I’d like to apologise for my absence of a Sunday Thoughts column next year. I was on holiday the week before, and I ran out of time to prior- read everything. I also could n’t get into a writing groove when I came back from the beach, so I never got anything written.
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In the Bible, there are many brands and attributes for Jesus, but” Man of Sorrows” is one that has always fascinated me. The phrase gets its start in the well-known Suffering Maid passing from Isaiah 53:
We applauded him not because he was disliked and rejected by people, a person who struggles and is well-known for grief, and because of this, he was despised by other people. Certainly he has borne our sorrows and carried our grief, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our mistakes, he was crushed for our sins, upon him was the punishment that brought us peace, and with his sores we are healed.
Isaiah 53: 3- 5 ( ESV )
The concept of Jesus as the Person of Grief may be unusual in our Holy culture, but it’s something we need to take into account when we think about the Son of God.
Jesus ‘ compassion for us is a key component of His society:
Have this head among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count fairness with God a point to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human shape, he humbled himself by disobeying death, perhaps dying on a bridge.
Philippians 2: 5- 8 ( ESV )
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As James Smith and Robert Lee point out in their comprehensive remark,” Handfuls on Purpose: For Christian Workers and Bible Kids,” Jesus ‘ struggling as fully man yet fully God continued throughout his career.
” The disagreement that He suffered at the hands of sins against Himself was likewise unique”, they write, adding later,” The popular pity bestowed on regular, suffering beings was denied Him”.
Smith and Lee quote Isaiah’s Suffering Servant,” For our sinful men, He could not refrain from bearing our griefs and miseries because He was so intensely loved and sympathetic to us that He could hardly refrain from bearing our sorrows and grief.” Jehovah was pleased to drop” the sin of us all” (v. 6 ) in this utterly dedicated One. He poured out His divine, melancholy heart to us (v. 12 ), and it was for us.
Remembering Jesus as the” Man of Sorrows” also aids in recognizing that He shares our interests, giving us confidence to approach Him with our concerns:
Since then we have a wonderful high priest who has passed through the skies, Jesus, the Son of God, let us keep quick our statement. We do not have a high priest who ca n’t understand our shortcomings, but one who has been tempted just like we are, yet without sin. So that we may receive forgiveness and find joy in times of want, let us draw near with confidence to the king of joy.
Hebrews 4: 14- 16 ( ESV )
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A recent email from Betterman ( sorry, there’s no link to it ) discussed Botticelli’s painting” The Man of Sorrows”, which is the featured image for this article. After describing the painting in interesting details, the devotion’s writer writes ( with emphasis in the initial ):
Do you have pain that needs to be cured? Does your partner experience this kind of pain or sadness? Often it may seem like no one is watching over you in this world. It might seem as though no one you understand your pain or how you are feeling. But taking heart now. King Jesus is aware of you.  , We do n’t have a high priest who is “unable to sympathize with our weaknesses…” ( Heb. 4: 15 ). He is a person of grief. He is your physician. He is the Great Physician.
Knowing that Jesus shares your grief, regardless of whether it is temporary or long-term, is a certain ease. Take comfort in Him now and sleep in Him.
