Yet, in Humility

Day Sixteen                           

Yet, in Humility                     

Isaiah 53:3-5

We have seen that an orthodox Jew, hearing John describe the glory of God, would have thought automatically about the holiness and righteousness of God. God’s glory made Him unapproachable. He was to be feared, or at least revered. But John went on to say that he, and those with him, “had seen His glory.” What had they seen, if not the cloud that hid God from their sight?

They had seen Jesus of Nazareth, a carpenter’s son. They had met Him by the lakeside as they mended their nets, and they had responded to His command, “Follow me!” They saw Him walking through the fields, picking ears of corn, teaching as He went. They saw Him in the synagogue and at a wedding at Cana in Galilee. They saw Him being attacked by those who wanted to harm Him, and being misunderstood by those whose eyes were still shaded from the light. They saw Him breaking bread in an upper room, healing a child, and sitting among outcasts. They saw Him suffering under the power of Roman law, carrying a cross, wearing a crown of thorns, bleeding and dying. And then they saw Him in a garden, by an empty tomb, coming to them in a locked room, eating fish by the lake at which they had met Him. They saw Jesus. For them, the glory of the Lord was revealed not in the rending of the heavens, but in the coming of the Christ.

Years earlier, the prophet Isaiah, in a vision that must have confused and terrified those who heard it, described the coming Son of Man as one who would be “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (Isaiah 53:3 – NKJV). Over time, as Christians searched the Scriptures, they saw how Isaiah’s “suffering servant” fitted the life and ministry, and especially the death of Jesus. It meant a radical re-evaluation of glory.

In New Testament terms, glory is as much about humility as it is about holiness. This makes the story even more wonderful. Jesus laid aside the glories of heaven, to which He was entitled, and humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant. For us, then, the glory of Christ is not that He possessed supernatural power, but that He chose not to use it. He did not come on a war horse, trampling His enemies beneath His feet. He came, borne by a peasant mother, on a donkey’s back. The One we worship is our servant-King. He laid aside His majesty, suffered and served. This is the glory, says John, “that we have seen.”

Lord Jesus, may I see Your glory, too. Help me to lay aside my pretension and my pride. Not in arrogance or in power, but in lowliness and vulnerability, let me follow in Your path and share Your glory. For Your love’s sake. Amen.