It’s easy for us to overlook the full reality of Christ’s life on Earth. We often look at the miracles, the teachings, and the brutality of the cross. Yet in the midst of all of that is an incredible truth – the almighty God of the universe took on human flesh, yet didn’t take on the form we think would be appropriate for a perfect, holy, beautiful, merciful, and sovereign God.
Christ in the Old Testament
He was despised and abandoned by men,
A man of great pain and familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was despised, and we had no regard for Him. (Isaiah 53:3)
Israel was always looking for a Messiah in all the wrong places. 1 Samuel 8 shows us how desperate Israel was for a leader like the other nations had, despite God being their eternal king. Imagine Israel’s excitement when God not only gave them over to their desire, but also gave them a king who was tall and handsome. They expected nothing less of their promised Messiah than to be a conquering king everyone could look up to.
Yet God says differently through the prophet Isaiah. Their true Messiah would be the complete opposite of everything they wanted. He would be despised, abandoned, familiar with suffering, and possess no physical qualities that would mark Him as worthwhile, unique, or even desirable.
Fulfilled in the New Testament
Jesus went out from there and *came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man learn these things, and what is this wisdom that has been given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are His sisters not here with us?” And they took offense at Him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not dishonored except in his hometown and among his own relatives, and in his own household.” And He could not do any miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He was amazed at their unbelief. (Mark 6:1-6a)
And after summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or are we to look for another?” (Luke 7:19)
Nothing about Jesus marked Him as the Messiah Israel had waited for. The world took little notice of Him, though many flocked to Him to have their bellies filled or their suffering relieved. Yet despite these things, even Christ’s own family refused to believe that this person they’d grown up with could ever be the Messiah they were waiting to free them.[
Likewise, even John the Baptist had his doubts. This was the person who had been proclaiming the coming of the Messiah and even declared Christ “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The One that John was once certain of wasn’t doing the things John expected, and he assumed God wanted him to keep looking.
What’s truly incredible about all of this is that Christ chose all of it. He chose to go down from Heaven and live in a world that had hated Him since Eden. He could have taken on a form that made Him more desirable, easier to listen to, or more likely for people to flock around. Let’s face it, He could have just outright revealed His full Godhood during His humiliating march to death.
Yet Christ had a bigger plan in mind. He didn’t come to be impressive, but to obey and fulfill God the Father’s will. Christ fulfilled the words of Isaiah because this was the perfect form for our Savior to take.
As His followers, it’s so easy for us to be as guilty as Israel, Christ’s family, and even John the Baptist. We make assumptions about how He should be or what He should do, and we lose faith when He doesn’t jump through our hoops and do what we expect. Yet Jesus Christ isn’t a perfect Savior because He does what’s expected, but because He does what’s perfect.
Let us never forget that God is God, and we are obedient and faithful to Him. The God of the universe loved us enough to purposely take on the humiliation we see in the gospels. He didn’t do it because we are so important, but because He is so good. Praise Him for that, and let that be our motivation to not only serve Him well, but trust Him when He doesn’t do what we expect.
