We’ve all heard the expression “to throw in the towel.”
It refers to being defeated, or quitting or giving up. Well, that is exactly what Isaiah would not not do. Not only did he not throw in the towel, he doubled down. It says that he said —
“I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who tore out my beard; My face I did not hide from insults and spitting.”
He never gave up. He refused to not speak God’s word regardless of the personal cost to himself. And actually, he showed who was big and who was small; he never got down to their level nor became like them, but continued with dignity and purpose and trusting in God no matter what happened to him.
This is exactly what Jesus did also.
And today, we get very chronological as Judas and his purpose become clear.
Just one day before we celebrate the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, we hear the story of Judas actually going to the chief priests to ask them how much dinero he could get for handing Jesus over to them. And —
“They paid him thirty pieces of silver.”
Then, in these 11 verses, in three chunks of the story: We get that payment for the deadly deed, the preparations for the Last Supper, then the actual accusation, denial, and admission wrapped together in Judas’ —
“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
A liar and a sneak through it all, surely this is a case of seeing the handwriting on the wall. Yet, like Isaiah, Jesus is prepared to accept all with dignity and purpose, and never to throw in the towel.
And surely there have been and will be moments in our lives when we could throw in the towel, or become as small as those who betray or offend or attack us.
But must we? Will we?
Can we rise up and imitate the example of Isaiah and Jesus?
Can we find ourselves to be the Servant that was Isaiah and Jesus?
