32nd Day of Lent

Thursday, April 10, 2025

Isaiah 53:10-12, MSG

Still, it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him. Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—the best of everything, the highest honors—Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

Reflection - Pastor Caroline Bashore, First UCC, Royersford and Linfield UCC

A “black sheep” is the one who stands out—the family member who doesn’t fit the mold, whose choices or struggles set them apart. In flocks of white sheep, a black sheep is noticeable, different, and sometimes unwanted. The phrase has come to mean someone cast aside, misunderstood, or excluded.

Isaiah 53 paints Jesus as the ultimate black sheep. “He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed… He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word.” (Isaiah 53:5, 7) Jesus bore the weight of rejection, not because He deserved it, but because He chose to. He stepped into the place of the outsider, the outcast, the forgotten.

Lent is a season of remembering that Jesus wasn’t celebrated—He was despised. He wasn’t honored—He was humiliated. And yet, through His suffering, we find redemption. The world labels people as failures, outcasts, or disappointments, but Immanuel (God with us) meets us where we are and God changes the story. The one rejected is the one who saves. The one cast out is the one who brings us home.

If you’ve ever felt like the black sheep, know this: Jesus is right there with you. And if you’ve been the one doing the rejecting, Lent is the time to repent, to see others as God does—to love the ones who seem unlovable.

In the kingdom of God, no one is cast aside. The black sheep isn’t lost—it’s carried home on the shoulders of grace.

Prayer: Holy God, it is through Jesus that we find acceptance and are offered grace. When we feel like outsiders, remind us that it is though His rejection that we have been found and welcomed. Amen.