wants.

He wants us to feel forsaken by our Heavenly Father and forgotten by His Son.

He doesn't want us to remember that we have the Holy Spirit within us that gives us a divine and direct connection to them both.

The enemy wants us to believe that our Abba has abandoned us. But how can that be when he lives within us?

I'm going to refer to 1 Peter 5, 7, 10.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be Alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,

after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong,

firm and steadfast.

The most important thing we can do during seasons of suffering is to remember that Jesus also endured trauma, so he understands our pain.

He chose to live the life of a suffering servant so that he could become our Savior.

When the Word became flesh, Jesus was fully God, but He was also fully human, as stated in Scripture.

I'll refer to Hebrews 2, 14, 17 NIV since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity,

so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death,

that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

For surely it is not the angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants.

For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way,

in order that he might become a merciful and faithful High priest in service to God,

and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

Now I'd like to read a portion from one of the prophecies of Isaiah which clearly depicted the many trials that Jesus would face.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering and familiar with pain, like one from whom people hide their faces. He was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.

And the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:3 through 5 Jesus voluntarily submitted to immense affliction, distress,

agony and relentless trauma to save our souls.

He truly understands the human condition in its entirety because he sacrificially subjected himself to it.

That short passage speaks of such horrible emotional and physical trauma, and yet there is mental and spiritual anguish in Jesus story as well.

Our Savior's human life was riddled with adversity and great stress from his birth to his death.

When we dive into this part of his story, it is made very clear to us that Jesus was tormented in mind, body and soul.

That's exactly what trauma does to Us. And that's exactly what it did to our Savior.

I'll refer to when Jesus went to Gethsemane with His disciples.

They went to a place called Gethsemane and Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. He took Peter, James and John along with him and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.

My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. He said to them, stay here and keep watch.

Going a little farther. He fell to the ground and prayed that if it was possible, the hour might pass from him.

Abba Father, he said,

everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me yet not what I will, but what you will.

being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

We need to listen to all the words they're using to describe the emotional, physical and spiritual state of Jesus.

They say he was deeply distressed, troubled, in anguish and overwhelmed with sorrow.

They said he fell to the ground to pray. He didn't kneel, he fell.

That sounds like physical exhaustion, which could have been due to the fact that he was in agony. Emotionally, how often do we find ourselves exhausted when we are depressed? It's actually quite common.

These are all the reactions of someone who's enduring trauma. These are the fully human responses of Jesus.

He tells the disciples that his soul feels like it's dying because it's filled with such immense sorrow.

That's something that most of us can probably relate to.

Our reasons for sorrow and anxiety don't have to be the same as the Lord's. But we understand the feelings that are being expressed and experienced here by him, don't we?

We can relate to our Savior's suffering because we've experienced the same emotions.

Which means that when we endure trauma in our lives,

Jesus knows exactly how we are feeling too.

We serve a relational God.

Our God is empathetic. He is compassionate. He is loving. He is forgiving. He is kind.

He covers his children with never ending grace.

He offers mercy without measure. He is our living hope.

It is very important that we understand who our Lord and Savior is and what his character is.

It's important that we understand the attributes that he possesses. If we are seeking to trust him with our pain,

we must also accept an undeniable truth.

God truly understands us, not only because he created us, but because he chose to live among us at one point.

He has proven many times, in many ways that he wants a close relationship with his children.

And the better we know and understand him, the more we will trust in that relationship.

We must reach out to our Lord and Savior when our hearts are broken and our souls are wounded.

But we will only do that if we have faith in who he is and in how much he loves us.

Now I will read Scripture that describes the final hours of our Lord and Savior's life.

The emotional, physical and spiritual pain that he endured during his crucifixion is unimaginable.

He was traumatized in every way that a human being can be.

I'll be reading from Matthew 27, 28, 31, 45, 46.

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand.

Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. Hail, King of Jews, they said. They spit on him and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.

After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him.

Then they led him away to crucify him. From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over all the land.

About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice,

my God, my God,

why have you forsaken me? And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice,

he gave up his spirit.

Our Savior experienced suffering on so many different levels and in so many different ways that it's hard to even comprehend.

However, it's important that we try to, because he endured all of it for us.

He was not only physically tortured and beaten, they deliberately ridiculed and humiliated Him. They were trying to make a mockery of his life.

The life he spent preaching, teaching, and healing others.

The life he was willingly sacrificing to fulfill the Scriptures and save our souls.

During our Savior's last moments, he calls out to the Father,

asking Him why he has forsaken Him. His spiritual anguish is being described, and it's heartbreaking to read.

Some theologians say that Jesus felt separated from God at that moment.

The one who had knew no sin had become sin. And sin separates us from God the Father.

That is what our Savior was experiencing for the first time in their relationship.

It's very hard for us to imagine an eternal relationship, but that's exactly what they had.

So that brief separation might have felt like a thousand lifetimes to our Lord and Savior.

If we ever find ourselves doubting that Jesus understands our pain, we need to think about his crucifixion immediately.

Our Savior understands our suffering because he suffered incredibly and not just physically.

He knows what it feels like to be betrayed and abandoned by the people you love. He knows what disrespect and humiliation feel like.

He knows what it is like to be despised and persecuted. He knows what it feels like to experience tremendous anxiety and sorrow. He understands all of it because he lived it.

People might think that because Jesus was fully God and fully man that it was easier for him to endure all that trauma, but I would definitely disagree.

Having knowledge of an upcoming tragedy doesn't make it any less tragic.

If we have a loved one who is terminally ill and we have limited time with them, do we grieve any less when they actually pass?

No, we don't. In fact, sometimes we we can find ourselves mourning them before they've even gone home to be with the Father.

We actually suffer longer because of the knowledge we possess.

So it was for our Savior.

Jesus was a human being, a man.

So he was emotionally tormented by what was to come before he was physically tortured on the day of his death.

Being fully God didn't make it easier on him. It made it harder for him because he was there to fulfill the Word.

That's why he became flesh.

He was responsible for the salvation of our souls, and he was held accountable by our Abba. He would not escape the excruciating pain of his death because it was a crucial part of his story and he knew it.

Jesus literally carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. When he carried the cross,

he carried all of its sin and all of its shame.

Scripture tells us it is by his wounds that we are healed, and the scars that he wears in eternity testify to that.

Our Savior lived a life of great suffering, but ultimately he was able to declare victory, and he wants the same for his children.

He doesn't want us to remain victims of trauma.

He wants us to triumph over trials and tribulations, just as he did. However, in order for us to live a victorious life,

we must be willing to turn to Jesus during our darkest hours and trust him with our deepest pain.

He is the only true path to restoration.

Then our Lord and Savior will take our restored life and turn it into a transformed life.

He will declare a divine purpose for the pain we've endured and reveal the plans he has for our lives that will lead us to victory.

Jeremiah 29, verse 11 NIV For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,

plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I pray that today's message inspires you to turn to Christ for comfort and healing during your times of suffering.

May we all ask the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to help us overcome every battle in our lives just as he overcame the world.

Now I'd like to pray over you,

Jesus. Thank you for choosing the cross when we're hurting. Remind us that you understand you were wounded, yet by your wounds we are healed.

Help us trust you with our pain, knowing you are the God who restores, redeems and resurrects. May you always remind us that the power that raised you from the dead lives in us.

In your most holy name I pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you think this episode can help someone you know, please share it with them until next time. Remember, the Lord can turn your wounds into wings.

You were born to be a butterfly