Lent Devotions: Day 28
Read: Isaiah 53
The Un-noble Nobleman
He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. (v. 2)
Superman is considered the first superhero, different than other heroes because he possessed unearthly powers and fought, in the familiar phrase, for “truth, justice, and the American way.” Those lines were written for the 1950s Superman television show at the height of the Cold War, and the writers tapped into the desire for someone “faster than a speeding bullet” and “more powerful than a locomotive” who could not only “leap tall buildings in a single bound” but, more significantly, would right the world’s wrongs.
Scripture proclaims Jesus Christ as Savior, one a far cry from Superman. His noble birth was not in a grand cradle draped with silk, but in a trough used to feed livestock. His form and appearance were ordinary; certainly he wore no shirt emblazoned with a large “S.” During his triumphal entry into Jerusalem he did not sit upon a handsome steed, but on a donkey. The crown placed upon his head was not of pure gold and fine jewels, but of thorns, which pierced his skin and caused blood to drip onto his scarlet robe.
Humankind is inclined to hope in heroes they create rather than Jesus Christ, the creator. Are our hopes set upon our own desires or upon Jesus? —Garret Szantner
Prayer: We confess, O Lord, that we have placed our hearts’ desires and hopes in things of this world. Set our eyes upon Jesus Christ.