Thoughts on Isaiah 53

We read Isaiah 53 yesterday in the Transformation Journal, the most often quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament writings. Here are some of my personal reflections.

It’s hard to make any observations about this text beyond, “this is really where it’s at.” 53 really captures the heart of the Gospel… By his wounds, we are healed… He has born the sin for us all… He has been crushed and stricken for us… Though we did not receive him… recognize him… worship him as we should… he’s paid the price…

I wonder where verse 3 needs to speak to me in my life right now. “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

It’s interesting to see Jesus as a, “man of sorrows.” It challenges me to read this passage not as a prophetic word against the first century Jewish establishment, but a crucial confronting in my own life, and my tendency to “miss” Jesus in my life everyday. It’s a reminder to me that the presence, power, and purpose of God is always at work, every moment of every day, and yet there are so many moments when I, “esteem him not.” What does it mean for me to recognize the “man of sorrows” in my life? If the face of Jesus is truly marked by his tears, then why do I often miss my calling to share those tears?

For what or whom would Jesus want me to weep this day?

For what or whom would Jesus want me to work for this day?

For what or whom would Jesus want me to pray for this day?

When I unite my heart with suffering, when my heart breaks with God’s heart, and when tears come to my eyes because of the injustice in our world [and while we are so apt to understand injustice in the world in the social sense, can we not also greatly emphasis the injustice of personal sin which is form a slavery just as powerful as poverty or physical disease?], I’m getting a clearer picture of the man of sorrows who bears the heavy weight of the world’s brokenness and sin.

Categories: Transformation Journey