Man of Sorrows

Basic Info

The Man of Sorrows motif is a devotional image intended to evoke pity. It emphasizes the many wounds on Jesus both from the scourging and the Crucifixion and his essential aloneness. His human friends abandoned him, and there was something about being God-Man that made it impossible that he would be anything other than alone. And maybe there is even something in the idea that at the last, at the moment of death, human beings are inevitably alone.

The name Man of Sorrows comes from one of Isaiah’s prophesies about the Messiah (53:3).

What to Look For

• The severity of the wounds on Jesus (if the wounds of the Crucifixion are absent, it may be an Ecce Homo image)
• The expression on Jesus’ face
• Jesus’ posture
• The expressions and postures of anyone else in the artwork who is looking at Jesus

Questions to Focus a General Interpretation

Which elements of the artwork are designed to suggest the most suffering or evoke the most pity? Notice whether these elements would be as effective with an audience today. 

Questions to Guide a Personal Interpretation

How do you react to this artwork? Do you experience empathy for Jesus’ suffering? Do you want to tell him to get over it? Are you somewhere in between? How do you think your reaction relates to your own upbringing and experiences?

The individualism prevalent in many of the developed nations today is antithetical to the idea that “I” should have to rely on anyone for anything. Thus, the idea that Jesus went through this much suffering to save “me” from sin is often an idea that rugged individuals turn away from. How do you see your own life in dialogue with the Man of Sorrows in this artwork?

Questions to Suggest a Historical Interpretation

The interest in experiencing deep empathy with the extent of Jesus’ suffering varies from place to place and generation to generation. What economic, political, social, or religious factors might influence this practice? Were any of these present in the artist’s time and place?

Where in the world today might people be drawn to empathizing with the suffering of Jesus as it is depicted in this image? Who in the world today might want to avoid meditation on Jesus’ suffering as it is depicted here? What are some of the differences between these groups?