Matthew 27.26 - “Man of Sorrows!?”
Matthew 27.26 - “Man of Sorrows!?”
Matthew’s portraits of our Lord Jesus can seem conflicting. How can a King – The King of Kings! – be so afflicted? How can a Friend of Sinners be betrayed and denied by His closest friends? How can the Sovereign God ordain his own savage murder? God – even robed in human flesh - cannot be fully comprehended by pixels, portraits, or plaster. Jesus navigates His final hours with full confidence, through tears; a real man, with woundable feelings. His pains were preparatory. His scars and sorrows qualified Him for Priesthood, “…Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5.7-9).