Isaiah 50:4-9 / Mt 26:14-25
I have always liked the phrase from Isaiah we have today: "I have set my face like flint" (50:7).
For the first part of my life it seemed like I was so much of an underdog. This verse gave me a great deal of courage, knowing that God was seeing me through and I could dare to set my face against those who would choose to fight me. And I did face some fights, as most young boys do.
After high school, I entered the Army at a time when Vietnam was listed as a very dirty word. This taught me a new way to set my face like flint.
Then, when I went off to seminary, where there was yet another change in the face I had to make. Does this sound familiar to many people?
So many times we put on masks to try to hide ourselves from others, or from ourselves, or even from God. Jesus used no mask in His life.
Indeed, He set His face like flint in a way that no one else ever had, or ever could. And He has passed that ability on to each one of us. When we look at all the masks we place in front of the world, how do we really compare to the One whose face was set like flint?
I don't imagine my life was that unique in comparison to other people. We have all set a face of some sort before the world. I think the question Isaiah would ask us is: who formed the face you are showing to the world? Is it a face that is designed to protect you? Or is it a face designed to reveal God to the world?
"Your attitude must be that of Christ's…" (Phil 2:4). Read the entire hymn Paul quotes here.
Through all the messes of this life, there's only one face we really need: the face of Christ "“ even if it means enduring some of what He did.
As we approach the days of His Passion, turn your face to His. Allow the Father to conform you to Him. Set your masks aside. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Rom 12:2).
Then you will discover what it means to be set like flint. Who knows what sparks may fly to start the fire of the Spirit flowing again in our world? Our masks, our faces cannot do it. Only the face of Jesus can "“ and we are His face today.
