“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isa 53:3
Too many people delegate this verse to the suffering of Jesus during His betrayal and crucifixion - completely bypassing the thought that this was the summary of His entire earthly ministry.
He was hated by the religious freaks. His teachings stole their righteousness and authority from among the simple people. Sinners were consistently challenged by His insight into their souls and they turned away in droves as He challenged them time and time again.
The crowds hated hearing His more meatier teaching such as devouring His flesh and drinking His blood. Yet they failed in their understanding that He was using this as a litmus test to separate His true followers from those simply curious at the guy who did some pretty whacked out things.
His entry into Jerusalem as a King riding on a donkey, cheered on by vast crowds, was followed up seven days later by many of the same people shouting, “crucify Him!”. He experienced bipolar humanity during every breath of His ministry.
Yet I believe His sorrows and His acquaintance with grief was more than just all the above. Here we have God incarnated. The Spirit in an earthly vessel experiencing what you and I go through. Many times, Scripture records that He was moved by our predicament…
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Mat 9:36
“When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” Mat 14:14
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” Mat 15:32
“And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Luke 7:13
When His close friend Lazarus died, Jesus traveled to the region. Even though He had taught that He would be glorified through the event, when He was confronted by the mourning of humanity, He wept.
He was deeply moved in His Spirit twice by this event. Sorrow and grief hit Jesus like a tsunami as He absorbed human death and mourning. As creator God, He never designed mankind to deal with death. And yet here He was in the midst of it. And God cried.
It’s my firm belief that as we walk closer with God, we will be overcome by the same mindset of Jesus. When we encounter sin and death and the depravity of mankind, we too will be overcome by sorrow and grief. We will have a heightened sensitivity to the effects of sin all around us.
If we are not in this space right now, we need to re-evaluate where we stand in our faith for Scripture says that we have “the mind of Christ”. If Jesus was so acquainted with sorrow and grief in His experience of mankind, is it abnormal to ask that we also should also have the same mindset?
As followers of Jesus, we will be ridiculed for our beliefs. Adding to this, our souls will bleed with the sorrow and grief we encounter as Jesus makes us sensitive as He is to the fall of mankind. But..
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Thank You Jesus.
What you have said