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Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs

Tired arms open the lesson, then Isaiah pitches a Messiah no movie studio would buy, and it turns out He carries the stuff nobody sees

  • 🔥 Youth 14–15
  • Week 41
  • 📅 Sunday, October 11, 2026
🤔 Forehead Guess🏆 Showdown
💡 The big idea

Jesus Christ carried my sins and also my griefs and sorrows, even the ones nobody sees, so I never have to carry them alone, and I can help carry other people’s.

I can take my hidden griefs to Jesus Christ and stop looking away when someone else is struggling.

Study it yourself firstRead Isaiah 50–57 in Gospel LibraryCome, Follow Me manualOpen this week (Isaiah 50–57)
Know the chapters

Isaiah 53 may be the clearest picture of the Savior’s Atonement in the Old Testament. It was written about seven hundred years before His birth. It doesn’t describe the Messiah many people expected. He has no royal glamour, in verse 2. He’s “despised and rejected,” “a man of sorrows,” in verse 3. He’s silent before His accusers, in verse 7, and counted with criminals, in verse 12. Yet He “hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows,” and “with his stripes we are healed.” That’s verses 4–5. The prophet Abinadi quoted this whole chapter to King Noah’s priests, in Mosiah 14. He explained that it’s about Jesus Christ, in Mosiah 15. Philip taught the Ethiopian treasurer from this same chapter, in Acts 8:32–35.

Notice that verse 4 is about griefs and sorrows, not only sins. Alma taught that the Savior would take on our pains, sicknesses and infirmities so He’d know how to help us, in Alma 7:11–12. For teens that matters a lot. Much of what they carry isn’t sin at all. It’s anxiety, loneliness, a family situation, a friendship that fell apart, feeling left out, grief. The Savior carried those too.

The rest of the block is full of hope. The Lord’s servant “set my face like a flint” under abuse, in 50:7. The Lord’s kindness won’t leave even if the mountains do, in 54:10. He asks why we spend money “for that which is not bread” and work for what doesn’t satisfy, in 55:2. That’s an easy bridge to endless scrolling. And He insists that no outsider who holds to His covenant should ever say, “The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people.” That’s 56:3–7.

One honest line from verse 3 does a lot of work with this age: “we hid as it were our faces from him.” People looked away from the Savior. Teens look away from struggling classmates all the time, usually from awkwardness, not cruelty. This lesson invites them not to. The For the Strength of Youth section “Jesus Christ brings joy” says it’s normal to feel sad or anxious sometimes. When those feelings don’t lift, help from a parent, leader or trusted professional is a blessing from Heavenly Father. If anything a youth shares suggests they or a friend may be unsafe, follow up privately after class. Involve parents and the bishop.

Only have 5 minutes?

Read Isaiah 53 once, slowly. Open with the Arm Test, where partners help hold up tired arms. Tell Isaiah 53 as a pitch no movie studio would buy. A youth leads the pronoun swap on Isaiah 53:4–5, and the Don’t Look Away questions do the rest. Close with a short testimony that He carried what you couldn’t. Brought nothing? Tap “I brought nothing.” The Arm Test uses empty arms.

What to bring2 items

Tick what you have. Forgot something? Every step that needs a supply has a no-supplies version in the plan below.

Before class

  1. Text a youth on Saturday: “Will you lead a three-minute part of class on Isaiah 53:4–5? Read it with ‘I’ and ‘my’ instead of ‘we’ and ‘our,’ and see how it feels.”
  2. Read Isaiah 53 in one sitting, then Mosiah 15:1–12 or Alma 7:11–12. Think of a time the Savior helped you carry something that wasn’t a sin. Maybe a grief, a fear or loneliness.
  3. Decide ahead how you’ll respond if someone mentions self-harm. Thank them. Say that telling a trusted adult is exactly right. Follow up privately after class.

If your class is wild

  • The Arm Test gets giggly. Let it. When the story reaches Isaiah 53:4, point back to it. The room will get quiet on its own.
  • Tell Isaiah 53 slowly. The movie-hero questions early on are fun. By scene 4 the tone turns by itself.
  • Don’t make anyone share personal sorrows. Offer, don’t push. Pair talk first, then the whole class.
  • Teens often joke about dark things. If a joke touches self-harm or suicide, don’t shame it or skip it. Calmly say it matters, and that telling a trusted adult is what a real friend does.
  • Give the last word of each discussion to a youth, not to you.

The 25-minute plan23 min + bonus

Bonus steps are for when you have extra time. Steps that mention Teach Mode, the Sound Board or other class games refer to the Gospel Sparks app; on the web you can play Forehead Guess and Scripture Showdown from this page.

1. Hook

The Arm Test

4 min

The demonstration: holding weight until it hurts, then getting help, makes “borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” something youth feel in their shoulders.

  1. SAY“Quick test. Pair up. One partner holds a book in each hand, arms straight out to the sides.”
  2. Start the Big Timer for ninety seconds. Around forty-five seconds, when arms start shaking, say partners can now hold up their elbows.
  3. Ask: “What changed when someone helped carry it?”
  4. Ask: “What do people our age carry that nobody can see?” Take quick answers.
  5. SAY“About seven hundred years before Jesus was born, Isaiah described Someone who would carry all of it. Let’s hear Isaiah’s pitch.”
🌪️ If the room needs to move, switch partners and go thirty seconds more. Nobody drops books on anyone’s feet.
⏱️ Big Timer (a class game in the Gospel Sparks app)

Class screen: 💪 Arms out. Hold it. How long can you last alone? · “Surely he hath borne our griefs” – Isaiah 53:4

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: Two hardback books or full water bottles per pair of youth (for the Arm Test)

The Arm Test (Empty Hands)

  1. SAY“Quick test. Pair up. One partner holds both arms straight out to the sides. Palms down. No weight.”
  2. Start the Big Timer for ninety seconds. It gets surprisingly hard. Around forty-five seconds, say partners can now hold up their elbows.
  3. Ask: “What changed when someone helped carry it?”
  4. Ask: “What do people our age carry that nobody can see?”
  5. SAY“Isaiah described Someone who would carry all of it. Let’s hear Isaiah’s pitch.”
2. Story

Tell It: Isaiah’s Pitch

7 min

You tell Isaiah 53 as a pitch no movie studio would buy, and the class discovers for themselves how different the Savior is from the heroes the world sells.

  1. SAY“Imagine you’re movie executives. A prophet walks in with a pitch for the Messiah. Be honest. Would you buy it?”
  2. Open Teach Mode. Read each scene and its verse, then ask its question.
  3. Let the studio executives be skeptical early. The tone turns around scene 4.
  4. After the last scene, ask why the Savior would come this way instead of like a movie hero. Listen for this. He had to know our pain to help us.
🌪️ If the jokes run long, lower your voice for scene 4. The contrast is the lesson.

Class screen: 🎬 Isaiah’s pitch: a Messiah no studio would buy · Isaiah 53 · Written about 700 years early

3. Scripture

Youth-Led: The Pronoun Swap

4 min

Reading Isaiah 53:4–5 in the first person turns a famous prophecy into a personal one.

  1. SAY“Let’s make this personal.”
  2. The youth you texted reads Isaiah 53:4–5 aloud while everyone follows. Then they teach the motions once.
  3. The youth has everyone reread it silently, changing “we” and “our” to “I” and “my.” “Surely He hath borne my griefs.” Give sixty quiet seconds.
  4. The youth asks: “What felt different?” Take two or three answers.
🌪️ If the youth leader gets nervous, ask them a question like a student would. It gives them something to answer and takes off the spotlight.

Class screen: 🔁 Swap “we” and “our” for “I” and “my.” Read it again. · Isaiah 53:4–5

4. Talk it over

Real Talk: Don’t Look Away

5 min

Honest questions help youth see that the Atonement covers pain and loneliness, not only sin, and turn “we hid our faces” into real ways to help carry someone’s load.

  1. SAY“Real talk. You don’t have to answer about yourself. It’s fine to say, ‘Teens sometimes…’”
  2. A youth reads each question from the screen and picks who answers. Answer one yourself, honestly and briefly.
  3. SAY“If a friend ever jokes that they don’t want to be here anymore, it’s real. Tell a parent or leader right away. That’s not snitching. That’s carrying.”
💬 Ask the class
  • Isaiah 53:3 says “we hid as it were our faces from him.” Where do people our age look away from someone who’s struggling?
  • Isaiah 53:4 says He carried our griefs and sorrows, not just our sins. Why does that difference matter to people our age?
  • The new kid eats alone every day. What’s one real, not-cringe thing a fifteen-year-old could actually do?
  • Isaiah 55:2 asks why we spend our effort on what doesn’t satisfy. What do teens spend hours on that never fills them up?
  • What’s one way you could let the Savior help carry something this week?

Class screen: 👀 Real talk: who do people our age look away from?

5. Testimony

He Carried It

3 min

A brief, personal testimony connects Isaiah 53 to a real experience of being helped by the Savior.

  1. SAY“Isaiah wrote ‘surely.’ Not maybe. Surely He hath borne our griefs.”
  2. Quietly share a time the Savior helped you carry something that wasn’t a sin.
  3. Read President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s words from April 2016 in Conference quotes: “He knows your grief. Your silent pleadings. Your fears. Your tears.”
  4. Give the challenge. Invite a youth to pray.

Class screen: 🫂 Surely He hath borne our griefs. · Isaiah 53:4

6. Wiggle break

Forehead Guess: Isaiah 53

3 minBONUS

A fast team round of Forehead Guess reviews the images from Isaiah 53 and gets each guesser up front.

  1. SAY“Two teams. Your guesser stands up front with your phone or tablet on their forehead. Your team shouts clues.”
  2. SAY“Clues only. No acting it out, and never a word from the hint. Tilt down when you get it. Tilt up to pass.”
  3. Tap Forehead Guess. Teams take turns of about forty-five seconds, with a new guesser each time.
▶ Play Forehead Guess on the web

Class screen: 🤔 Forehead Guess: Isaiah 53

7. Game

Scripture Showdown

4 minBONUS

A quick team quiz reviews Isaiah 50–57.

  1. SAY“Two teams. You get ten seconds to decide, then point.”
  2. Tap Scripture Showdown. A team gets a bonus point for finding the verse in under twenty seconds.
▶ Play Scripture Showdown on the web

Class screen: 🏆 Scripture Showdown: Isaiah 50–57

Object lesson

Isaiah’s Pitch

Isaiah 53:1–12; Mosiah 14–15 ↗

Scenes

  1. 🎬🤝 The pitch: a Messiah, 700 years early

    Imagine a prophet walking into a movie studio. His script was written about seven hundred years before the story happens. The studio wants the next big hero. And Isaiah opens with a strange question. Who is going to believe this?

    🙌 Read Isaiah 53:1. Ask what the ultimate movie hero needs. Take three fast answers, like strong, good-looking, popular or gets revenge.

  2. 🌱🏜️ No glamour, no spotlight

    Isaiah says He’ll grow up like a small plant in dry ground. Nothing about His looks will make people want Him. No red carpet. No makeover scene.

    🙌 Read Isaiah 53:2. Ask: “Would a studio buy that?”

  3. 💔🙈 Despised, rejected, a man of sorrows

    It gets worse for the execs. People will despise and reject Him. He’ll know grief personally. And people will hide their faces from Him. They’ll look away.

    🙌 Read Isaiah 53:3. Everyone turns their face away for three seconds, then looks back.

  4. 🎒🫂 His power: carrying everyone else’s sorrow

    So what’s His superpower? Here’s Isaiah’s answer. He carries other people’s griefs and sorrows. Not just their mistakes. Their pain. Their sadness. The things they never told anyone.

    🙌 Read Isaiah 53:4 and point back to the Arm Test. Ask: “So what’s His superpower?”

  5. 🩹✨ Wounded for us, and we are healed

    He’s wounded, but not for anything He did. He’s wounded for what we did. The punishment that brings us peace lands on Him, and His wounds heal us.

    🙌 Read Isaiah 53:5 slowly. Don’t ask anything. Let it sit.

  6. 🐑🐑 All of us wandered off

    Then Isaiah turns the camera on the audience. On us. Like sheep, every one of us wandered off our own way. And the Lord laid all of it on Him.

    🙌 Everyone reads Isaiah 53:6 together from their scriptures.

  7. 🤐🐑 No comeback. No revenge.

    When He’s mistreated, He doesn’t fight back. No clever comeback. He stays silent, like a lamb. He’s counted with criminals. He pours out His life. And He prays for the very people who wronged Him.

    🙌 Read Isaiah 53:7 and 53:12. Ask: “No revenge ending. Why would He come this way?”

  8. 🧑‍💻💡 “This isn’t a movie. This happened.”

    Centuries later, a prophet named Abinadi read this whole chapter to a wicked king. That’s Mosiah fourteen. In chapter fifteen, he says it’s about the Savior. Jesus Christ lived every line of it, in Gethsemane and on the cross. And He rose again.

    🙌 Say: “This isn’t a pitch. It already happened. His name is Jesus Christ.” Then five seconds of silence.

Key verse

Isaiah 53:4–5 ↗
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows … But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
In plain words: He carried our grief and sadness. He was hurt for the wrong things we did, He took the punishment that brings us peace, and His wounds heal us.
🙌 “borne our griefs… carried our sorrows” = hands cupped low, then lifted onto one shoulder · “wounded for our transgressions” = touch the palm of each hand · “the chastisement of our peace was upon him” = hand flat on the back of your own shoulder · “with his stripes we are healed” = hand over heart, then open outward.

More verses

Isaiah 53:3 ↗
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him”
In plain words: People rejected Him. He knew sorrow personally. And people looked away from Him instead of seeing Him.
Isaiah 55:2 ↗
“Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?”
In plain words: Why pour your time and money into things that never actually fill you up?
Isaiah 54:10 ↗
“For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee”
In plain words: Mountains could move before the Lord stops being kind to you.
Isaiah 50:7 ↗
“For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint”
In plain words: Because the Lord helps me, I won’t be thrown off; I can set my face like stone and not back down.

Forehead Guess words16 words

  • 💔 Man of sorrows
  • 🌱 Tender plant
  • 🐑 Lamb
  • 🐏 Sheep
  • 🩹 Stripes
  • 😢 Griefs
  • 🔥 Abinadi
  • 👑 King Noah
  • 🪨 Flint
  • ⛰️ Mountains
  • 🍞 Bread
  • 🙏 Intercession
  • 🫒 Gethsemane
  • ✨ Messiah
  • 🦸 Movie hero
  • 🤝 Covenant
Clues for each word
  • Man of sorrows: Isaiah 53:3 describes Him this way
  • Tender plant: Grows up out of dry ground
  • Lamb: Silent before the shearers
  • Sheep: “All we like ___ have gone astray”
  • Stripes: With His, we are healed
  • Griefs: He hath borne ours
  • Abinadi: Quoted Isaiah 53 to King Noah
  • King Noah: Heard Isaiah 53 and didn’t want to
  • Flint: “I have set my face like a ___”
  • Mountains: They can depart; His kindness won’t
  • Bread: Why spend money on what isn’t this?
  • Intercession: Pleading for someone else
  • Gethsemane: Garden where He took our sins and sorrows
  • Messiah: The Anointed One Isaiah described
  • Movie hero: Strong, famous, gets revenge
  • Covenant: “Take hold of my ___” (56:4)
▶ Play Forehead GuessFull screen, 60-second timer, works on any phone.

Scripture Showdown9 questions

  1. About how long before Jesus’s birth did Isaiah write chapter 53?
    • A. About 70 years
    • B. About 700 years
    • C. About 7,000 years
    Show answer

    ✅ B. About 700 years Isaiah prophesied around 700 years before Jesus Christ was born.

  2. Isaiah 53:3 calls Him “a man of…”
    • A. power
    • B. sorrows
    • C. fame
    Show answer

    ✅ B. sorrows “A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”

  3. According to Isaiah 53:4, what did He carry besides sins?
    • A. Our griefs and sorrows
    • B. Our money
    • C. Our armor
    Show answer

    ✅ A. Our griefs and sorrows He carried pain and sadness too. Alma 7:11–12 says the same.

  4. “With his stripes we are…”
    • A. saved from war
    • B. made famous
    • C. healed
    Show answer

    ✅ C. healed Isaiah 53:5. His suffering brings us healing and peace.

  5. What animal does Isaiah compare us to in 53:6?
    • A. Sheep that went astray
    • B. Lost goats
    • C. Wandering camels
    Show answer

    ✅ A. Sheep that went astray “All we like sheep have gone astray.” All of us, not just some.

  6. How did He respond when He was mistreated (Isaiah 53:7)?
    • A. With a clever comeback
    • B. He opened not His mouth
    • C. He called down fire
    Show answer

    ✅ B. He opened not His mouth Like a sheep before her shearers, He stayed silent.

  7. Which Book of Mormon prophet quoted Isaiah 53 to King Noah’s priests?
    • A. Alma
    • B. Nephi
    • C. Abinadi
    Show answer

    ✅ C. Abinadi Mosiah 14 is Isaiah 53; Mosiah 15 explains it is about Christ.

  8. Isaiah 54:10: the mountains may depart, but what won’t?
    • A. The Lord’s kindness
    • B. The temple
    • C. The sea
    Show answer

    ✅ A. The Lord’s kindness “My kindness shall not depart from thee.”

  9. Isaiah 55:2 asks why we labor for things that…
    • A. cost too much
    • B. satisfy not
    • C. take too long
    Show answer

    ✅ B. satisfy not A good question to ask about how we spend our time.

▶ Play Scripture ShowdownTeams take turns on one screen.

From general conference

“He knows when you are lost, and He knows where you are. He knows your grief. Your silent pleadings. Your fears. Your tears.”

— President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “He Will Place You on His Shoulders and Carry You Home,” April 2016

Read it in the testimony, right after “Surely He hath borne our griefs.”

Read the talk ↗

Songs

  • I Know That My Redeemer Lives Hymns, no. 136

    Isaiah 53 ends in sorrow; this hymn answers it: He lives, and He comforts. Find it ↗

  • I Need Thee Every Hour Hymns, no. 98

    A quiet, honest prayer for anyone carrying something heavy. Find it ↗

This week’s challenge

Carry and Be Carried

Read Isaiah 53 once this week with “I” and “my” in place of “we” and “our.” Then tell Heavenly Father in prayer about one thing you’ve been carrying alone. And pick one person you’ve been looking away from. Do one small, real thing for them.

Text the parents

This week the youth heard Isaiah 53 told as a pitch no movie studio would buy. The Savior was nothing like a movie hero. He was “despised and rejected,” “a man of sorrows,” and He “hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” That’s Isaiah 53:3–4. We talked about how He carries more than our sins. We also talked about how to stop looking away from people who are struggling. Ask your teen what they came up with in the Don’t Look Away discussion.

📝 After class

What worked? Who needs a check-in this week? Jot it here on a printed copy, or in the app’s private class notes.

Got extra time?

🛞 Philip and the Chariot · 4 min

  1. Read Acts 8:26–35. An Ethiopian official is reading Isaiah 53 in his chariot. He asks Philip who it’s about.
  2. Ask: “He asked, ‘How can I, except some man should guide me?’ Who helps you understand scripture?”
  3. Pairs explain Isaiah 53:4–5 in one sentence, as if to a friend who’s never heard of Jesus.

🚪 Nobody Is an Outsider · 4 min

  1. Read Isaiah 56:3–7. Explain that strangers and eunuchs were people who could feel shut out of Israel.
  2. Ask what the Lord promises people who feel they don’t belong but hold to His covenant. A place and a name in His house.
  3. Ask who feels like an outsider at church or school. Then ask what “a house of prayer for all people” would look like here.

📱 Doomscroll Audit · 4 min

  1. Read Isaiah 55:1–3. The Lord offers what satisfies “without money and without price.”
  2. Invite anyone willing to check their screen time and name the app that took the most hours last week. Go first.
  3. Ask: “Did it satisfy? What could fifteen minutes of that time do if you gave it to something that does?”

👀 Don’t Look Away Scenarios · 4 min

  1. Two teams get thirty seconds per situation. They agree on one real thing a fifteen-year-old could do. A friend posts a vague sad story at 1 a.m. Someone stopped coming to church. A group chat roasts someone who isn’t in it.
  2. The other team votes on whether they’d really do it. A yes scores a point.
  3. End by repeating this. If a friend ever says they don’t want to be here anymore, tell a trusted adult right away.

Sources

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, the Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tap or click a reference to open it in Gospel Library. Start with the official Come, Follow Me manual; these ideas are here to help it come alive.

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