The Bread of Tears: Jesus Bears Our Griefs and Carries Away Our Sorrows
The Bread of Tears: Jesus Bears Our Griefs and Carries Away Our Sorrows.
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we thought that he was diseased as if by leprosy, struck down by God, afflicted as a punishment from God that he brought it on himself, a punishment for his own sins! (Isaiah 53:4).
Diseased and Afflicted. This dramatic passage in Isaiah has been called the heart of the Suffering Servant prophecy in Isaiah 52-53. In early rabbinic tradition, it was considered clearly messianic. The Suffering Servant prophecy was thought to be a picture of the coming messiah, the “leper scholar,” the Afflicted One, who would serve as the people’s willing substitute as he took upon himself the consequences of mankind’s sin. In ancient Jewish thinking, the totally innocent Servant would suffer in the place of completely guilty mankind. The Servant would take upon himself the suffering that was so richly deserved by people, the innocent one taking the place of the guilty ones.
The Substitute. The various translations put this passage a little differently, but they still reflect the main idea: He has taken upon himself our suffering and carried away our sorrows; he has lifted up our diseases unto himself and carried away our deep distress; he has endured our weaknesses and bore our pains; it was our infirmities he bore, and our deep sorrows which he himself suffered for us; he took up our pain and endured our suffering.
The Messiah Who Heals. The disciple Matthew knew right from the start of his time with Christ that He was a healer, and that he was convinced that Jesus’ healing ministry was proof that He was the long-awaited Messiah. ““Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and preaching the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. News about Jesus spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed – he healed them all.” (Matthew 4:23-24). “When evening came, many people held in the power of demons were brought to Jesus. He cast out every evil spirit with a word and He healed all who were ill. This was done to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, ‘He Himself took our sicknesses and He carried away our diseases.” (Matt. 8:17). Matthew astutely believed that Christ’s healings were the physical signs of what He accomplished at the spiritual level. Jesus’ healing ministry fleshed out the prophesied role of the Messiah as Redeemer of humankind, physical healings that pointed directly to Christ’s messianic healing of our sin-sickness of the heart. Isaiah may have been mainly thinking of the spiritual in his Suffering Servant prophecy, but Matthew expanded that to include the physical as well. Apparently, in Matthew’s eyes, what happened at the physical level with Jesus was a profound picture of what Jesus was doing at the spiritual level.
“John’s two disciples found Jesus and said to him, ‘John the Baptist sent us to ask. Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’ At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind. Then he told John’s disciples, ‘Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard – the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” (Luke 7:20-22).
Solid Proof. As Jesus says here to the Baptist’s disciples, Scripture stated clearly that miraculous healings would be a sign of the Messianic Age, vivid pictures of the New Kingdom. Isaiah in particular seemed to have a one-track mind when it came to messianic healings… Isaiah 26:19: ‘Those who die will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!” Isaiah 29:18-19: “In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness. The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord. The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah 35:5-6: “And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!” Isaiah 61:1-2a: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” So through His healings, Jesus confirmed that He indeed is the long-awaited Messiah. The healings authenticate His role as the anointed Suffering Servant of God. Jesus claims to be the Messiah. His healings prove it.
Tears of Grief into Tears of Joy. Jesus has the divine ability to take upon Himself our tears of grief in order to carry away our sorrow. God is in the business of turning our distress into joy, our grief into laughter. According to Isaiah, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon Jesus to “comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” (Is. 61:3). The tears of sorrow and brokenness are temporary, even for those who are trapped in daily distress. For God yearns to redeem our brokenness eventually for good, to the point of wiping away every tear from our eyes in the next life in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 7:17). For at that time, “He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from every face.” (Is. 25:8).