“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”
Isaiah was a prophet whose words connect with Christ’s mission so closely that the two cannot be separated. In this verse we can see the Old Testament supporting the New Testament, consolidating the two and reinforcing the truth of both. It was written, and so it did occur, the suffering servant, Jesus was pre-ordained to come down to earth to walk among us, but to be rejected and hated by many. Isaiah prophesied the Messiah’s coming, and events unfolded as they were written.
During Lent, it is important to contemplate the way of the Cross. It is wonderful and glorious that Jesus rose from the dead, and by this ensured our everlasting life in him. But to achieve this pinnacle, this amazing resurrection, he had to suffer and die a most horrible death. In this death, he carried our sin, and through his grace he has paid the greatest ransom for love of us. In some churches, the central image is the empty cross, meaning that Christ is alive, our God is a living God. But in the church that I attended as a child and young adult, the cross bore the sculpted figure of Christ in agony, his hands and feet nailed to the wood, his precious head bowed down, and wearing the thorny crown. Every time I looked up at this cross, my heart broke.
Isaiah knew what was going to happen to Jesus, what had to happen to him. Jesus was rejected when he was on earth, and he is still being rejected and despised today. He is spat upon still and ridiculed, and yet his grace goes out to all, his love is a mantle that spreads over the world. Let us pray that all will turn to him, and realise the truth of his presence among us, and that rejection will be transformed to accepting joy. Only in this way can salvation be attained by all people.
Tell Out My Soul 
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