Scripture Text (NRSV)
53:4 Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet
we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our
iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his
bruises we are healed.
53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own
way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his
mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that
before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
53:8 By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have
imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
53:9 They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his
mouth.
53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain. When you
make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and
shall prolong his days; through him the will of the LORD shall
prosper.
53:11 Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find
satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant,
shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
53:12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he
shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself
to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin
of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Comments:
I am surprised that there are no comments on this most powerful
revelation! I remember an older Order for the Sacrament of Holy
Communion which alternated this as a Responsive Scriptural Reading
with The Ten Commandments, The Great Commandment, and the Beattitudes.
PaideiaSCO in North ga mts.
This text fits into the service well for me. The 3rd Sunday of each
month I include an Order of Healing into the service, with
laying-on-of-hands and anointing with oil. I'm wondering about linking
this passage with the Curse (addressed to the serpent) in Gen. 3:15
"...I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your
offspring and hers -- HE will crush your head, and you will bruise His
heel." Cowboys use those heavy heels on their boots to crush the head
of a rattler, destroying it utterly, even though the it LOOKS as
though it's still alive, thrashing around as it does for awhile. (That
thrashing is what we see in the brokenness of our world.) But the head
has been crushed...there is no longer the source for power.
Likewise, when a rattler strikes a cowboy on the heel out on the
range, that's pretty serious, but does not mean the permanent demise
of the cowboy. He may be seriously bruised, get really sick and weak,
but ultimately will be restored.
There's a lot in this passage that raises so many questions
theologically. I once had a parishioner who said she could never
believe in a God who allowed His own Child to be abused, referring to
v. 10, "yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to
suffer"... (she herself had been abused.) Seeing this willingness to
empty Himself of unbelievable glory and allow Himself to have all the
dirtiness, the brokenness and evil of everyone who has ever lived
placed upon Him so He could take that punishment, and to pay the
sacrifice required for redemption truly makes Jesus unique, I know we
Christians can get very arrogant about why we believe Jesus is the
only Way, but in this respect, He truly is unique, the only One, the
"SECOND Adam" who finally got it right.
Lord, help me not forget the apex of this passage: "AFTER the
suffering of his soul, he will see the light of LIFE and be
satisfied." So let it be.
L'Anni in the Hague, NL
This text fits into the service well for me. The 3rd Sunday of each
month I include an Order of Healing into the service, with
laying-on-of-hands and anointing with oil. I'm wondering about linking
this passage with the Curse (addressed to the serpent) in Gen. 3:15
"...I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your
offspring and hers -- HE will crush your head, and you will bruise His
heel." Cowboys use those heavy heels on their boots to crush the head
of a rattler, destroying it utterly, even though the it LOOKS as
though it's still alive, thrashing around as it does for awhile. (That
thrashing is what we see in the brokenness of our world.) But the head
has been crushed...there is no longer the source for power.
Likewise, when a rattler strikes a cowboy on the heel out on the
range, that's pretty serious, but does not mean the permanent demise
of the cowboy. He may be seriously bruised, get really sick and weak,
but ultimately will be restored.
There's a lot in this passage that raises so many questions
theologically. I once had a parishioner who said she could never
believe in a God who allowed His own Child to be abused, referring to
v. 10, "yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to
suffer"... (she herself had been abused.) Seeing this willingness to
empty Himself of unbelievable glory and allow Himself to have all the
dirtiness, the brokenness and evil of everyone who has ever lived
placed upon Him so He could take that punishment, and to pay the
sacrifice required for redemption truly makes Jesus unique, I know we
Christians can get very arrogant about why we believe Jesus is the
only Way, but in this respect, He truly is unique, the only One, the
"SECOND Adam" who finally got it right.
Lord, help me not forget the apex of this passage: "AFTER the
suffering of his soul, he will see the light of LIFE and be
satisfied." So let it be.
L'Anni in the Hague, NL
I read this last night to the Council as our devotion.
I have not read this recently- how powerful it struck me as I read it
and remembered all Jesus went through later.
Then the reminder that as our days now grow darker and shorter, the
darkness begins to appear in the lessons-- the predictions of the the
end-- th stuff we hate to think about.
I was having a conversation with a parishioner yesterday morning about
a program that talked about the crucifixion as a murder mystery and
discussed all possibilities.
I think it was A & E's Msteries of the Bible- the execution of Jesus
She mentioned the illegal trial held in front of the high priest (By a
perversion of justice he was taken away)
This is nothing new- it just reminded me how powerful this prophecy
is.
Michele pa
This reading is a section from the last of four passages in Isaiah
that are often called "servant songs." Christians are most familiar
with the various New Testament interpretations of this passage. In
light of Christian faith, the servant's healing ministry and
redemptive suffering are brought to fullness in the life and death of
Christ.
