40 Day Journey with Our Neighbors in Solidarity
Week 3: First Lutheran African Ministry, Sioux Falls
Written By: Siennia D Sengbe
Isaiah 53:1-6
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For 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.
3 He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering[a] and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces[b]
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
4 Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Friends took me for a joke when I stepped up to walk to the baptismal pool like two years ago. One of my best buddies asked me if getting baptized was the right thing to do at the time. Of course, I answered her affirmatively; that no other time is best than now. I lost friends for the path I took. Taking on new life in Christ was challenging but worthy. I even dropped some hobbies for the sake of the gospel. But this wasn’t a problem for me though I struggled from the start of everything. Not airing my experience to compare to that of our Lord, but all I am trying to inject here is that whenever one makes such an upright decision there are always backlashes. You’ll be ridiculed by folks who think you’re getting out of your mind or insane.
If one would judge Jesus on account of the world and by his experience, one would undoubtedly place him among losers and from my own understanding those who rejected him, reckoned him a real time loser, but make no mistake, my Jesus isn’t close to being a loser, he’s a winner! He was extraordinary in many ways: in attributes and power. He only subjected himself to a shameful painful death not to prove a point but give me a new life in Christ. He laid down his life for us. The creator was conscious of his action. It thrills me that Christ’s selfless sacrifice will not be acclaimed wholly. So, like my Lord, my baptism was really not welcomed by my peers and folks close to me, but I am glad I received the promise and can be called a child of God.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for giving your Son, Jesus to die for my sin and I’ve received forgiveness.. It is only through his wounds that we are healed and renew daily and keep me in the joy of my salvation that I may live in the light of his glory. In Christ’s Name, Amen.
Reflect:
From ashes and dust, from shame and rejection, ridicule and mockery we’re heading to the hill called calvary, to redemption, to victory, to winning ways….in Christ Jesus. Amen.
