Like Flint
How do we face adversity? Do we try to avoid it? Do we embrace it like a challenge to be overcome? A one-time marathoner I know has said that the best way to handle the inevitable pain that creeps in during the last 4-5 miles is to welcome it like an old friend. "There you are (knee pain/sore hips/cramping calf muscle) I was expecting you. I'm glad you came along for the last few miles." I confess that in the eight marathons I've completed I never had the ability to welcome the arrival of pain like that!
Isaiah's third servant song, which we find in chapter 50 refers to the servant of the Lord setting his face like flint. It's easy to picture rock-jawed Hollywood action heroes here. One can imagine faces like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, or Matt Damon who seem impassive in the midst of explosions all around them; who deliver a bare-knuckled beating on their opponents- whether they be boxers, aliens, or general all-purpose villains. It is quite another thing to envision a "face set like flint" to one who will be suffering abuse, torture, and humiliation.
Luke records in 9:51, that Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem." Jerusalem was his destiny and he must go. It is remarkable that all the Gospels are very heavily back-loaded. All four devote at least a third of their length to the last week of Jesus' public ministry, the passion. John goes even further by devoting five chapters to the night of his last supper with the disciples! Furthermore, though there are some subtle differences between the various Gospel accounts, they all portray Jesus as in some way being master of the events. He is not a helpless victim. If the passion of Jesus is to mean anything, he must willingly walk the path. John in chapter 10:18 records Jesus saying, "No one takes it (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again." In Mark 14, as Jesus is being subjected to the "kangaroo court" trial in the house of Caiaphas the high priest, Jesus went even further. When asked if he was the Christ, the son of the Blessed, Jesus responded with, "I AM, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven." Jesus was in control that night, and in essence said that one day he would judge his would be judges.
The servant of the Sovereign Lord set his face toward Jerusalem and walked willingly into the hornets nest. Yes, this servant could have tried to avoid this. Yes, he could have pushed his "God button" to annihilate his tormentors, instead he set his face to the persecutors. As Isaiah put it, "I give my back to those who strike, and my cheek to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting." In Isaiah the servant of the Sovereign boasted that, "the Lord God helps me... he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?" Did Jesus think upon these things as the week grew progressively darker? One can only guess. The stark truth is this. On the dark Thursday and Friday of that week, God didn't help him. There was none to vindicate him. Instead, there was a mob who judged him guilty and deserving of death. The Servant of the Lord, who had from eternity known the grandest love of all- that binds Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit as one- would be on his own. Heaven would be silent to his plea to take the cup from him. There would not be "peace like a river." Instead, he would be driven to gasp the first phrase of another portion of his scriptures, Psalm 22. The servant finally cried in his mother tongue, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani." My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
We know how the story ends though my friends. It is very true that Jesus was utterly abandoned by his disciples and friends, and even by his God. It is also very true that Jesus would be vindicated. The darkness of Friday and Saturday would be pierced by the glorious light of resurrection.
Isaiah's third servant song, which we find in chapter 50 refers to the servant of the Lord setting his face like flint. It's easy to picture rock-jawed Hollywood action heroes here. One can imagine faces like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, or Matt Damon who seem impassive in the midst of explosions all around them; who deliver a bare-knuckled beating on their opponents- whether they be boxers, aliens, or general all-purpose villains. It is quite another thing to envision a "face set like flint" to one who will be suffering abuse, torture, and humiliation.
Luke records in 9:51, that Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem." Jerusalem was his destiny and he must go. It is remarkable that all the Gospels are very heavily back-loaded. All four devote at least a third of their length to the last week of Jesus' public ministry, the passion. John goes even further by devoting five chapters to the night of his last supper with the disciples! Furthermore, though there are some subtle differences between the various Gospel accounts, they all portray Jesus as in some way being master of the events. He is not a helpless victim. If the passion of Jesus is to mean anything, he must willingly walk the path. John in chapter 10:18 records Jesus saying, "No one takes it (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again." In Mark 14, as Jesus is being subjected to the "kangaroo court" trial in the house of Caiaphas the high priest, Jesus went even further. When asked if he was the Christ, the son of the Blessed, Jesus responded with, "I AM, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven." Jesus was in control that night, and in essence said that one day he would judge his would be judges.
The servant of the Sovereign Lord set his face toward Jerusalem and walked willingly into the hornets nest. Yes, this servant could have tried to avoid this. Yes, he could have pushed his "God button" to annihilate his tormentors, instead he set his face to the persecutors. As Isaiah put it, "I give my back to those who strike, and my cheek to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting." In Isaiah the servant of the Sovereign boasted that, "the Lord God helps me... he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?" Did Jesus think upon these things as the week grew progressively darker? One can only guess. The stark truth is this. On the dark Thursday and Friday of that week, God didn't help him. There was none to vindicate him. Instead, there was a mob who judged him guilty and deserving of death. The Servant of the Lord, who had from eternity known the grandest love of all- that binds Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit as one- would be on his own. Heaven would be silent to his plea to take the cup from him. There would not be "peace like a river." Instead, he would be driven to gasp the first phrase of another portion of his scriptures, Psalm 22. The servant finally cried in his mother tongue, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani." My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
We know how the story ends though my friends. It is very true that Jesus was utterly abandoned by his disciples and friends, and even by his God. It is also very true that Jesus would be vindicated. The darkness of Friday and Saturday would be pierced by the glorious light of resurrection.
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