Today’s Scripture Reading (December
26, 2013): Isaiah 52
On November
11, 1843, Danish poet and author Hans Christian Anderson first published his
fairy tale – The Ugly Duckling. The tale is a barnyard story of a misfit bird
who is like none of the other birds in the barnyard. Because of the differences
between this bird and all of the other birds, the misfit is abused by the other
animals in the barnyard. In the story, the bird is chased from the barnyard and
decides to live with the wild ducks and geese. But, even here in the forest, the
torment that started in the barnyard continued. So the Ugly Duckling moves on
to find a home with an old woman, but her cat and hen continue the merciless
teasing. So, once more, the duckling leaves. The duckling is confronted with a
migrating flock of swans and is impressed by their beauty and majesty, but the
duckling is too small and too young to fly with the swans and so he wanders off
again. A farmer finally finds the ducking cold and dying and brings it to his home,
but the children of the house are noisy and the duckling is easily frightened
and so he runs away once again. That winter was a miserable winter for the duckling,
but he survives on what he can find to eat and hiding for most of the winter in
a cave. When spring arrives once more he finds himself confronted with the
returning flock of swans. Lonely and tired the ducking decides to try to join
the swans, thinking to himself that it would be better to be killed by such
beautiful birds than to be forced to live out the rest of his days in
loneliness. But, much to his surprise, the swans do not kill him, but rather
accept him without question into their group. The duckling is bewildered until
he looks at his own reflection in the water of the pond and realizes that he
has matured into a beautiful swan. The story is often used to encourage
children who are teased by their peers as a reminder that there is something
special in them as well. Each one of us harbors a swan inside of us just
waiting to be released.
This verse
starts a new prophecy for Isaiah. It is a prophecy that we know of as “The
Suffering Servant” passage. Composed about 500 years before the birth of
Christ, it is a passage that has been almost universally accepted as telling
the story of Jesus. The passage talks about Jesus being beaten and mocked. It
talks about the homeliness of Jesus; that there was nothing in his appearance
to commend him to us. But the prophecy starts off with this reminder. The
Suffering Servant would do all that was asked of him, and in the end he would
not just be lifted up, but he would be highly exalted. The one that, for a
while, we would be able to find no beauty in, would one day be the most
beautiful sight that the world could imagine seeing.
The Baby,
born in a manger, born to die for the sins of the world, is also the one that
would one day be placed back on the throne of heaven to reign over all of
creation. In the end, the Bible says that the story of Jesus is the real tale
of the Ugly Duckling – the Savior of the world who became like us, and was
abused by us, all in order to save us. And that is the real mystery of
Christmas.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
53
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