Project 119: Meditations on the Suffering Servant - Isaiah 53:1-3

April 07, 2020 | Project 119 | Amy Hirsch

“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”

Have you noticed that most artistic renderings of Jesus portray Him as physically fit with straight teeth? As a Middle Easterner, Jesus likely had a dark complexion and dark hair, but Isaiah’s prophecy warns against depicting Jesus as a man who was particularly attractive. According to Isaiah 53, the Suffering Servant wasn’t handsome, wealthy, or majestic. The prophets declared God would send a deliverer for His people, and the Jews had been waiting in expectation for God to intervene in their situation.

But perhaps they missed part of the memo. They were looking for a king who would come to rule, who would end their political oppression and overthrow their enemies. Maybe that’s why Jesus didn’t meet their expectations. They were waiting for God to roll up His proverbial sleeves and show His strength, to deliver them by His mighty right hand like when He had parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could escape from Egypt (Exodus 15:1-21). Rather than sending them a political king, God sent them a suffering servant, a man who seemed to be … ordinary. So they turned their faces away, rejecting the one foretold by the prophets, the one sent by God to save them.

Perhaps they turned away from Jesus because He was unattractive, but there is more to the text. They despised this Man of Sorrows because He was acquainted with pain and suffering. Why did He repulse them? I believe they were disgusted because of their self-righteousness. Jesus knew sorrow because He took on their sorrows. He knew suffering because He took on their suffering. Yet they counted Him as weak, and His sacrifice as unnecessary, because they did not understand the weight of their sin. They were in denial about their need for a redeemer, so they were sickened by this man who declared that He came to die for their sins. They rejected Pilate’s offer to release Jesus, crying instead, “Crucify Him!” They mocked Him as He walked the path to the cross. They turned their faces away as He was beaten, and scorned, and pierced for their sakes.

It is easy to cast a judgmental eye toward the Jews of Jesus’ day, but the cross also provides a litmus test for us. If you believe that you’re good enough on your own, that you can behave well enough to earn God’s love, that you are not in need of a savior, you too will find the Suffering Servant repulsive. But if you recognize your need for Him, if you are honest with yourself, if you see your need for a Savior who is willing to suffer with and for you, then you too will come to see the cross where the Prince of Glory died as a wondrous place, a place where love and sorrow met for your sake.