Lenten Devotional

I agreed to write a Lenten devotional for our church booklet and today is my day. My assigned scripture was Isaiah 53:1-4.

...Surely he has born our grief and carried our sorrows...

In Hollywood it’s easy to get lost in the crowd, especially if you’re a little less of a looker than say, Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt. In a town filled with would-be actors and models, it can be intimidating to walk down the street in your no-name jeans and Wal-mart purse.

Maybe that’s how Jesus felt when he walked the streets in his day because that’s certainly how he’s described in Isaiah: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). “Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

He wasn’t beloved, he wasn’t given an “atta boy” or props for a job-well done, no paparazzi were waiting to take his picture. Instead there was suffering. There was rejection. There was pity.

We’ve all experienced it, felt it, seen it. We know what it’s like to be looked down upon, for our outward appearance, our opinion, our lifestyle, or even our faith. Now imagine knowing that you are about to save the very people who have treated you this way. The people who’ve ridiculed you, called you names, disregarded you so completely.

Jesus knew what he had to do. What he was destined to do. He carried with him that burden. And yet, he also carried with him grace. Did he sink to the level of those who called him names? No. Did he try to change their opinions of him by dressing or acting differently? No.

Jesus did what he was supposed to do. What we’re all supposed to do. Keep our heads held high, live our lives, believe in our choices, and ourselves, and get on with it. Was he happy during this time? I don’t know. Am I happy as I struggle along my path? Not always. So I am guessing he wasn’t. But he knew what he had to do and did it.

I think waiting can be seen in two ways: a period of stagnation or a period of working toward what we want or need. Jesus used his period of waiting to work toward his goal, what he knew he had to do. And I’m going to use this Lenten season the same way, to work toward my goal – to be a little more like Jesus, no matter what the people around me think.