A Man of Many Sorrows

From the Desk of Pastor Verna

^“21From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”--- NRSV,  Matthew 16:21 

This year our Lenten journey continues throughout the entire month of March.  Each day we get closer to Christ’s passion and the events that unfolded surrounding is final days on earth.  According to the gospels, Jesus foretold his suffering three times.  Yet his disciples did not understand what he was saying, because it was in complete contrast to Jewish expectation.  They expected the Jewish Messiah to be modeled after King David and as a military leader would succeed in ending the Roman oppression and rule over a new Jewish state.  Dying on a cross would be a shameful end to their hopes and dreams. 
 

Paul explains why the Son of Man was willing to become a man of sorrows for our sake:
“though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” --- NRSV, Philippians 2:6-8 

Jesus knew his fate and had to face it on his own.  Only he, who was both fully divine and human, would be able to save us from our sin and show us a new way of living, following his example of love and sacrifice. Below is a portion of a sermon given by Dr. James Allan Francis in 1926, which points out that, as improbable as it may seem, this one solitary life would forever change this world.  

One Solitary Life

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.