Acquaintance With Grief

Dear son,

Since your passing many things have taken on added meaning for me. Among these is a passage of scripture contained in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. In this chapter Isaiah is describing the Savior and talking about some of His attributes and characteristics. For example, He describes the Lord's physical appearance as being similar to other men "he hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him" and he speaks of how others will ultimately turn away from Him "He is despised and rejected of men." But then Isaiah becomes very personal and says that our Savior is a "man of sorrows" and that He is "acquainted with grief."

I've pondered at length on this intimate description of the Savior. Although I'd heard these words many times before while growing up in the church, I feel as though they have now taken on added meaning to me. You see, I too feel like a man of sorrows...like I am acquainted with grief. I know full well that my sorrow and my experiences with grief have no comparison to that of our Savior, but I must admit that I feel a kinship to Him that I haven't felt before. I know what it's like to lay awake for an entire night because the pain and heartache are so unending that they won't allow you to rest. I know what it's like to feel as though a part of yourself is missing.

The description given by Isaiah (and later quoted by Abinadi just before his death) are more than just words to me now. They are very poignant and personal. They describe an aspect of our Savior's life that is rarely talked about. But it's true. He was a man of sorrow. He was acquainted with grief. He knew perfectly the heartache and pain that mankind would suffer while on the earth. He knew all of it. Since your passing I've experienced only a small sliver of His sorrow and grief, but the experience has given me a better understanding of the depth of our Savior's character.

With Love,
Your Father