This is part of the worship series,
"Via Doloroso—The Way of Sorrows”
Series Introduction
Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5
Palm Sunday | Easter
First Sunday in Lent
The Via Dolorosa: The Man of Sorrows
Scripture
Text: Isaiah 53:3
Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 35:1–18
New Testament Lesson: 2 Corinthians 7:10–11
Sermon
We opened the series with Philip Yancey’s question in The Jesus I Never Knew: “Does God care about the misery down here, the grief of our lives?” Yancey speaks of human life as a drama in which God, the “unseen Stage Manager,” came out from behind the curtain and got acquainted with grief in person. “In Jesus, God lay down on the dissection table, as it were, stretched out in cruciform posture for the scrutiny of all the skeptics who ever lived.”
That opening led us to an exploration of that famous and ancient title, Man of Sorrows. We dealt first of all with the why of it. Why was Jesus called that? Because he carried our sorrows. Which sorrows? Well, especially our sorrows of regret and remorse for sin.
Woody Allen (“My one regret in life is that I am not someone else”) and Tullulah Bankhead (“The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.”) helped us think about our own regret. We focused on the fact that Jesus both carried the sin that causes our regret and suffered the punishment that such sin inevitably brings on us. His purpose was to erase our regrets, dry our tears, and give us peace at last.
Then we dealt with the next question: If Jesus did that, why do we still have tears of regret? Why can’t we feel the joy of forgiveness purchased by the Man of Sorrows? Here we turned to 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 for the distinction between regret and repentance, between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. We concluded that our tears will not be transformed into tears of rejoicing until we shed tears of repentance and genuinely turn to Christ. A comparison of the tears of Judas (Matt. 27:3) and Peter (Luke 22:60-62) helped to make that contrast more dramatic.
Congregational Prayer
A dual focus on the sins of our lives and the sorrows of the Savior made this prayer both preparatory to the sermon, but also, and more importantly, a pastorally sensitive way to begin our observance of Lent.
Children’s Sermon
Beginning with a little “name game” using the children’s names, we talked about the names of Jesus, focusing on “Man of Sorrows.” Though you want to be careful about inducing false guilt in children, you can help them experience joy for the sorrowful work of our Savior.
Music Suggestions
Gathering
“Lift High the Cross” Kitchin
“Man of Sorrows, What a Name” Bliss
Confession and Assurance
“How Blest Are They Whose Trespass” (Psalm 32) Psalter, 1912
“Not What My Hands Have Done” Bonar
Word
“See, Christ Was Wounded for Our Sake” (Isaiah 53) Foley
“O Lord, Arise” (Psalm 35) Otte
Response
Anthem: “Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee” Brahms (C. F. Peters)
“When Peace Like a River” Spafford
