Isaiah 53:4-12 (NRSV)
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Verse 4Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. Verse 5But 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. Verse 6All 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. Verse 7He 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. Verse 8By 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. Verse 9They 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.
Verse 10Yet 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. Verse 11Out 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. Verse 12Therefore 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.
Devotion
Death and destruction are never far away. We were reminded of this recently by forces of nature in Samoa, the Philippines and Indonesia. Forces of power in Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Darfur cause death and destruction daily. We cannot escape the diseases and transgressions, the bruises and the wounds left by these forces of death and destruction. We are often left to figure out how to avoid death and to deny the destruction in and around us.
However, through the servant, the good news of the Lord enters our vulnerabilities. Through the anguish of the servant, we can see the light. Through the offering of the servant’s life, we don’t have to bear our own iniquities. It is good news that we can recognize our own shadows next to the servant. It takes courage to find our failures in the presence of the servant and then to accept wholeness and healing due to the servant’s suffering.
Prayer
You are the voice we can scarcely hear because you speak to us about dying and suffering, and we are impacted by so many voices that have to do with power and competence and success. We know that you are the voice that gives life, that you are the voice that opens futures to people who are hopeless. Amen.