Thought for the Week 2021 – Lent 7

Isaiah 53: 1 - 12

¹ Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² 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.
³ 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.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

Lent 7 – Holy Week

This week is the most solemn week in the Christian calendar. It is also at the heart of our faith as followers of Christ – the Son of God who came to redeem mankind through his death. We find ourselves horrified and appalled by the suffering that he went through, especially when we consider that he went through it all for us. For me.

Isaiah’s ‘Suffering Servant’ chapter is astonishing. The words themselves, as a description of Jesus’ suffering, are so full of depth and meaning. Isaiah makes no attempt to gloss over what Jesus went through or to make it sound nicer. No, the suffering is laid bare in all its harshness. But it becomes even more astonishing when we note that Isaiah didn’t write this about Jesus. This is not a contemporary account written by someone who stood at the foot of the cross of Calvary, watching as the Saviour suffered. No, this was written over 700 years before the death of Christ on the cross. It was written by Isaiah as a prophecy, and he wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes in the Old Testament it is clear what the prophet was talking about at the time, and we then see a later fulfilment superimposed on top (e.g Isaiah 7 and 9, read at Christmas). But with chapter 53 we cannot know what Isaiah had in mind when he wrote this: but the fulfilment in the crucifixion of Christ is so clear, it is blatant! This chapter is quoted in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament passage, and on every occasion, the New Testament writer applies the words to Jesus and his suffering.

Read the chapter again slowly. Pause on the imagery as you consider Jesus Christ himself facing a mockery of a trial, being tortured, beaten and mocked by the Roman soldiers, then carrying his cross to Golgotha where he was nailed to it and left to die. ‘He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.’ ‘But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.’

As we come towards Good Friday, we come with awe, mourning and worship as we approach the cross. We see the Saviour nailed to it, beaten and bleeding. We see the creator treated cruelly by the people he created. But we also approach the cross with joy in our hearts and thanksgiving – giving thanks to God that he was willing to go through the pain and sacrifice for us. He did it because he loves us – and that applies to all the suffering described and prophesied in Isaiah 53.

 

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank you for Calvary. You came to earth because you loved all people. You showed us how to live, and when the time came, you died for us. You suffered physical, emotional and spiritual torment, and you did it so that we might know life, and life to the full for eternity. We praise you today and celebrate all that we have received through your life, death and resurrection. Amen.