Easter

Isaiah 53 paints an astonishing picture of Jesus, the suffering servant. I think it might present the greatest contrast in values to the current time than any other.

How do you interact with social media? I don’t interact well with it. I enjoy it and find myself thinking at times in terms of post-making. I often feel disappointed with what I share. I overthink or underthink whatever I conceptualize and get into a disillusioned state in which I question my motives for post-making. Then, I don’t post at all. Or I over post. This is different from my husband. He doesn’t like it or use it at all. Why am I so driven by it? Why do I want to share what I share? At its best it’s for connectivity. At its worst, it’s for worth. “Liking” is the thing that makes it so miserable. I become aware of what garners appreciation and what doesn’t. I second-guess sharing based on likability versus authenticity. There’s a place in between that seems to express both but sometimes I can’t get there. This is probably all over the top but this is my honest relationship with social media. Of course, I notice beauty is the most likable factor.

Despite my troublesome woes about the thing, social media values make Isaiah 53:2 tangible.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him.

Isaiah 53:2

Creator God, author of beauty and life and all, was/is unattractive to his own creation. Isaiah 53 pens this strange relationship. We neglected him, we went our own way, we did not appreciate him, we sinned. He, on the other hand, “bore our infirmities, carried our sorrows… bore our sins.” He regained relationship to us. Why, O God?

He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and one from whom men hide their faces.

Isaiah 53:3

There have been times and still are at times in which I feel rejected, ignored, of no value to another. Have you ever felt that way? It’s strange. And, God forgive me, I know I’ve rejected and despised others at times. I repent often because, Lord knows, I still do. Rejection is a relationship enslaver or breaker. Rejection can be shown in many ways. On social media, it may be simply not “liking” what you see. (This post is not a referendum on social media etiquette. Do not hear me say like every post in Jesus’s name! No, I think we might all be better off to not socialize over media so much. But what a perfect example of Isaiah 53).

In a cyclic way, I tend to move between feeling pretty good about myself and my comprehension of the gospel of Christ and feeling pretty lousy about myself and my neglect of the gospel of Christ. I require reminders over and over again that he loves me. His word is the mode of communication of his love and, another thing to his praise for me personally, he keeps bringing me back to it.

Oh wretched person that I am! Who will save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God in Jesus Christ… there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 7:24-Romans 8:1

Today on Easter, I think again about the simple but dumb-foundingly unbelievable, marvelous thing of Christ getting up from his grave bed.

He was marred in appearance more than any other man… who can speak of his descendants? He was cut off from the land of the living… we esteemed him stricken by God…. It was the Lord’s will to crush him.

Isaiah‬ ‭52‬:‭14‬, 53:8, 53:4, 53:10

It is the most monumental event in history and, yet again, a not so glorious experience for the witnesses.

Recently, I marvel at the extraordinary thing of watching my son, a current seven month old, grow. All the potential for his life has been in him all along. His body, once so tiny, gets bigger by the day. Hands and fingernails, legs and belly, head and brain grow before me. His personality shines through more now and it’s a wonder to me that it’s all still happening without any effort from me (I mean, there’s effort – oh, there’s effort – but not the kind to make a cell multiply and organ grow).

The life and death and life again of Jesus is miraculous in a similar way. It’s an astoundingly beautiful, bizarre miracle and it’s just another fact of life (if you believe it’s fact).

This Easter, may this gloriously unbeautiful, nonmajestic event grab our hearts in appreciation and love for what we’ve got.

Peace of the Lord be with you.