53:2-4 ‘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. Surely he took up our pain and
bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by
him, and afflicted.’
Recently Ireland
was shook by the death of one man beside a street doorway less than 100 metres
from the parliament. The story grabbed the news wires for a days and there was
some soul-searching – even a special conference and announcement to address the
problem especially in the weeks running up to Christmas.
There is
something of the ‘suffering servant’ identified in this part of the Book of
Isaiah in such a situation and person. While every personal story is different
there is the truth that, ultimately, people find themselves on the margins of
society – for whatever reason – and in this state there is nothing ‘comely’ or
attractive in such persons.
One of
our deepest fears – perhaps our deepest fear – is the fear of rejection. We
crave to be respected, included, looked up to, admired for reasons of looks,
intelligence or general social respectability. Yet, this passage of Isaiah – so
often taken up in various liturgies, artistic works as well as cited in the New
Testament – speaks of the ultimate ‘disaster’ – to live alone and to die alone –
as someone outside the tents of social norms and respectability.
One of
the great tragedies of human life is that we tend to celebrate, acknowledge and
respect people after they have gone more than when they are still alive here.
#JourneyIsaiah
