By Brock Bondurant
Despised. Rejected. Stricken. Afflicted. Wounded. Oppressed . . .
If I told you that there was a god and these words describe that god’s life, would you believe me? I don’t know that I would. I’d expect to hear more kingly language about how this god imposed his/her/their will upon humanity, came down to earth in a fury of rage, demanding that his/her/their subjects bow down and worship them.
But the truth is, there is a God. He has visited earth. Yet he didn’t come in the expected ways. He came as an infant; a baby dependent upon two young, lowly humans. He grew up like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form of majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him . . . (Isaiah 53:2).
God came looking like any other average Joseph. Jesus, the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), came as one of us. His incarnation into our world displays the endless compassion of a God with fiery love for his people; a God who is not unfamiliar with the very pain and struggle of humanity—the pain each one of us knows in this life. He experienced heartbreak, trial, and suffering. Yet his humility didn’t end there. He was “acquainted with infirmity,” as he bore our infirmities and carried our diseases… But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed . . . (Isaiah 4-5).
Jesus touched the untouchables. Jesus took disease on himself. Ultimately, he took on the greatest disease of all: sin. He offered Himself as a sacrifice to defeat the power of sin, becoming the spotless lamb who atoned for iniquities and transgressions so that we might enjoy fellowship and communion with him. By defeating sin, death, and the kingdom of darkness, Jesus restores us to the wholeness that we were created with in the beginning (Genesis 1:26-30). As our great shepherd, he restores our soul (Psalm 23:3), laying down his life for his sheep (John 10:11).
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth . . . (Isaiah 53:7).
Jesus could have opened his mouth to express his innocence before Pilate but chose not to (Matthew 27:11-14). He resisted the temptation of the priests, scribes, and elders who demanded a sign at his crucifixion, accepting his death instead (Matthew 27:39-43).
By a perversion of justice he was taken away . . . (Isaiah 53:8)
Pilate found Him innocent (Luke 23:4), yet Jesus was put to death anyway.
This “suffering servant” lived a life of complete humility and sacrifice, starting from his entrance into this world. Just a little baby, born to a poor family, laid down in a trough in a barn. At Advent we celebrate his first coming, looking back to adore this child who would become king. A king who, instead of lording over us, came to serve rather than be served, giving his life as a ransom for us (Matthew 20:24-28). A king who will come again soon with a renewal of words clamoring to describe him: Despised, beloved; Rejected, worshipped; Stricken, joyful; Afflicted, mighty; Wounded, whole; Oppressed, sovereign.
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