Name Above All Names: Man of Sorrows
Roy Christian Church
March 13, 2016
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3He 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.
4Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Jesus was acquainted well with grief and pain. He had the whole human experience.
So unimpressive and unattractive that people are repelled.
HE is exposed to scorn, rejection, sorrow, grief, and the bitterness of loneliness. He is a man without a blessing.
One who has such an unlikely beginning will accomplish such a glorious mission!
Matthew 14. Death of John the Baptist.
John 11:35. Jesus wept. . Weep. To shed tears.
John 11:38. .
What does it mean to be “deeply moved in spirit and troubled? What does “Jesus wept” really mean? Verse 33 is sort of tricky. Jesus “was deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (NIV). KJV has “He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.” NASB “He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” First descriptor is , which means to be enraged, indignant, to express indignation against someone; agitation of the mind as grief, to be greatly moved or agitated. The other descriptor is , which means to be stirred up, agitated, troubled in the spirit. We have a clear picture that Jesus is worked up, at least.
What is it that makes Jesus so agitated and frustrated? Maybe it is the grief of the fakers. He is seeing those who have had nothing to do with Lazarus completely overcome with many tears and loud wailing. Maybe it is the pain of seeing dearly loved friends so upset. It is not very clear why, but the fact is that Jesus is visibly shaken and troubled.
Then there is John 11:35—the shortest verse (in English). In Greek, it’s actually three words, . “Jesus wept.” That’s really an unfortunate translation. The verb means to shed tears. Jesus is not having the same reaction as the sisters or the Jews from town. They are weeping and wailing. Jesus cries. They are expressing deep, loud grief with crying. Jesus is shedding tears. Because He is compassionate, He is crying with/for His friends who are hurting (that’s what this author is going with, anyway). He cries tears of sympathy and concern.
An article by Justin Deeter, pastor in North Carolina, on the Matthew 14 passage says that
- Jesus Experienced Grief. Jesus lived a fully human existence. He was familiar with the pan and sorrow of life. Most likely, He experienced the death of His earthly father Joseph. He experienced the death of John. He experienced the death of Lazarus.
- Death is a part of life.
- Jesus Responded to Grief.
- Pretty sure that one of the reasons that Jesus was affected was that in John’s execution, He could see His own imminent death. The cross was always ahead for Jesus, casting a long, dark shadow over his life and ministry.
- Jesus tries to find a place where He can be alone with His Father, to be alone in His grief. All He wants is a little personal time and space. And, as His boat reaches the other side of the lake, He is greeted by multitudes expecting Jesus to do something for them. And it seems like it would be totally acceptable for Jesus to say, “Friends, it’s been a long hard day. I‘ve experienced some personal tragedy, and I just need a little time.”
- Our Grief Empowers Us for Ministry.
- Jesus’s own personal pain became the impetus for ministry. Matthew says that Jesus saw them and had compassion on them. In His core, Jesus was moved to help them.
- It was a common experience for Jesus. About eight times in the gospels, we read that Jesus’s heart went out, He had compassion, He was moved in His core for others. He was moved to action—whether it was to teach, to heal, or to feed the people.
- The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus is a high priest who is able to empathize—He has been tempted just as we are. I don’t think that Jesus’s empathy is limited to temptation. In all ways, Jesus experienced life just like we do, and rather than using that pain as an excuse NOT to act, Jesus used it as motivation to act. His darkest days drove Him to reach out to others in service.
- Our own pain and suffering equips us to serve others, because we know how deeply the loss is felt. We know the dark shadows of the valley of pain and death. We don’t want anyone to have to go through it alone.
- We must be careful not to let our pain and sorrow, our suffering, to turn into self-pity.
- “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Cor. 1:3-5, NIV
- Sympathy is to feel WITH someone. To have compassion for someone else. You’re not necessarily making it your own pain. Empathy is to have feelings WITHIN yourself. You understand and feel another person’s feelings for yourself.
“Surely he took up our painand bore our suffering.” He knew pain and suffering. And He has taken up ours. In the great act of compassion and concern, He took on more of what He had already experienced for us. Our greatest pain and grief is our sin. And so, Jesus took the blow for us.
His ministry continues beyond the grave. Death is no defeat. God permitted Him to suffer not out of anger for Him, but out of love for the sinner. He intercedes on behalf of the transgressors, He put himself in their lace and was prepared to absorb the full impact of their punishment. He’s not just praying; he is standing in front of those He loved.
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