Man of Sorrows

He was a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering… Surely he has bourne our sorrows…Isaiah 53

Did you ever wonder what exactly happened at the Garden of Gethsemane? In Matthew 26 it says “and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death…”” Mark says, “…he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.” Luke says, “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” It seems to me the KJV says he actually sweat drops of blood.

What do you suppose (or what have you commonly thought) he was troubled about? Overwhelmed to the point of death, deeply distressed, in anguish…these are big words. They are deep, core of my being kind of words. My common thoughts (if I ever thought about it) were to do with him anticipating the pain of the cross. Other teachers brought to mind the aspect, the anticipation, of being rejected by his father. But lately I’ve been thinking, and believing something different.

If it was his own pain, and his own rejection that was causing him sorrow, trouble, distress and anguish…it would be the first time in his life that he indulged his own self. I know, that is a sweeping statement, not well researched, but think about it. I don’t think he was feeling sorry for himself and the language used doesn’t indicate he was afraid. Although the sheer weight of it did have him asking if there may be any other way, he never thought of backing out, of saying we weren’t worth it.

Isaiah says ‘he bore our sorrows’. Imagine the amount of sorrow in your own lifetime…now compress that into a span of, say, six hours, then multiply it by, say 10 billion people…now that is overwhelming sorrow…that is deep distress…that is anguish.

We often say that he took all of our sin and guilt and shame. We don’t very often say, or even think about, that he carried all of our sorrows, all of our pain, all of our rejection, all of our dashed hopes.

When we hear that someone is carrying a load of guilt, we are quick to say that they can lay it all down, they don’t need to carry it any longer, because Jesus already handled that on the cross. It is finished.

Do we also, when we see someone lost in their sorrow, or we ourselves are lost in the tragedies of the past, or the fears of the future, say with equal assurance that we can lay our sorrows down, in the Garden of Gethsemane, because ‘surely he has bourne’ them already?

We sing a song (usually with great volume and gusto) that says, “I’m trading my sorrows for the joy of the Lord.” Do we mean it? Are we willing to lay those things down? Sometimes large parts of our identity are wrapped up in the sorrows, the disappointments, the tragedies of our lives. Who would we be without, say, the disapproval of our fathers? (Insert your own personal pain here…) How deep does this go? How much would change if I would truly lay my sorrows at Jesus feet? These are ‘core of my being’ kind of questions…

“He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, release from darkness for the prisoners…. To comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”

Does it sound like a good trade??

Wholeness for broken-ness
Freedom for captivity
Light for darkness
Comfort for mourning
Beauty for ashes
Gladness for mourning
Praise for despair
Abundant life for depression and hopelessness
Love for unlove
Acceptance for rejection
Peace for turmoil
Security for fear

Surely he HAS bourne our sorrows…at Gethsemane.