Isaiah 53:1-3
Jesus is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is all of these things, but he didn’t seem like it while he was on the earth. In Isaiah 53:1-3 we see that he was an unlikely messiah. He was unlikely in essence, appearance and effect.
Before we read this passage, remember that Isaiah was a prophet who wrote roughly 700 years before Jesus came on the scene. His is a record of the vision God gave him and some of it describes Jesus in detail. This would be like someone writing accurately about Barak Obama in the 1300’s! With this in mind, let’s meditate on what God revealed to Isaiah about Jesus Christ:
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:1-3)
Unlikely in Essence
Notice first that Jesus was unlikely in essence.
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
The house in which I live is built on an old gold mine. The soil is a mixture of rocks and red clay, making it very difficult to grow grass. Last year we made our first valiant attempt at growing grass in the backyard. We aerated, limed, fertilized, planted, watered, waited and prayed. Weeks passed with no sign of life in the dirt. Then, finally, delicate, lime-green blades began to poke through the dry ground. They seemed so fragile and vulnerable that we didn’t walk back there and we worried every time the sun came out. This is sort of like Jesus.
Jesus was God’s plan to save his people from their sins, yet he didn’t come like Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, fully grown and ready to do battle. He came as a baby in the womb of a young girl in a small town during a time when the government was killing baby boys. He could not have come in a more fragile or vulnerable way. He was like a young plant or a dry-ground root.
Unlikely in Appearance
Jesus was not majestic or beautiful in appearance. He did not have glowing eyes like Jim Caviezel in The Passion. He would not have been on the cover of Men’s Health Magazine. If he were in a crowded room, you wouldn’t notice him.
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
This may seem like a strange point to make about Jesus, that he wasn’t handsome and attractive; but it is important, especially in our culture which values attractiveness so highly. Jesus did not amass a celebrity status because he looked the part. They say George Washington was a no-brainer choice for the first president of the United States because he was always the tallest person in the room. Jesus wasn’t the tallest person in the room. There was nothing remarkable or striking about his appearance that would draw people to him.
Unlikely in Effect
Jesus was unlikely in essence, appearance and effect.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Most people despised and rejected Jesus while he walked the earth. If we Christians were beamed back in time to 30AD, we would be in the minority.
In fact, if you look again at Jesus’ life, it’s as though he was on a covert mission and didn’t want to gain wide acceptance. He gathered 12 men and often dispersed the rest. Several times he silenced those whom he miraculously healed so that they wouldn’t spread the word. He spoke in parables that he didn’t explain. He wasn’t interested in gaining celebrity status. He was a man on a mission that didn’t involve any of the trappings you would expect in a great movement leader.
Conclusion
Christianity has never been and will never be fashionable or marketable, because the Christ was not fashionable or marketable. Christianity didn’t take root because of Jesus’ strength of leadership, majesty of appearance or attractiveness. Jesus wasn’t about any of that and Christianity today isn’t about any of that. It’s about grieving, sorrowful, wounded people, weighed down by their transgressions and iniquities realizing that Jesus bore and carried it all, smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed, chastised and wounded in their place (see verses 4-6).
On Palm Sunday, the crowds celebrated Jesus as their coming king, but they didn’t understand who he really was. This Easter, look again at Jesus. Do you see him? Don’t be a part of some movement. Go to him with your grief. Give him your sorrow. Trust him as your Savior. Follow him as your Lord.
