Friday, April 15, 2022
See, my servant
shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Just as there were many who were astonished
at him--so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form
beyond that of mortals-so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their
mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate. Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been
revealed? For he grew up before him like
a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty
that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire
him. He was despised and rejected by
others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom
others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and
carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and
afflicted. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12
The images of Good Friday hardly look like the promotional
ceremony when one is being lifted to an exalted status. It looks a whole lot more like the essence of
grief and brokenness.
And so it was…for everyone who knew him. The High Priest and his evil cohorts had
accomplished their mission of stifling the upstart preacher from Galilee. Victory was theirs, and there was probably
more than a few cups of wine hoisted in celebratory toasts that night.
But that was Friday.
The promotional celebration of a massive rock door
holding down the dream of God’s promises would wait to begin early Sunday
morning. It would be a rough start, with
the chief dreamers confused and frightened, and the chief supporter mistaking
the Son of God for the cemetery caretaker – but the celebration would take
place, despite soldiers, and all the demons of hell guarding that tomb.
And it’s still going on!
For You Today
It will be a somber
service at most churches tonight for followers of this exalted and lifted-up
One. The observance will call-up images
of his pain and brokenness for our sin.
We will feel the aloneness and barbarity of it all. And yet, as we leave the meeting in silence,
the essence of the holy One, exalted and lifted on high, will paint hope and
expectation with a broad brush. It will
be a Good Friday!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have
a blessed day!
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