He Has Borne our Griefs
Isaiah 53:1-6
1. Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2. For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3. 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. 4. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
These words were written 700 years before the birth of Jesus. I urge you to read the remaining 6 verses of this chapter. I get actual chills every time I read this chapter. I’m sure I’ve shared before that Isaiah is one of my favorite books of the bible, and I have read through it countless times. Parts of this chapter are quoted not only by Christ himself but my many of the New Testament writers. This is probably one of the most prophetic statements in the entire bible. It somehow seems appropriate during Advent to share the words of one who faithfully waited his entire life for the Messiah and never lost the hope that He would one day come.
I don’t think too many of the New Testament books really emphasize the lonely, sad life Jesus lived. “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” We focus, of course, upon the crucifixion, but not so much on what it must have felt like to be Jesus. Just because he obediently accepted his life, doesn’t mean it was happy. He didn’t live in fear, but surely he was sad, frustrated, disappointed, and deeply grieved at times. He was adored and sought after by throngs of people, but even his closest friends didn’t really “get him.” There was no one in his life with whom he could exchange knowing glances or share a wry smile. No one to bounce ideas off of, or to “vent” his frustration and get it out of his system.
Well, of course, he had God. But I wonder sometimes if, being human, he didn’t rail at God as we do. Surely he cried out, screamed and cried, begged and beseeched His Father, as any one of us would. That’s not to say he didn’t also lift prayers of thanks and praise and love as well. We don’t hear too much about the “human Jesus” because the intent of the bible is to convince us of his divinity! But there are glimpses here and there if we hunt for them. That’s the Jesus that I long to know. If we are to “be like Christ” we need to know who he was as a man!
I’ve often wondered how it would feel to look at someone with love and care, only to have them turn away or to cast their gaze downward. I don’t think people did that because Jesus was disfigured or unattractive, as some may contend. I think it was because they saw their own sin in his gaze. They looked at him and realized he knew the deepest, darkest, most sinful part of their being. That was too much to see reflected back. How alone he must have felt sometimes. How burdened. And yet, he knew from the moment of his birth God’s purpose for his life. Though he endured a tortuous end to his life as a man, he had the satisfaction of knowing he had accomplished that for which he had been born. Isn’t that what each of us desires? To know the mind of God and to do what He made us to accomplish? This Advent, I am spending more time “waiting” on God. I am sitting in silence, sometimes praying, sometimes, humming a hymn or calling to mind a bible verse. And if “the world” invades my thoughts I cast it out.
I hope during this Advent season, this time of waiting for Christmas, you will spend time in silence and wait on God. He longs to reveal his truths to us, if we’ll only sit still long enough to hear him!
Mary
