December 18 - Messiah - Lamentations 1:12

December 18 - Messiah - Lamentations 1:12

Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow.

Handel was a man filled with passions.  Those who were nice describe him as robust, others might have called him corpulent. His passion for food was nothing, though, in comparison with his passion for his music.  One of his servants remarked that as he wrote the music for Messiah, he wept at times, he was so overcome.  However, sometimes his passions erupted in fury. One anecdote is of a time when he was being shaved. A Mr. Brown came to him asking if he would like to see a set of organ concertos composed by a Rev. William Felton. Rather than simply saying, “no,” Handel leaped out of the chair, his face still filled with lather and said, “Damn yourself and go to the devil! A parson compose a concerto! Why doesn't he compose a sermon?”  Mr. Brown saw there were razors in the reach of the enraged man and ran for his life.

Jesus Christ knew sorrow. He wept for Jerusalem.  After the Pharisees instructed him to tell those who were following him to be quiet after they had sung praises to God for everything they had seen him doing, he walked on toward Jerusalem. In Luke 19, he began to weep when he saw the city, saying, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but not it is hidden from your eyes.” He knew that the city would be destroyed an in Luke 19:44b, says, “They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

He wept when he found that his friend Lazarus had died.  Jesus saw Mary, Lazarus’ sister weeping and Scripture says he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled (John 11:33), then we read that he wept.

In Mark 8, Jesus has just finished feeding four thousand people.  The Pharisees confront him and then ask for a sign from heaven.  We read, “He sighed deeply and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.’” (Mark 8:12).  He knew that it didn't matter what signs and miracles he performed. They would never believe and these people would never see God.

Andrew and Philip had come to Jesus to ask if a group of Greeks could speak to him, but Jesus told them that the hour had come in John 12.  It was ever present in his mind, but now it was time to tell his disciples.  In John 12:27, Jesus says, “Now my heart is troubled and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it is for this very reason I came to this hour.  Father, glorify your name!”

Jesus is the one man who actually carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.  He was a man of sorrows and yet … in all things, he reminded us to glorify God’s name.