Man of Sorrows
Matthew 26:2 – 28:20
This has always been the hardest part of the gospel for me to read, especially after watching The Passion of the Christ. Even as a child though, I remember sitting in our living room at Easter time, listening with my family to the Easter sections of Handel’s Messiah, and sobbing, unable to comprehend why anyone would do such things to my kind Jesus. Even now, with my older, intellectual understanding of why the authorities felt threatened by Jesus and why things had to happen the way they did so that we could be saved, I still find that the title, “Man of Sorrows, familiar with suffering” (Isaiah 53:3) brings tears to my eyes.
His closest friends first slept, and then deserted Him in His time of direst need. How could they do such a thing? And yet, how many times have I deserted Him to take the easy way? How many times has He asked me to stand by someone in their time of grief and I have drifted away, uncomfortable and valuing my own ease above the sorrow of another? Yet in my time of greatest need Jesus saw me, loved me, and walked the road to Calvary for me, enduring unimaginable physical pain and incomprehensible separation from His Father for me, one He knew would not love Him with her whole heart or serve Him with her whole being. Why? Perhaps the best way to reflect on these chapters is through a series of other scriptures. They express it better than I ever could. Many come from the libretto of the Messiah.
This has always been the hardest part of the gospel for me to read, especially after watching The Passion of the Christ. Even as a child though, I remember sitting in our living room at Easter time, listening with my family to the Easter sections of Handel’s Messiah, and sobbing, unable to comprehend why anyone would do such things to my kind Jesus. Even now, with my older, intellectual understanding of why the authorities felt threatened by Jesus and why things had to happen the way they did so that we could be saved, I still find that the title, “Man of Sorrows, familiar with suffering” (Isaiah 53:3) brings tears to my eyes.
His closest friends first slept, and then deserted Him in His time of direst need. How could they do such a thing? And yet, how many times have I deserted Him to take the easy way? How many times has He asked me to stand by someone in their time of grief and I have drifted away, uncomfortable and valuing my own ease above the sorrow of another? Yet in my time of greatest need Jesus saw me, loved me, and walked the road to Calvary for me, enduring unimaginable physical pain and incomprehensible separation from His Father for me, one He knew would not love Him with her whole heart or serve Him with her whole being. Why? Perhaps the best way to reflect on these chapters is through a series of other scriptures. They express it better than I ever could. Many come from the libretto of the Messiah.
posted by Erin at 2:44 PM
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