2For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
Dear friends in Christ, Good Friday is coming toward us. If you come to worship with us at St. Paul, you will be asked to place a cross at the altar. The crosses will be made from Palm Sunday palms. The way to the altar, to the cross, will be also marked by palm crosses. You are welcome to come to this tender time.
The words from Isaiah talk about a person who was plain, un-extraordinary and even undesirable. This is good news! Very few of us are extraordinary and desirable. You and I are plain.
Our Christian faith calls the cross of Christ the Tree of Life. I don't know about you, but a cross to me seems dry, dead, and good for only one thing. A cross is good for bringing death. No fruit is borne from that tree.
However, I think you know how the cross could possibly be the Tree of Life. In theology there is a saying that God reveals God's self most clearly "under the form of its opposite." That means that the "plainer" our Lord can be, the more beautiful he is becoming. The more undesirable Christ can be hanging there on that dry tree of life, the more he draws us to his beauty, the harder it is for us to look away. I think there is a profound reason this is called the Passion of Christ. Perhaps we can add, "The Passion for Christ."
Will you have the courage to go deep into your plainness and meet Christ there? I want that for me, and so I remember a phrase from my ordination.. "I will, and I ask God to help and guide me."
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