These are two of the most feared words, even evils; and yet both are used in the same sentence to describe the agony that the Lord Jesus Christ would face and indeed experienced in his time.
But before continuing, let us read together this portion of the prophetic text to which we are referring:
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
We could paraphrase the point on which we want to focus our attention in these terms: The griefs which were due to us, he bore, the sorrows which were destined for us, carried. To bear our transgressions, he was wounded; to cleanse us from our iniquities, he was bruised; in order to procure us peace, he took upon himself our chastisement; in order to give us healing, he agreed to bear our stripes… What a substitutionary work of redemption!!!
Quite often, we summarize the sufferings of Christ in the two major trials he experienced at the beginning (with the temptation in the desert) and at the end (the prayer in the garden of Gethsemane) of his ministry; for the rest we more or less often agree with the Pharisees who believed that Jesus had a quiet life, “eating and drinking”… But this text announces the permanent (not episodic) suffering of Christ by using the expressions “man of sorrows” and “acquainted with grief” Moreover, their juxtaposition sounds like a repetition serving to emphasize the content and continuity (without interruption) of his agony. And as to definitively establish our understanding, the author of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us that (along his mission), the Lord “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
All of this suggests at least two very important lessons to remember:
- Faced with the ordeal, let us remember that Christ, in human conditions identical to ours, certainly did not sin, but above all was able to feel the same level of agony that we are experiencing at this precise moment and therefore will know well High Priest intercede on our behalf with the Father so that he may act at the proper time;
- Let us remember that Christ, by making himself “Man of sorrows and accustomed to suffering”, wanted to offer us a model to refer to at the height of the storm. Because if it is established that our pain will never reach the same magnitude as his (his being absolutely extreme), if it is obvious that it will never have the same vocation as his, (because his was redemptive, while ours is formative, to shape us), we can however be encouraged by remaining persevering like our Master who acquired through the cross, the faith which we need to go to the end, without ever sinning.
To the Lord Jesus Christ, help me, help me, of Grace. I ardently desire to follow Your divine model, patiently bearing the pain of trial without ever again insulting Your Holy Name. Please, I beg You oh gracious God!!!
Amen!!!
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