In Episode 106 of The Thinklings Podcast, Dr. Tim Little discusses the example of the Servant (a prophetic portrayal of Jesus) in Isaiah 50. I was greatly encouragement by Dr. Little’s breakdown not only of Jesus’ suffering, relatable especially to those of us with chronic illness, but also of God’s help that sustained Jesus, available to us as well.
With his permission, I’m sharing this encouragement with you: even as we share in Jesus’ suffering, we can also share in the help that sustained Jesus.
The Suffering Servant
Let’s look at the first portion of the text:
The LORD God has given Me
Isaiah 50:4-6
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
The LORD God has opened My ear;
And I was not rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
The first two verses demonstrate the Servant’s (Jesus’) obedience and willingness to fulfill His role in service to God the Father. The third verse details some of the suffering He experienced during His trial and crucifixion.
I’m going to divide this discussion and Dr. Little’s commentary into three main points.
1. Jesus suffered physically.
(For additional discussion of Jesus’ suffering, see Chronic Illness and the Sufferings of Christ.)
Read verse 6 again:
I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
Then let’s visit another of Isaiah’s Servant Songs in chapter 53:
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
. . .For He was cut off from the land of the living;
Isaiah 53:4-10
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
. . .
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
Though Dr. Little didn’t go into detail with Jesus’ suffering, it heartened me to be reminded that Jesus knows what it’s like to suffer physically.
Sure, He may not have had a chronic illness, and we certainly aren’t suffering for the sins of the world, but He knows what it’s like to feel pain (excruciating pain). To be exhausted to the point of collapse. To battle a weak, human body.
As Hebrews 4:15 promises us,
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
The word “sympathize” (sympatheō) here means “to be affected with the same feeling as another, to sympathise with; to feel for, have compassion on.”
The word “weaknesses” (astheneia) means “[lack] of strength, weakness, infirmity”; the body’s “native weakness and frailty, feebleness of health or sickness”; “to bear trials and troubles” in the soul. (This word describes the physical maladies of many individuals throughout the gospels and epistles and is the same word used for both “weakness” and “infirmities” in 2 Corinthians 12:9.)
(See The Unlimited Became Limited: A Christmas Meditation.)
So next time you’re having a bad day, or fighting through a flare, take heart–and imagine Jesus whispering to you–that He knows how you feel.
2. Jesus suffered unjustly.
As Dr. Little points out on the podcast, Jesus “is an example of going through a trial NOT because of something done wrong.”
Second Corinthians 5:21 affirms,
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Peter follows up in his epistle,
But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
1 Peter 2:20-22
“Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth.”
Jesus did nothing wrong. Ever. In His existence before coming to earth and in His physical life while on our earth.
Peter likens Him to the spotless, pure lamb sacrificed on the Passover, telling us were are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:19).
Jesus had no blemish, no spot of sin upon Him.
Yet He suffered more than most humans will ever experience.
Is this fair? No.
Was it God’s plan? Yes. (Peter goes on to write that Jesus “indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world” [1 Pet. 1:20].)
Those of us with chronic illness also experience a form of unjust suffering. Yes, we’re sinners, but more often than not our physical suffering is simply an unfortunate result of the Fall on our world and our bodies, not a direct result of our actions. (See Lessons from Job: Why Do We Suffer?)
It’s easy to complain and to shake a fist against God and to ask the great “why?”, especially on the bad days. But the next time you’re tempted, remember–and imagine Jesus taking your hand as He quietly tells you–that He suffered unjustly too.
3. Jesus suffered willingly.
Let’s go back to Isaiah 50:
The LORD God has opened My ear;
Isaiah 50:5-6
And I was not rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
Match this with what the writer of Hebrews says about Christ:
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
Hebrews 10:5-7
“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’ ”
These verses include a direct quote of Psalm 40:6-8, which ends with the powerful words,
“I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.”
(Jesus didn’t just do God’s will; He delighted to do God’s will. Even if it was unpleasant in the moment, He found transcending, supreme joy in surrender to God’s plan.)
Finally, let’s go back to the next verse in that 1 Peter passage:
Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.
1 Peter 1:23
Jesus had every opportunity to resist the suffering He went through. For crying out loud, He was the Son of God–as He told Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, after Peter attacked one of the men trying to arrest Jesus,
“Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”
Matthew 26:52-54
Jesus gave us the ultimate example not only of suffering unjustly but also of suffering willingly–of surrendering Himself to His Father’s plan, of yielding His own desires to God’s (remember that “Not my will, but Yours, be done” prayer from Luke 22?). Of obeying what God had sent Him to do.
I appreciated Dr. Little’s commentary: “Christ still has human desires and has to order them properly and obey the correct ones. . . . There’s nothing that feels good about any of this, but it’s right, and to not go through it would be rebellion.”
Jesus had the option to rebel, but then He would have sinned, and God’s plan would have been broken, and we would be left without a Savior. Aren’t you thankful He voluntarily accepted the suffering God had ordained for Him in order to bring about our salvation?
Remember these passages the next time you’re struggling to carry out God’s call because it’s hard–whether it’s participating in a ministry, going to work, or simply getting out of bed. Take heart in Jesus’ example–and imagine Him putting His arm around you as He gently says–that if He could submit to God’s plan, you can too.
Yet what allowed Jesus to surrender Himself to such agonizing hardship–to death itself? What was His “secret”?
Come back in two weeks as we look at the second identity of Jesus from Isaiah’s Servant Song: the Sustained Servant.
Do you see Jesus as your High Priest who understands what you face and how you feel–who can sympathize with you? Have you thanked Him for His suffering that bought your salvation? How can you find strength and encouragement in His example on your hard days?
The Valley 