Isaiah 53:3 says, “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” This verse is often a prophecy about Christ’s suffering regarding being flogged and crucified. However, the prophet Isaiah uses an interesting choice of words in saying He was “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” The Hebrew word for acquainted is yada, which means to know. It does not mean knowing in an intellectual exercise of the brain where a person knows information but understanding in an intimate way of clear understanding and empathy. Christ’s empathy, His ability to truly understand and share the feelings of others, is a profound source of connection and understanding for us. Therapists and counselors have a play on words to define intimacy as “into me you see.” To have intimacy is to be seen in the moment of what is happening. So what does it mean then for Christ to know grief intimately?
In his commentary on Isaiah, Cyril of Alexandria, a 3rd-4th century theologian, said, “One of the holy Evangelists said that when our Lord’s time of suffering drew near, he began to weep and grew sad. Yet by nature he was the only-begotten Word of the Father, being immune from sufferings and grief and the like. Nevertheless, he accommodated himself to our nature and showed himself empty of all [his divine qualities] in the face of the anxiety of the threatening onslaught of his trials. Through all these trials he declared himself to be similar to us, so that he emerges not (as some are fond of saying) as a shadow or specter seen on the earth but as a real human being.” Christ, being fully divine, did not cancel out His fullness of being human. Therefore, Christ had a relationship with our suffering through His incarnation and taking the flesh of man. This reassures us of the realness of Christ’s humanity, providing comfort and a sense of relatability. There is a paradox in how Christ saves us through His suffering; He doesn’t save us from suffering but through it.
Christ Himself experienced suffering not just in the physical sense and not just during the last week before being crucified. Mark 3:1–4 (NKJV) says, “1 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” 4 Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent.” We see Christ’s response to the hardness of the heart as Mark 3:5 (NKJV) says, “5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.” We see throughout the gospels that Christ experienced grief. John 11:32–33 (NKJV) says, “32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.” A few verses later, John recorded that Jesus wept. The irony in John’s gospel is that his writing is more geared toward the divinity of Christ; hence, the introduction speaks about beginnings and draws a parallel to the beginning of Genesis. He even wept over the city as a whole; Luke 19:41 (NKJV) says, “41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it.”
Christ also suffered in His love for the people He ministered to. Many verses speak about how He had compassion on a person or crowd of people. Compassion comes from the two Latin words that mean to suffer with. So, in Christ having compassion, He suffered with them because shared sorrow is endurable sorrow.
The depth of Christ’s understanding of human suffering and His willingness to embrace it through His incarnation brings comfort and relatability to those who experience pain. His ability to empathize intimately with the grief and suffering of others, as demonstrated in the Scriptures, is a powerful source of connection and hope for those enduring hardships. Furthermore, Christ’s demonstration of compassion through suffering with those He ministered to highlights the enduring nature of shared sorrow. Ultimately, the paradox of Christ saving us through His suffering rather than from suffering serves as a poignant reminder of the redemptive power of the relationship with Him and fellow humans.
The Bald Counselor 