A Man of Sorrows

Sir Joseph Noel Paton (1875)

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hid their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:3 (ESV)

This verse speaks of Jesus Christ and what he endured at the end of His time here on earth.

The rulers and teachers loathed him and plotted to rid their world of Him. These ‘holy’ men shunned Him, brought trumped-up charges against our LORD.

The truth is, Jesus let himself be dealt with like this because he knew it was His Father’s plan. Yes, He was to take the sorrows of each of us upon Himself. He also took on our regrets and our grief. No one else will ever do this for us.

The Pharisees stirred up the people present in Jerusalem to become a mob bent on ridding their people of this ‘infidel.’ 

At the end of His life on earth, people treated Jesus as if he was a pariah, a persona non- grata.

The last phrase, and we esteemed him not, almost breaks my heart. The people of that time did not value Him. I wonder, do we value Jesus today, as we should? Do we value him when we use language that demeans Him? Do we honor Him when we speak unkindly about someone else? Are we honoring Jesus when we carry a tale and maybe embellish it? What about when we have bad thoughts? One day we will hear from God whether we have been disrespectful to God and to His Son.