He Has Borne My Grief

"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:3 - 4)

One time--I was probably six or seven--I got blamed for something my brother did. I can't remember exactly what the infraction was. Can't even remember the punishment, so it couldn't have been too bad. And in fairness, I probably got away with a few crimes I did commit, so I guess it breaks even.

Honestly, though, the thing I remember to this day is the unfairness of the situation. After all these years, the injustice remains in my thoughts. My parents were always absolutely fair in their dealings with the four of us, so this one stands out. It hurt. It made me angry.

As a parent, one of my mantras, so to speak, has always been, "Life's not always fair. Get over it and move on." That's usually been said in response to some perceived slight that may not have actually been unfair. The other team won. We couldn't see a movie they wanted to see. Things like that.

But imagine a coworker--classmate, if you're younger--did something clearly against company policy or school rules. The boss comes in, points at you, and says, "You'll be docked a day's pay for that." The teacher gives you a zero for the day. Now that's not fair. You'd be hurt and angry, wouldn't you?

Now imagine you are the one who broke the rules. You knowingly and willfully committed some act you knew would bring punishment when it was discovered. Dread. Fear. What's going to happen?

Then someone steps in. Someone who's never broken a rule, skirted a company policy, never even thought about doing anything wrong. And He takes your place. He takes your punishment.

So many feelings ... anguish at allowing One so undeserving of punishment to bear the brunt of your sins. Joy that you've escaped that punishment. Forever. Love because how can you not love someone who'd do that for you, someone who loved you when you don't deserve it? Gratitude and relief because you know you deserved the punishment, but He took it off your shoulders.

This weekend, the Christian world celebrates the One who did that all for us.

For you.

For me.

So there's no Food for Thought questions for today's blog. Just the hope that I always remember and praise the One who took the ultimate unfair situation and turned it to work in my favor.