Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Man of Sorrows
Isaiah 53:1-4
"Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He 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.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a
man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted."
Who has believed? This is a crucial question. Perhaps the only question that really matters. Sometimes when we read the Gospels, we find ourselves asking, "How could it be that seeing Jesus was not believing Him?" It should have been obvious - the miracles, the healings, the luminous teaching. And yet the truth is, most of the first witnesses clearly did not believe. This leaves you and me with Isaiah's ancient and uncomfortable question.
In Chapter 53, the question takes on a disturbing tone. There was nothing desirable about Jesus that would invite us to believe. After showing us the wreck of the Messiah, perhaps Isaiah should have asked "Who could possibly believe?" But thankfully, the prophet provided the answer.
Tucked away in Isaiah's sad description is the only answer you'll ever find to this most important question. The prophet says that the Messiah took up our iniquities, carried our sorrows, was punished for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities.
"Who has believed?" The ones who see the wonders and miracles? No. They will abandon Jesus every time. The only ones who truly believe the message are those who come to realise that it was their infirmities, sorrows, transgressions, iniquities and wounds that were taken up, experienced, and carried by Isaiah's Man of Sorrows.
Jesus was sorrowful because we made Him sorry.
"Who has believed?" The answer: Only those who see that they - we, you, I - made the Man of Sorrows sorry. -Michael Card from "Our Daily Journey"
9:33 PM