Suffering Servant: 3 Meaningful Ways Jesus Defies Expectations
in Faith, Salvation
Do you welcome the unexpected, or are you skeptical when it comes your way? Since God's ways are higher than ours, we must be careful not to resist as He works in ways that don't align with our narrow assumptions. The "suffering servant"--this is how Jesus is presented in Isaiah 53. Such a description was not expected for a prophesied Messiah and King of Glory.
But we shouldn't be surprised; nearly every aspect of Jesus' life demonstrates how God delights to work in unexpected ways. Even though much about Christ was prophesied beforehand, it passed right over human heads, inconceivable to mortal minds. As the foretold events unfolded, many people remained incredulous and unbelieving. Jesus was never what anyone would imagine or expect in the Savior of all mankind. Aside from the many miraculous elements of His life, here are three meaningful ways Jesus defied the world's expectations to bring you and I the greatest gift we will ever know.
The Suffering Servant Chooses Humiliation
In Isaiah 52 God says His servant, Jesus, shall be exalted and lifted up, and the New Testament proclaims Him as the head of all things (Ephesians 1:20-22). Yet immediately after declaring Jesus' high position, Isaiah 52:14 announces that people will be astonished at His degraded appearance as he suffers on the cross: His marred "visage" will be so disfigured that they will not be able to recognize His form as human.
The idea in Isaiah and throughout the New Testament is that Jesus chose this humiliation, torment, and pain. He came with a purpose, and this was it. Unbelievable, right? Imagine being a Jew during this day and trying to swallow the fact that your Messiah, your Deliverer, would be treated worse than a dog and die a criminal's death at the hand of tormentors. Surely, the Messiah could not be the servant Isaiah spoke of.
No one expected the Messiah would come as a servant to the lowest of the earth and willingly be humiliated and tortured. Messiah must be supreme ruler and king--not this. Sadly, this paradox of the suffering servant-king turned many aside from following Christ. He just didn't fit their profile.
But these unbelieving souls, clinging to their assumptions and narrow thinking, missed the "why" behind the humble life of Jesus Christ.
So shall he sprinkle many nations...Isaiah 52:15
Jews and anyone familiar with the sacrificial system of the Old Testament would understand this reference to "sprinkle" which points to the sprinkling of blood after the offering of a sacrifice. This was a ritualistic means of cleansing in which anything the blood touched would be considered cleansed. Isaiah tells us that Christ suffered and bled to cleanse many nations of their sins, to renew and restore to Himself what had been sullied and tarnished. Although this is the heroic action of a true king, all of it was lost as the Messiah defied human expectations and long-held assumptions.
Jesus Is Rejected of Men
A long-awaited king and deliverer would be received with joy and celebration as he arrives to court with great honor, being majestic and stately in appearance. Or at least, that would be the earthly expectation of the average Jew. But Isaiah describes the coming Christ in this way:
...he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:2-3
According to this passage, there is nothing in His physical appearance or circumstances that would draw people to him. He is essentially an ordinary man with no remarkable or distinguishing features that denote a king or superior being. Even more surprising is that he isn't merely passed over but despised or hated and outright rejected as an outcast, finding little pity, even as he suffered on the cross.
Many people simply saw no value in Jesus as He suffered our punishment on the cross. When humanity tried to calculate the value of Christ, they used the wrong equation, making the calculation grossly inaccurate. They missed the "why" part of the equation, which changes everything. Jesus received rejection as a way of taking the shame of humanity upon Himself. He bore the weight of it so that such a punishment would not have to be ours who believe.
The Suffering Servant Sacrifices Himself for the Lowly
A king who would sacrifice himself for the lowest in his kingdom is unheard of from an earthly perspective and is certainly unexpected. Yet again, we see Jesus defying such expectations by doing just this as he says, "I lay down my life for the sheep." (John 10:15). The Bible often depicts people as sheep who need a shepherd, and much has been written about the strong parallel between humans and these lovable but helpless creatures, especially in a spiritual sense. So, in a way, we are all lowly sheep who need rescued from certain peril. Jesus is the Good Shepherd sent to accomplish this mission, willing to give up his own life to do it.
However, this is not the perspective of bystanders who watch Him suffer on the cross. Rather than seeing the selflessness of God incarnate, they assume He deserves the death of a criminal. In other words, many in His day believed Jesus Christ deserved the cross as punishment for His own crimes. Wouldn't that be true of most death-row inmates?
What they didn't understand was that Jesus suffered and sacrificed His life for the crimes of others, for the sin of each of us.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hat laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5-6
He was pierced through for our transgressions and crushed for our sins. Like sheep, we wander through life seeking our own way, looking for the next patch of grass to nibble, heedless of the danger we face, and ultimately unable to protect ourselves from predators. Jesus took all of our fault upon Himself and paid the price for our sin, and now He stands as our Protector and Guide through life. Lowly as we are, He gave Himself for our good.
Jesus Defies Expectations with Purpose
We must make His humiliation, rejection, and sacrifice personal. Our sin keeps us from God, and there are consequences for it. Christ took our sin, along with it's price tag, and placed it upon Himself. And then He suffered for it and conquered it. He lives victorious over all. When we believe this by faith, His blood is sprinkled over us, making us cleansed and claimed by Him. Then we belong to the Shepherd, no longer separated from God in this life or in the next.
That has always been the Suffering Servant's purpose, but no one expected it. It's not he way of man: it is the way of God.
If you have received Christ by faith and know this profound forgiveness and freedom, if you are nestled in the arms of the Good Shepherd, then rejoice! Never lose the wonder of the incarnation (Christ in human form), the cross, or the sacrifice of God the Son. It all happened for you.
If you are not sure where you stand with Christ, know this:
...I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
Feeling uncertain about your relationship with God? Watch this video.
