Disclaimer: I don’t want to pick a fight. I really do not. But I also really want to say what I’m about to say, so I’m begging for grace here.
Isaiah 53 is a startling, beautiful eight-centuries-early description of the life and death of Jesus. Here’s the verse that’s shaking my apple cart on this, Day 5 of Seven.
He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; He was despised and we didn’t value Him. Isaiah 53:2-3
Jesus didn’t look like we thought He would. A people on the lookout for the Messiah – watching, waiting for the One who would be their only hope, redemption and vindication against oppression, missed the signs. And the things is: they saw Him in the flesh. They watched Him work and still disqualified Him.
Apparently, it’s easy to misinterpret The Way A God Should Be. We have sketched out in our minds the way majesty manifests and we naturally work to align our picture of Jesus to that.
For years, I couldn’t imagine the notion of a Jesus who drank alcohol. It was so far outside my worldview that I almost-subconsciously recreated those sections of His story. I changed His wine to coffee and His “party” to a small group and His sinners to pre-believers with hearts of gold. I cleaned it all up in my head because I needed Him to look more like me. More accurately, I needed Him to look more like my parents (who are fantastic people) because otherwise, how could I trust Him to keep me safe? My parents kept me away from alcohol and sinners and parties.
But Jesus defies our expectations. He’s bigger than my worldview. He’s bigger than my history and He typically blows the doors off our concepts of “safe” while reinforcing in every way His concept of “good”.
Here’s where Isaiah 53 comes alive for me (and you are warmly welcomed to disagree in your heart). Last week, World Vision announced that they had changed their hiring policy to include those in legal gay marriages.
And all hell broke loose.
Christians stormed the gates of social media to argue for what they feel is truth. I’m not disagreeing with this. In fact, I don’t like this current idea that people of faith (or any people for that matter) should live without opinion or in complete harmony with the culture around us. Nothing sounds more boring or less intelligent to me, and it’s the spirited debates and anguished wrestling matches with doctrine that built the foundations upon which we stand (have you ever read about the Council of Nicea? It’s brilliant!) Arguing truth is not out of line and it doesn’t -in and of itself – impugn our ability to be salt and light in the world. However, I think it’s our perception and reflection of the character of Jesus inside these debates that hobbles us and so while I’ll defend the right of Christians to speak up, I can’t tell you how much I hated the tone of so many of the comments and articles I read from both sides of the gay marriage debate. Hated it.
Additionally, and almost unbelievably, many chose to withdraw their child sponsorships in order to send a loud, clanging-symbol of a message to World Vision. And what was that message? YOU ARE NOT REFLECTING THE JESUS WE KNOW!
I wonder: do we really know Him or are we dog-paddling through the murky waters of Isaiah 53:2 without even realizing it? Because in all that I have read about Jesus, I cannot conceive of Him choosing to take the food from a child’s table so He can stick it to the sinner who cooked the meal. Not only does He love hungry children more than that, He loves sinners more than that. I know this one personally because He has not withheld His bread from me in spite of my constant screw-ups. The point is: it’s easy to miss Him. To miss His way. To miss His character. (Of note: World Vision reversed their position one day later, but everyone on both sides of the issue is still pretty mad.)
When Jesus pardoned the adulterous woman, He said, “I do not condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Some that day probably heard, “I DO NOT CONDEMN you, go and sin no more.” Others heard, “I do not condemn you, go and SIN NO MORE.” I know I tend to tilt toward one more than the other in every situation (the grace side with my sin and the truth side with others). But Jesus is the God of both. All-the-way grace. All-the-way truth. Which I think is one reason it’s so easy to get Him wrong. Our humanity can hardly imagine such a potent combination of contradictory ingredients, so it’s much easier to emphasize one over the other. As soon as we do, however, we’ve begun to recreate Him in our own image.
Jesus didn’t come to win the culture wars. In fact, He didn’t come to win anything except US and if that truth doesn’t cause a little face-in-the-carpet humility and gratitude then it’s time for a fresh dose of reality.
Isaiah tells us Jesus came for exactly this:
My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will carry their iniquities. (v. 11)
As far as I can conclude from this life-changing sentence, His goal in coming to us was to carry our sin. Not to judge, but to justify. Not to say: “Clean up your ways, or else,” but to remove the shame that covers over the image of God in our lives and keeps us from getting to Him. Not to endorse our sin, but to remind us we’re helpless against it without Him. We’re lost without grace and grace is lost without truth.
How does all this apply to fasting? I’m not sure, except to say that I’m certain in the marrow of my bones that it does. Because Isaiah 58 tells me the fasts He chooses are to make us more like Him and there is no winning the world or changing our city or impacting our culture until and unless we become More. Like. Him. The one and only Him. The Him who is so easy to miss and misinterpret.
This fast has me on a hunt. I find myself searching for glimpses of His character and His way in every little word of every little sentence of every little verse. The more I feel some of my own misinterpretations peel away, the more ravenous I become for the full picture of His magnificence. And also ravenous for food, but that’s another story altogether.
Thank you for searching with me.
Looking,
Bo
P.S. This post is part of a series as I’m blogging my way through the hunger pangs of our church’s seven day fast. You can read them here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.
Excellent!! Signing up to sponsor a child today……
Perfect Bo. Simply perfect:)
Probably not your intent in writing the article, but this idea of seeing that Christ probably would not take food out of the mouths of children to punish those who cooked the food is motivating!! So I am sponsoring Moises in Guatemala and I threw in a goat and 2 chickens because I don’t think he would take it out on them either…..Love to you Bo and to Steve too!!
Oh, Jane – I DO LOVE YOU! 🙂
I concur Bo. Last night at church as we prayed together I had a strong word come over my heart and it was that we show the grace of God to others at Easter. That song Grace Changes Everything is so true. When people feel grace and acceptance then change can occur. Thanks for this great word today.
Wow! So beautiful! Such a better way to think/see…. I forgive you for stepping on my toes
My devotional today was on Psalm 50:21. God is speaking! He’s obviously not letting this one go until we get it. Until I get it.
No argument with you on this…just a big “Amen Sister!!” It’s way too easy to judge, criticize & condemn…in the name of Jesus and “being a Christian.” I love the journey of stripping away the old vision of Jesus, and getting to really know him!
P.S. we’re continuing our support of our children through World Vision : )
This one touched me where I live and gave me hope. I have to tell you that! Probably because it resonates deeply with me … I took a different path than you for many many years … my parents also … how did you say it? “kept me away from alcohol and sinners and parties.” That did not however keep me safe from their “junk” and the hell of growing up never being able to measure up to whatever it was I was supposed to look like.
I need Jesus to look like someone who is unafraid of alcohol, “sinners” [whatever that means] and parties. I need Jesus to look like someone who is unafraid of new age ideololgy, quantum physics, and the outside edge of the envelope. I have a very hard time with “safe,happy clappy inside the church walls Jesus”
So this one … this one speaks deeply of hope to me. Thank you !
Ohmygoodness! What a fantastic sermon! Listening to you makes me start to believe, ever so slowly, that there is hope for this world. THANK YOU!
(Besides, I have enough trouble dealing with my own faults; I really don’t have any time to be managing anyone else’s.)
Thank you, Bo. Your posts are so thought provoking. I tend to pass judgement and form my opinions pretty rapidly and I am finding that fasting is causing everything to slow down a little (both physically and spiritually) My metabolism is slowing down and my thinking is a little bit “fuzzy”, so in turn I am becoming a bit more contemplative. The physical “slowing” results in taking time to dig deeper before I pass judgement on something or someone which is so good spiritually! EVERYTHING is slowing down and this is giving the “impurities” a chance to float to the surface where they can just be skimmed off! I am feeling much lighter these days(both physically and spiritually) and am more and more hungry for God!
Thanks, Bo, for your inspiration 🙂
Becky – I agree! I often find myself feeling that I need to have an opinion about everything and I’m slowly realizing I do not. I especially don’t need to have an opinion right this minute about everything…it’s okay to watch and see how things play out. When I rush to judge, I’m almost always missing a deeper part of the story.
I have been feeling like this for a long time…you have been gifted with a way to express truth like no one else I know.
Thank you so much for feeding us while you are fasting.
I enjoyed reading your post, as always. Your final comment about, what does this have to do with fasting reminded me of a verse.
Isaiah 58:6 – 8 (NIV)
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
I would put up more, and the next verses are well worth reading in light of this topic. However, my real point is posting is to show how Christ in you hit the truth of the matter.
This is GRACE in case we missed it…