Tenth Day of Lent

Tenth Day of Lent

Saturday, March 11, 2017

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering . . .

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:3

Isaiah is talking about a future even God has shown him, yet uses the past tense, as though it had already happened. He even includes himself in the act of despising, using the plural first person pronoun we, in recognizing his own guilt for his future occurrence. He has spoken as God has revealed, and it is difficult for us to realize that for God there are no tenses.

We can’t think without time. Tenses tell whether something has happened, is happening, or will happen. And if we had been writing this, we would have used the future tense – He will be despised. This pivotal event in history was planned before sin even occurred, so it was past but to Isaiah also future.

The important thing to remember is that Isaiah knew supernaturally that Easter would happen. When the time came for Jesus’ abuse and crucifixion, the masses would despise him, reject him, and show no esteem or admiration for him for what he was doing or for the manner in which he endured death.

 

Jesus was despised then, and he is often despised now. Many think that we Christians are deluded because we worship a crucified and resurrected Savior. They don’t understand, so they count us a little crazy and esteem him not.

What about us? We don’t have the same opinion of Jesus that the world has, but do we recognize him as a man of sorrows? Do we acknowledge his suffering? Do we let Good Friday slip by with too little contemplation?

Prayer: Father, thank you for the man of sorrows. Help us to esteem him, accept him, and appreciate him now – today – for all he has done to bring us life. Amen.

And He Set His Face toward Jerusalem. . . .

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2007,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator