I’ve been thinking a lot about pain this week –
We use the word a lot –
I’m in pain – I’ve felt that – from a summer where I spent with a pinched nerve in my back that I couldn’t find a comfortable position to sleep in – to labor with my first child – where I begged for the anestesologist from the moment I checked into the hospital
He/she’s a pain – I’ve said that about people in my life – it could be one of my kids that is just being annoying all the way to someone that you interact with frequently that makes your life miserable
I feel your pain – can be used when in a trite way when you’re working out and it’s hard – I hate this – I feel your pain – or in empathy someone if going thru something you’ve been thru – I feel your pain
The world seems to be in a lot of pain
But recently I’ve been thinking about pain as a broken place – one of the 6 broken places that we talk about at Grace – pain is one of them – along with decay and injustice and hatred and separation from God and isolation
Why is it one of our broken places?
what is it? Who’s in it? What effect does it have on the person in it? What effect does it have on the people around them?
What is pain?
a localized or generalized unpleasant bodily sensation or complex of sensations that causes mild to severe physical discomfort and emotional distress
mental or emotional distress or suffering : GRIEF
As I’ve been processing it I realized that pain is the broken place that everyone is in all the time – it is the broken place that every other broken place effects – decay causes pain, injustice causes pain, hatred causes pain, isolation causes pain and separation from God causes great pain – Pain is the broken place that every single human being has, does and will experience – some of us are in severe pain
Crippling physical pain
Chronic physical pain
Illness
Emotional pain
Depression
Anxiety
Grief
Mental pain
Learning disorders
OCD
Relational pain
Divorce
Toxic relationships
Mental, emotional, physical, sexual abuse
Group pain
War
Starvation
Pain is everywhere – in everything – many of us are living with extreme levels of pain
But even those that are not in an extreme situation it is still there
It feels like we all live with a low grade fever of pain all the time
I think that’s why Paul writes in Romans 8
For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Romans 8:22
We are still in that present time – we along with all of creation are groaning in pain
Pain like childbirth – shout out to the ladies who have been there – no mistake why that is the metaphor
We are in pain because the full hope has not yet been revealed
Even those of us that know Jesus – that have the HS we still want a release from the sin and the suffering – a release from the pain
No wonder this is a broken place – we all experience it – we all feel it – every single day
There is pain in our world – pain that God wants to heal – pain that God wants to heal in us – pain that God wants to heal thru us – He is the great healer – and there is great hope in that
But how do we live in this pain – how do you manage day to day – how do we persevere
To begin to discover this let’s turn to Isaiah 52
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In the passage in Isaiah we meet the suffering servant
And the picture of the suffering of our Lord is nowhere more poignantly displayed than in the prophecy of Isaiah, Chapter 52:13-53:12. What is described here is the ideal Sufferer, the Suffering Servant. The prophet himself does not identify him—that identification must await the fullness of time when Christ came and suffered, the just for the unjust. For us who know Christ we can see this as the prediction of His sufferings. This is the primary meaning of the text.
And while it was written centuries before the birth of Christ and the text does not specifically mention the messiah, Christians have seen Jesus Christ as its obvious fulfillment. On several occasions, Jesus made statements that link him to this text:
“For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. Mark 10:45
“This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many”. Mark 14:24
“For I tell you that this which is written must still be fulfilled in me: ‘He was counted with transgressors.’ For that which concerns me had an end”. Luke 22:37
• Matthew, Luke and Paul also link Jesus to this text (Matthew 8:17; 12:17-21; Acts 8:32-33; Romans 15:21).
The passage is divided into five stanzas of three verses each. The first line of each of the sections gives a summary of that section. I’m going to read them in those 5 sections and then kind of summarize each one.
But as I read it I want you to listen to and for the picture of this suffering servant – this our messiah – because we know this – this Jesus – the bearer of our burdens – the holder of our suffering – the healer of our pain
Chapter 52 verse 13
13 See, my servant will prosper;
he will be highly exalted.
14 But many were amazed when they saw him.[a]
His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human,
and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.
15 And he will startle[b] many nations.
Kings will stand speechless in his presence.
For they will see what they had not been told;
they will understand what they had not heard about.[c]
The sufferer will prosper
13 See, my servant will prosper;
he will be highly exalted.
But servant's exaltation is juxtaposed with his suffering, setting the stage for a profound paradox.
His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human,
and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.
(v. 14b). The servant is a singularly unattractive person—hardly the popular choice as “Most likely to succeed.” an outsider from whom no one expects anything”
But God often chooses unlikely people to do his work. The boy, David, is one example. Moses, who lacked eloquent speech, is another. Gideon with his tiny army is another.
Rabbis could point to the Jewish exiles as fitting this description. They were people that were powerless—unimpressive.
In contrast to human experience God reveals in his Servant that suffering is fruitful, that sacrifice is practical. Pain, in service to God, will lead to glory.
This exalted servant is not exempt from pain; in fact, his suffering is integral to his mission.
Chapter 53 verse 1
53 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the LORD revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
2 My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
Nothing special – nothing powerful – the upside down kingdom of jesus – the last shall be first -
And he was
Despised
Rejected
Turned backs and looked the other way
These words illustrate a habit we all share, the habit of letting the sight of suffering blind us to the meaning. We dislike pain and suffering; we turn away from it, forgetting that it has a reason, a future, and a God. We look at things superficially. We make snap judgments about suffering on the surface. Everyday we allow the ugliness of poverty, disease, misfortune, failure, to prevent us for realizing that we share the responsibility for them. We allow suffering in others or ourselves to blind us to the fact of the purposes for suffering and pain. We consider the sufferer an unlucky person who is falling by the way. The truth is that thru suffering we can allow God to remind us of the human predicament we share, to create in ourselves sympathy and patience, and to prepare us for the glory we will eventually share with Him. So it is no surprise that the suffering Servant himself share the suffering of the world to redeem the world.
I’m a 7/3 – really hard
Verse 4
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows[d] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him
the sins of us all.
The passage offers a crucial insight: suffering is not without purpose. The suffering servant bears our pain and carries our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4). He is pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). This pain is not merely an end but a means to a greater end—our healing and redemption.
The purpose of the servant’s suffering is to bring about a profound transformation. Through his wounds, we are healed – Isaiah says this himself in Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
And it’s reiterated in the NT in 1 Peter 2:24
24 He personally carried our sins
in his body on the cross
so that we can be dead to sin
and live for what is right.
By his wounds
you are healed.
He took on the suffering and the sacrifice for us – our pain was his – any parent can understand this vicarious pain – pain you suffer for others
Our sins are forgiven, and our brokenness is mended. The servant’s suffering is redemptive, turning the darkness of pain into the light of hope and restoration.
Verse 7
7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.[e]
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.[f]
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people.
9 He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
He was silent.
He knew what he was about. He had no guilt of his own, and no doubts of God. He knew that is was not punishment he was enduring for himself, but that it was a service he was performing—a service laid on him by God, a service for man’s redemption, a service sure of results that were glorious. If anything will enable a person to accept silently his suffering it is this—the knowledge that the suffering was service to God.
Verse 10
10 But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
The mission has been accomplished and the world is saved because of it.
17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:17
pain is real, but it is not without purpose. The suffering servant shows us that through suffering comes redemption, healing, and hope
He knows our pain.
God sent himself as the Son to understand our pain – to experience our pain and then to carry that pain to the cross
He carried our pain.
He took on our self inflicted pain (our sin) – our circumstantial pain – our others inflicted pain and took it to the cross – he bore it all so that we could be made right and whole and in relationship with Him
He bears our pain.
And I think He continues to bear all of our pain – what ever it is – wherever it comes from – he is interceding for us in our pain
34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Romans 8:34
25 Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save[a] those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. Hebrews 7:25
Our pain was His mission.
To live in it – to understand it and to take it all the way to the cross.
So we are all living in some varying degree of pain – some at a 1 – some at a 10 – How do we live in it?
Let’s look at the whole passage in 1 Peter 2 that I took a verse form earlier
21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered[a] for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
22 He never sinned,
nor ever deceived anyone.[b]
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
who always judges fairly.
24 He personally carried our sins
in his body on the cross
so that we can be dead to sin
and live for what is right.
By his wounds
you are healed.
25 Once you were like sheep
who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd,
the Guardian of your souls.
His mission – his pain – what he endured makes it possible to do what He has called us to do even in our pain
Don’t retaliate
Don’t threaten
It says instead – in our pain we
Do good.
In our pain we experience what Christ experienced.
Our pain draws us closer to Him.
In his pain Jesus had a mission
You have a mission too.
As people see Jesus in your suffering - your suffering will save the world
Is our pain – our suffering integral to our mission?
Our pain is not without purpose.
Or could be said this way
You have purpose in the midst of your pain.
Or
God has a mission for you even in your pain.
I have watched many in my life live with this vision of their pain filled lives.
Examples – the video
God has work for you to do and he is with you in it
we move on – we push thru – we persevere – we continue – we persist – we get up – we pull ourselves up – we love – we pursue
And the Holy Spirit is right there with us
And I know this doesn’t solve the problem – it doesn’t take the pain away – it does not make any of us feel better in this moment or the hard moments to come but we don’t carry it by ourselves.
We have a savior who knows our pain and carries it with us
And we have each other
Like Jesus we carry it for each other. We endure each other’s hardships and brokenness and pain.
Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
And part of being in community is carrying it for each other –(my people)
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. Henri Nouwen
We don’t turn a blind eye to the excurtiating pain around us. We see it and we come alongside it and we help heal it.
Jesus was our suffering servant
He knows our pain – he endured our pain – he bore our pain all the way to the cross. And he cries out on our behalf.
Our pain was His mission.
There was purpose in His pain.
And there is purpose in ours.
Pray