Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me (Matthew 26:38)
It seems a simple request from friends. My soul is aching and it feels like this anguish may kill me. Stay with me, would you, and keep me company?
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 (Isaiah 53:3)
- In the first quoted verse, we have Jesus facing crucifixion
- In the second verse, we have Jesus described pre-crucifixion
Think now, on timelines. Think ... New Testament real time conversation between the Lord and His disciples, and Old Testament past tense, as though the event had already occurred.
I had to stop and hold my forehead for a moment to comprehend God's majesty. We, are blind, deaf, and dumb, dear reader, because the grasping of the magnitude of meaning in scripture is so astounding, it is near impossible for our simple minds to take hold.
- How is it that Isaiah could depict for us how Jesus would be viewed and treated, despised and rejected of men, long before the appointed time of Christ's incarnation.
- How is it that Isaiah knew the Saviour would be a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.
When Isaiah describes and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not, his pointer finger has us looking in the direction of the deniers.
Dear reader, we have been been told, testified to, shared with, been given witness and warning and yet, and YET, we do what so many have done before us. We deny deity with our thoughts, our words, our deadly deeds. Jesus is right here, right now, and do we see Him, do we hear Him, do we call out to Him, I'm here Jesus, I am aware and awake and ready.
This is Holy Week, and the eyes of the faithful are turned toward Calvary. The ears of followers are attuned to the sorrow of the Saviour that died for our countless sins. We can be guilty of self-absorption, of sleepiness, of wanting to hide our faces from the cross, and looking toward the world instead, but this will not do. We must keep our eyes trained on Him, our ears perked and ready in reception mode to hear from the Redeemer, because He lives.
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