Isaiah 53:4-12 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 53:4-12 on biblegateway.com
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
Too many times we allow our lives to be defined to ourselves and others by the things that we have done wrong. The past "sin" we recall could be a couple of minutes or even years ago. Once we allow our lives to be defined by failure, we then permit this error to define our relationship with God and our relationships with other people. We think that when God sees us, God only sees our failures. We also think that when other people see us, they automatically see our sins and our failures.
In today's reading from Isaiah we are told that God does not define our relationship with God by our failure. God redefines our relationship with God through what Jesus did for us through his death and resurrection. This not only renews our relationship with God; it also renews our relationships with other people.
Prayer
Loving God, thank you for sending Jesus into the world to live, to suffer, to die and to rise, to overcome our sins and failures. Help us to live in the new life that you give us through this precious gift. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.