His Appearance was Marred
It is a widely shared human
characteristic to distance ourselves from those whom we find to be distasteful. Rather than embrace those whose countenance differs
from our own we are inclinded to avoid them.
While the Gospel lesson for
Passion Sunday changes from year to year, the other lessons do not. We read Isaiah 50, Psalm 31, and Philippians
2 in all three years of the Lectionary Cycle.
While we are comfortable in switching the Gospel reading from year to
year, EVERY year we read these other three lessons. There is a message here – a message too
important to ignore or overlook.
The message in those other
readings is to call attention to the "maring" of Jesus'
appearance. The theme of these other
readings is to note that among the reasons his followers abandon him is the
simple reality that as he endured the torture and hung on the cross he did not
have the look of one to whom others ought to flock and follow.
We tend to avoid those whose
appearance is distasteful to us. We are
inclinded to distance ourselves from those who do not bear the marks of
desirability.
The Suffering Servant Songs of
Isaiah speaks of this. The Suffering
Servant is "dispised". His
treatment allows others to dismiss him and to turn their face from him. They do not even want to look upon his
countenance.
The reading from Phillipians insist that Jesus
deliberately takes on the lowest form possible.
He does not consider his equality with God as something to be
exploited. Rather he takes on (willingly
takes on) the form of a servant and a slave.
Psalm 31 acknowledges what we may
be reluctant to admit: the one who
suffers, suffers the pains of torture AND the suffering which comes with the
realization that he has himself become "the scorn of my adversaries, a
horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances."
We would rather not be in the
presence of those who have been beaten down and defeated. When possible, we move away from those who
bear the marks of adversity or distress.
The message of the Christian
story; the message for this week of Passion; the message in all this for you
and for me is to realize that while our tendency is to separate ourselves from
those whose presence makes us uncomfortable, the movement and action of God is
to embrace them, and even to become one of them.
How different such an approach is
from what typically happens. How
contrary to conventional wisdom. How unimaginable.
We want to be around those who
succed and those who are the beautiful folks.
Jesus yokes his life and his ministry with those who are rejected and
beaten and ignored. Jesus gives his
attention to unattractive, to those possessed by demons, and he hangs out with
persons most often considered the scum of the earth.
The way in which Jesus dies is
the clearest statement that Jesus doesn’t do this in order to see the tables
reversed. He does not pretend to care
about those whom others would overlook in order to be rewarded. Jesus understands himself to be one of
them.
We need to be careful that our
attraction to the beauty of Easter morning does not blind us to the harsh and
ugly realities of the Passion. We need
to be careful that our desire to speak of bliss and joy is not at the expense
of following the way of Jesus.
Jesus takes on the form of a
servant – not for a little while, not long enough for his humility to be duly
noted – but continually. And if we do
anything other than follow that example we have cut short the message which he
came to reveal.
It is our tendency to avoid those
who bear the marks of shame. It is our
typical pattern to distance ourselves from those who are not up and coming and
making a difference in the world. Jesus’
pattern was to make a difference in the lives of those whom the world had
abandoned.
Amen.
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