The Threshing Floor

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
 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.

When Christians adopted the cross as their symbol, when the fish and the dove just wouldn’t do anymore, they were ridiculed. Who would choose shame, nakedness and torture as their flag? Fools, that’s who. But they would never go back.

What does it feel like to be despised? Not just slighted or discarded, but despised? I don’t know if I’ll ever be important enough to despise. Even in my worst moments I only merit a hearty indifference, not because I am likeable but because I am not worth the effort of abhorrence. Contempt requires effort, emotion and action. Indifference casts out but hostility tears apart. Jesus was despised. The King of kings…despised.

There wasn’t an ounce of sin in his heart…“ ¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer..”

He was slain for our vanity. He was pierced for our laziness. He was shot for our thoughtless busy-ness. He was destroyed for our lustful hearts. He was speared for our gossiping. He was torn apart for our greed. He was killed for our careless speech. He was tortured for our wandering thoughts. He was tormented for our lies. He was anguished for our discontentment. He was gashed for our prayerlessness. He was spit on for our indifference. He was crushed for our iniquities.

For me, I have to sit here for a while on this Friday to really understand Sunday. Tonight gives perspective to Easter. Although Sundays-a-comin…I have to sit here and soak it in.

Today, by his wounds we are healed.