As we move on in the song we come to this stanza:
Who has believed our message
Isaiah 53:1-3
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 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.
Here we have the description of the servant. If we’ve read the rest of Isaiah we will remember that roots and shoots from the line of Jesse have been promised – and we’ll also remember that they are supposed to be kings. But here there is nothing about this root that attracts us to him.
The Servant has nothing about his appearance that draws us. Charismatic leaders have large followings – in the secular world, and in the church. We have witnessed over the last few years in the evangelical world many charismatic (small c) leaders whose reputation has turned out to be somewhat hollow. Either they have been manipulative bullies, or sexual predators, or financial frauds, or some other kind of sin has been hidden away. What looked good from a worldly perspective turns out to be hollow and empty.
The Servant is the opposite. He doesn’t pull the crowd with the latest music, the most compelling talking or glittering reasoning. He suffers. He knows what pain is like. He is despised. In a world that thinks leaders should be able to avoid pain he is despised because the suffering and sorrow is etched all too clearly on his face.
And so this Easter, as we reflect on the one who came and lived out the mission of this servant, come back to look on his sufferings that caused him to be despised and rejected by men – and yet were the means by which he accomplished the salvation of the world. Let us remember that if we following a suffering servant we are likely to have to suffer too. And let us remember too that authentic leadership is likely to be provided by people who also know the reality of suffering and who are not necessarily the most impressive or smooth.
Remember that we follow the one who could be described as a man of suffering, familiar with pain. We worship the man of sorrows – and it seems appropriate to use the words of that hymn to reflect more on the Easter story.
1 Man of sorrows what a name
for the Son of God, who came
ruined sinners to reclaim:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!2 Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
in my place condemned he stood,
sealed my pardon with his blood:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!3 Guilty, helpless, lost were we;
blameless Lamb of God was he,
sacrificed to set us free:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!4 He was lifted up to die;
“It is finished” was his cry;
now in heaven exalted high:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!5 When he comes, our glorious King,
Philip Bliss
all his ransomed home to bring,
then anew this song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Joshua's Tree Rooted 