"All of us, like sheep have gone astray: We have all turned to our own way. Yet He has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases, was wounded for our transgressions, was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the punishment that made us whole, and by His bruises, we are healed."
Isaiah
At the conclusion of a retreat a few years ago, my wife and I had an opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It's amazing when you see everyone's reaction when they first see this incredible site. The canyon is so large in relation to everything else around you that the site leaves you speechless. Everyone is just standing there quietly with faces staring at this huge abyss with looks of awe and wonder and feeling very small in comparison.
Another unusual thing is how quickly the mind becomes accustomed to this extraordinary site. The sense of awe wears off very quickly. After spending most of the day visiting twenty or so look- off sites, they begin to look somewhat the same. What was at first very striking became quite normal. How quickly the mind becomes familiar with such an extraordinary site.
For many, the journey through Lent and Holy Week to Easter can be like that as well. There is a freshness when we first start this spiritual journey, as we hear again the stories and events of Jesus' own journey, His teachings and miracles, and then His passion and death. But as the weeks roll on, and we hear the passion narratives repeated on Psalm Sunday and again on Good Friday, there is a danger that our minds will gain a familiarity with the events to the point that they do not impact us as greatly as they should.
The thing we must remember that the journey of Lent leading to Good Friday and Easter is not a journey of the mind, but a journey of the heart. It is the heart that must be awakened to those sacred events. It is the heart that must remain in constant awe as to how this one person has impacted and changed our lives forever. There is no event in the history of humankind that has affected humanity as much as the events of Good Friday and Easter. And the reason for this is because we are not viewing these events in the same manner as the Grand Canyon. We are allowing those events to play out in our hearts and change our lives.
Isaiah, writing some seven hundred and fifty years before Christ, expressed this reality in words that not only impacted the people of his day, but us as well.
"All of us, like sheep have gone astray: We have all turned to our own way. Yet He has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases, was wounded for our transgressions, was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the punishment that made us whole, and by His bruises, we are healed."
When I was twenty-seven, I mostly had control over the events of my life. I was married and a father of three children. I had a good career and was looking forward to many successes. Like most of this age, I believed I had any number of years to plan and live out my future. I was a fairly typical young person, and my choices didn't seem too far off-the-mark in comparison with others.
Jesus, at age twenty-seven, was making choices too. He was choosing a course of action where in three years He would be experiencing Good Friday, His death; and He made these choices to save me and you. While we were pursuing our lives of success and happiness, Jesus somehow saw in us something profoundly worthwhile and beautiful, something He wanted to protect and nourish. He was willing to pay any price to have that something worthwhile and beautiful to live and flourish.
This is what Isaiah meant when he said: "Upon Jesus was laid the task, yes, the punishment that made us whole; and by His bruises we are healed".
Jesus' offering expresses in such a transforming fashion God love for us, His people. And it is this profound expression of love that strikes the heart and awakens it so that we may know and see how important we are to God. When I was first awakened into this awareness in my late twenties, I was really left with a sense of awe. I was left quite speechless and feeling very small. I discovered many things that needed to be changed in my life and a different road to be taken.
Different from most of us, Jesus experienced a call to poverty, to stand alone, often deprived of companionship and community. He did not respond to flesh's whisper: "Be like the rest of the crowd. Strive for wealth and worldly prestige. Renounce poverty, particularly poverty of Spirit.
Jesus did not betray his mission to satisfy himself with the status quo, following popular opinion, to be average and adhering to the conventions and flattery of society that craves personal endorsement. He remained faithful to His own unique call to be the Christ, the Sacrament of God. And as with many who follow this road of virtue and mission, it led to the cross. Anyone today who chooses to embrace their own unique call must also embrace the cross; but we have the courage to do so because we have in our hearts the One who has gone before us.
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