“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:3-4 (NKJV)
We don’t like to think of the Christ who was to come as a servant who was ignored and despised by many. Even though Jesus bore our burden of sin to the cross, though He suffered on our behalf and died a cruel death, many did not/do not esteem Him. He was/is looked down on and disrespected; even today, many in the Church who claim His salvation hide their faces from Him and ignore His presence as though He is somehow beneath us. Or perhaps we are ashamed of our own behavior?
If we think about how we treat those who work in the service industry today, it is not surprising that we treat Jesus so poorly. Think about the men and women who perform those less than glamorous tasks in our society; what about the plumbers, those who cook and clean and carry our loads, what about the servers in a restaurant, or cashiers, or...? Isn’t our society prone to look down upon or ignore them as somehow less important than ourselves? They are often men and women of sorrows too; acquainted with grief, they continue to do the things that we had rather not, with little or no gratitude for their sacrifice.
It is little wonder then that we treat Jesus as we do; He was after all, a servants servant. He bore/bears the sins of the entire human race (vs 6c). He is the Garbage Collector for all of humanity! Like the garbage collectors who pick up our refuse, He doesn’t ask what’s in our bags, He just removes it as we ask. Unlike the garbage man, Jesus will even help us get the garbage ready for collection; He points out those things that are not healthy or safe for a Christian to have. Like those who serve today, Jesus often receives little thanks for His work, yet He continues faithfully to work on our behalf.
Remember friends, one day soon the Servant will return. Will you respect or reject Him?
