“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”

I can remember seeing him for the first time. We received several calls concerning a young man holding a cardboard sign near the Safeway on the corner of 11th and Callow. The callers thought he looked “in our age range” and would benefit from connecting with The Coffee Oasis.

We learned that he was called Hobbit on the streets. He was short and over-sized clothing hung on his small frame. His light skin was hidden by days unshowered and dark, disheveled hair. At our first meeting, his eyes were alert and nervous. He stuttered speaking. Nearby was a cardboard recycling container where he slept in at night.

In all my years of living alongside young men and women who are experiencing homelessness, I have never been able to understand how someone so young and frail can be so completely rejected. Rejection that increases with the experiences of every day. Waking up alone. Nobody to call who will say, “Come home tonight.” Watching every car that passes and wondering if one will stop and offer help.

The young man holding the sign on the corner of 11th and Callow begs for more than money and food. He begs to be noticed. It is easier to not notice. To accept and not reject this young man is complicated. Love is complicated.

In some mysterious way, I am reminded by this homeless young man of our Savior revealed in Isaiah 53, “He grew up…like a tender shoot…he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” Jesus came, tender and unattractive, despised and rejected, and he waits for us to notice him. He waits with the homeless young man, too.

Father, please help us see the Savior this Easter. Help us notice Jesus, not only in his splendor and glory, but also in his pain and rejection. In the Spirit of Jesus, let us go to those who are rejected in our community. Give us the courage to be rejected if that is the cost of love. For if we find ourselves at the end of our lives having only you, that is enough.

MEDITATION & PRAYER WRITTEN BY
Daniel Frederick
Executive Director of The Coffee Oasis