Jesus, Man of Sorrows

Scripture          Read Isaiah 53
Focus Verse     Isaiah 53:3, Matthew 26:38
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief … “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”

Commentary:  We know Jesus more deeply and richly, when we read Isaiah, thanks to his poetic and transcendent sketch of the nameless suffering servant that he calls "Man of Sorrows."  The Hebrew word, translated sorrow, is mak'ob, meaning anguished or afflicted.  In other versions, it is also translated suffering or pains.  

Isaiah’s original audience, likely living in exile in Babylon, heard about the messiah as the one who carried, metaphorically, Israel’s suffering ... their suffering, the "suffering servant."  In a society that avoids pain at all costs, Jesus can be hard to understand because rather than run from suffering, sorrow and pain, he moved toward it, entered into it, in order to redeem it. In the garden of Gethsemane, we glimpse the mental anguish Jesus experienced as he contemplated his own suffering. 

Reflection: How have you experienced pain and sorrow in your Christian journey?  How has God redeemed your pain and sorrow through Jesus?

Prayer Breathing in … Jesus, Man of Sorrows
Prayer Breathing out … I share your pain

If music is a spiritual pathway for you, we reach the darkest point in our advent journey through the names of Jesus to Christmas Eve and our Emmanuel "God with us."  Listen to "Man of Sorrows," sung by Joelle Perez, David Quimba, Mark Rasmussen, via YouTube video.   Advent has traditionally been a time of preparation, penitence and reflection before the joy of Christmas eve ... and here we are. Let it immerse you for one day in the humanity of Jesus through his suffering.