One could say that this song was actually being written and conceived something like 2,700 years before Matt Crocker and Brooke Ligertwood decided to put some notes together with a set of preexisting words around 2012. Could the prophet Isaiah have realized that he’d put some of the words in play, when he wrote about a “Man of Sorrows” during the days of exile for the Jews from their homeland? He probably had not even heard of a place called Sydney, Australia (see the flag of the state of New South Wales here; Sydney is its capital), and that faith among a monotheistic people could actually take hold there. Who exactly was or is this ‘Man of Sorrows’ anyway? That is a subject that people of faith – Christians and Jews, at least, and probably Muslims, too, and any others who stumble across this name in the scriptures – are still discussing, though Christians are convinced that he’s someone that all of us on the planet should get to know very well. He’s the model for who we aim to be, and actually one could say that this God-Man we worship knew so well what Isaiah had said, and aimed to be the suffering servant – on purpose, not by accident.
Matt and Brooke have some vivid memories of how ‘Man of Sorrows’ came together in a joint songwriting venture one day in Sydney. Matt had already written some of the main chorus for the song that refers to ‘the rugged cross’ which Jesus bore to Calvary and upon which He died, but it was not linked in the same day or even in a few weeks with the remainder of the song. Instead, it was a few months until Matt and Brooke met at her house and scoped out the song’s verses and bridge section. Brooke credits Matt with a gift for crafting melodies, including lots of words that allow stories to be told, like this one that really begins in a piece of ancient text that they both read as they opened their bibles. Isaiah 53:3 was what captured their attention -- He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Reading that was a moment of worship for both of them, which seemed to fit their emotions about what they were trying to saying spiritually, and from there many words flowed to write several verses (they say six or seven initially emerged, though they trimmed the song to four eventually), a testimony about the impact Isaiah still has today. Brooke was so moved that she spontaneously sang the song’s bridge section completely as they sat and pondered the prophet’s poetry. Matt remembers feeling as if God was telling them that the bridge was His unprompted gift to them that He dropped in their laps for their efforts that day. Although he and Brooke hadn’t been trying to write a modern hymn (a worship song with several verses, unlike some 20th/21st Century worship songs that have fewer verses and perhaps a chorus) that day, Matt relates that this was a rare occasion in which the song’s melody and the lyrics inspired by Isaiah just flowed naturally in that direction. Stories that become hymns just connect easily with worshippers, Matt says. Funny how what He has prompted others to say in the bible still means something today, huh?
And, we in the 21st Century are not the only ones who have been staring at scripture to gather its import. A podcast discussion I heard of what Isaiah and his ‘Man of Sorrows’ meant 700 years after he wrote suggests the following: Isaiah did not point forward to Jesus as the fulfillment of what he was saying; instead, Jesus pointed backward to emphasize that He lived His life to show people how to be the suffering servant, in a perfect reflection, of all that Isaiah wrote about. Reimagine that, if you will. How difficult would that have been for Jesus to live out his time on earth – including all the brutality of a death He would need to endure – in order to stamp His identity unmistakably as the Messiah? Matt and Brooke are not textual scholars, and neither are most of us. But, look at the body of evidence. Ask yourself ‘Has anyone else done even a fraction of what Jesus did?’ He was either the most insane and crafty madman in history, with lots of ways to convince others of His time about himself, or He was really who He said He was/is. Why would anyone go willingly to a death like He did for a lie? Matt and Brooke are telling the story in song about this Messiah, the one that seems more rational and accessible to everyone; versus a cynical, ugly hoax that has led and will lead so many of God’s creation to destruction. Which story seems to match up with the personality of Jesus that you see in scripture?
See/hear the song story here (5:24-10:50 of video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHtEX1Eko_A
Hear a discussion of Isaiah 53 here, in a podcast called BEMA: https://www.bemadiscipleship.com/64
See here for information about the image of the New South Wales, Australia flag and its public domain status: File:Flag of New South Wales.svg - Wikimedia Commons -- This image or other work is of Australian origin and is now in the public domain because its term of copyright has expired. According to the Australian Copyright Council (ACC), ACC Information Sheet G023v19 (Duration of copyright) (January 2019). (5:24 start of song story thru end of video.)
