WATCHWORD:
2 Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all 7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. Isaiah 53:1-8a
Meditation:
The Shepherd’s Touch
You can learn quite a bit about a person by looking at the friends they have, but maybe nothing about their relation with God. Really? I think the reverse may very well be true. Look at those that God was close to: Abraham who “pimped” his wife. Then there is Jacob who cheated his brother. On the list of ‘friends’ were at least two murderers, Moses and David. Incidentally, both were also adulterers. Each of these has their place in God’s lessons. Oh, and so do we. We are all part of God’s creation, we are God’s friends, lest we forget.
Philip Yancey in his book, The Bible Jesus Read, reminds us that we live in an era that has viewed our planet from the perspective of a spacecraft, looking like a tiny globe of blue and green suspended in the vastness of the universe. Which may cause us to wonder if we mattered at all. In the array of all that God has created, how can we be an object of value at all in the universe?
Dennis Rodman, basketball’s bad boy, expresses a warped, modern point of view: “If there is a supreme being, he/she/it has a hell of a lot more to worry about than my stupid problems.” Yancey goes on to say, “Actually, most of the Old Testament is devoted to overcoming that very same objection among the ancient Hebrews, and, in truth, among you and I. Psalm 8:3-5 puts it this way:
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
We are rapidly approaching Easter and it’s event of cosmic proportions. The significance or the insignificance of man is not even at issue, in the face of the Resurrection. Easter is truly the hand of God touching human existence — The Creator shepherding His creation.
And we prayerfully consider God in a tunic and sandals, walking the streets of Jerusalem, climbing the hill called Olives, dining with Mary and Martha, praying with His disciples in a Garden called Gethsemane, looking for all the world like a human being. Our Divine Shepherd, there, on that cross. And we fear for Him, soon to die, tortured and in painful agony on that cross, and we wonder…How? Why? Yet, all the while, we know the “Why?” Our sins. This is Jesus Christ, The Messiah, God Incarnate, loving even us, far beyond what our minds can grasp. Yes, Sunday is coming! It is coming indeed!
Bulletin Board:
Tuesday – Jesus returns to the Temple to teach and is challenged by Pharisees. It is during this exchange that he tells them to “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”. He then goes to the Mount of Olives with his disciples. Later, this evening, He returns to Bethany.
O Wondrous God, the prophet said the Messiah would be a man of sorrows. Jesus certainly did – He grieved over all those who were outcast and unloved; he grieved with Lazarus’ sisters, accepted the ridicule of Jews and Gentiles; He wept over Jerusalem. Even in the Garden, he had His moment of sorrow wishing the cup could pass by but knowing he would fulfill His purpose. We are grateful. Amen.
Closing Prayer:
God of such unwavering love, how do I “celebrate” the passion and death of Jesus?
I often want to look the other way and not watch, not stay with Jesus in his suffering.
Give me the strength to see his love with honesty and compassion and to feel deeply
your own forgiveness and mercy for me.
Help me to understand how to “celebrate” this week.
I want to bring my weaknesses and imperfections with me as I journey with Jesus,
so aware of his love. Amen.
