Despised and Rejected

Once again I find myself considering Jesus.  I do that quite often as of late.  It might be because of my age, knowing that time is running out for me and I will someday stand in His presence.  No matter what the reason is, two words caught my attention as I was reading Isaiah 53 ... "despised and rejected."

When something catches my interest, I have learned to stop and look around to see what else I might find in the same area.  Moses did that when he came across the burning bush.  He stopped, turned from his path and investigated the situation ... and by doing so ... he found God.

So, I found this question right away in Isaiah 53:1 ... "Who hath believed our report?"

The speaker here is Isaiah, and the sad story is that not much has changed from then to now.  The message we share, our report of the Messiah and Redeemer is often rejected, and in fact, Jesus is despised by some today just as God was when this prophet of old proclaimed his inspired message.

The vision Isaiah had was of the Son of God, brought as a lamb to the slaughter, despised and rejected by men who desperately needed to hear the report that this old prophet portrayed of Him; and it is presented as though he had seen in person all that Jesus would go through.  Isaiah's description of the events coincide with the gospel writers version of that terrible night as Jesus was arrested and put on trial; the next day beaten and then nailed to the cross. 

Isaiah 53:3 ... "He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief ..."

To understand the full impact of Isaiah's words concerning what Jesus went through, I want to examine what is being said here.  Start with "despised."  It's one thing to dislike someone; it's quite another to despise or detest the person, even going to the point of feeling contempt or a deep repugnance for them.  These are strong words that go beyond even extreme dislike, which can lead to the point of hatred.  And so it was with Jesus.  They sought to kill Him.

Albert Barnes, the old American Presbyterian biblical scholar and theologian of the 19th century said this about Jesus being despised ... "The Redeemer was eminently the object of contempt and scorn alike by the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Romans.  In His life on earth it was so; in His death it was still so; and since then, His name and person have been extensively the object of contempt.  Nothing is a more striking fulfillment of this than the conduct of the Jews at the present day.  The very name of Jesus of Nazareth excites contempt; and they join with their fathers who rejected Him in heaping on Him every term indicative of scorn."
   
Despised by the Jewish leaders, Jesus was "rejected" by them, and was treated as the lowest of men.  But it was not by just the Jewish leadership.  The phrase is, "rejected of men" and this expresses His treatment by the masses of people throughout history ... the rich, the great, the learned, every age, rank, and nationality.  Jesus experienced abject degrading contempt and ridicule while He was on earth, and now today, to the world, the name of Jesus is little more than a swear word.  

But Jesus did have His followers.  The disciple who was the closest to Jesus, His young friend John, as he began to write his own story about Jesus said this ...

"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men ... and the world that was made by Him knew Him not.  He came unto His own, and His own received Him not."

Jesus, despised and rejected by all but a few, as Isaiah's prophecy declares, became ...  "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief ..."

As I look at this description of Jesus, it alludes to a man feeling and displaying deep distress or disappointment and sorrow; even anguish over the state of the world that was filled with the grief and pain that sin had produced.

Jesus was "acquainted" with grief ... which properly means to "see, observe and recognize," so as to know grief.  I am not saying that Jesus did not experience grief Himself.  Hebrews 4:15 states that He was tempted or tested in all points, probably more so than we are.

The word "grief" usually refers to a calamity such as a disease or sickness.  The idea is, that He was familiar with sorrow and sickness ... but that He was not sick Himself.  He lived with the sick and diseased all around Him; He knew it in others and became intimately acquainted with grief in all it's forms as He healed and delivered others.

Lastly, I want to look at Isaiah 53:10 ... "It pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief ..." 

In trying to make sense of this verse, God was pleased with the necessary suffering Jesus willingly submitted to on the cross for the redemption of His people.  It was acceptable to God that His Son should be bruised ... weakened, crushed, afflicted, put to pain, anguish and grief in doing so.   

This scripture does not mean that God was involved directly in the bruising of His Son ... only the fact that it was acceptable to Him. 

God so loved us that He sent His own Son ... to be despised and rejected.



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