He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. – Isaiah 53:3, 5
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; – 1 Corinthians 6:19
I find the humility of Christ reassuring. He came not proud and beautiful, but a lowly carpenter, a day laborer, homeless and possibly homely. He wandered into the lives of sinners, of beggars and lepers, of the lame and the demon possessed.
I recognize His sacrifice, although it breaks my heart. His wounds, His shed blood, and His stripes He bore to reconcile me, reconcile us to God. And the thought of this is breathtaking.
But there is also a challenge in these verses. The challenge of Christ comes at the beginning of Isaiah 53:3 “A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”. The challenge is in knowing sorrow.
Knowing sorrow does not mean in a selfish, wallowing, self serving way. Rather it means to understand grief. It reaches into the hearts of the bereft, embraces the ostracized and champions the disenfranchised. It is concern for the fearful, and kindness toward the wrathful.
Jesus knew sorrow. He lived in it and loved through it. He forgave because of it. And He challenges us to do the same. We do not belong to ourselves. As we see in 1 Corinthians 6:19, we belong to the Holy Spirit. Our very bodies are His temple. And a temple isn’t a safe. We are not called to remain safe and insulated from sick and weary souls. We are called to be the manifestation of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Our manifestation of the Holy Spirit belongs to each other, to all others. To friends of God and blasphemers of the Holy Spirit. To the pious and the lustful. To the power hungry despot and the down and out junkie. To the sick and to the strong. Our manifestation belongs most to the most evil among us. Our sorrow is best used when it is used for the most broken.
Sorrow is the cornerstone of which empathy is built, just as Christ is the cornerstone in which we are to build our lives. Sorrow is the heartbreak and the love for all. Sorrow is the example of Christ and the challenge to our hearts.
Written by Janet Keefe
