With His Stripes We Are Healed
Isaiah 53:5
When you think about the suffering and death of Jesus, there are probably some images that come to mind of the things that impress you the most about everything that took place. Most of the images come from our childhood days. When you first became aware of all that took place, either hearing the passion story read in church or in Sunday School or from a Bible story book at home, you probably had some kind of picture etched in your mind that remains with you today. As you think about it now, what stands out for you?
Was it the anger of the crowd? I sometimes can picture myself standing up with Jesus and Pontius Pilate looking down on the angry crowd that is shouting, “Crucify Him!” I can see the hatred in their eyes. I think to myself, “How can they hate Jesus so much?” Nothing seems to satisfy them but the death of Jesus.
Perhaps it is the brutality of the crucifixion that sticks in your mind. While the Romans are not credited with inventing crucifixion as a way of executing someone, they did perfect it, so to speak, to the point where it was the most painful and humiliating form of punishment. The nailing of outstretched arms to the wooden beams must have been unbearable. The nailing of the feet caused more pain and especially when the cross was upright and the weight of the body began to pull on those pressure points, the victim must have been in agony. It is said that sometimes it took a couple of days before the person would die. In the case of Jesus and the other two who were crucified with Him, the bodies had to be removed form the crosses by sundown because of the Sabbath laws. Was it the agony of the crucifixion that impressed you the most?
Perhaps it was the sorrow of the women who saw Jesus pass by on the way to Golgotha . Perhaps you put yourself in the place of Mary, the mother of Jesus who saw her son die on the cross. A mother’s sorrow at the loss of her son is only something that another mother could feel. Perhaps you could identify with the disciples of Jesus who saw their teacher, their master, their friend, suffer and die. Was it the sorrow of those who witnessed the crucifixion the thing that impressed you the most?
All of these visual images that you have had had since your childhood are certainly a part of your faith life. They are part of what you think of when you hear the words, “the suffering and death of Jesus.” If all that you think of is the facts of the event, the fact that it took place, the fact that it was brutal, the fact that it was a miscarriage of justice, the fact that it caused great sorrow, then you have missed something. You have not really caught the significance of the whole event. You also need to look at why this happened. It was not just because the leaders of the Jews were jealous of Jesus’ popularity. It was not just because Pontius Pilate was pressured into giving in to the crowd’s demands.
The crucifixion of Jesus was part of God’s plan for the salvation of the world. We know that it was part of God’s plan, not just from the comments of Jesus following the resurrection, not just from the explanations by the Apostle Paul as he proclaimed the Gospel to the world, but also from the Old Testament. That may sound surprising but our Old Testament lesson from the prophecy of Isaiah makes it very clear to us that this was God’s plan. All that Jesus did was for us.
In hearing the text that I read before you can’t help but be impressed by the number of times that Isaiah makes a reference to the fact that the Suffering Servant gave Himself for us. In chapter 53:4-5 we hear, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities ; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his stripes we are healed.” That is an impressive passage. That is really one of the most impressive things about the suffering and death of Jesus. It was for you and me! Jesus came into the world to suffer and die on the cross so that your sins could be forgiven. Your rebellion, your stubbornness, your selfishness, your pride, your transgressions, your iniquities were punished on the cross by Jesus. He took what you deserved. By His wounds you are healed.
When you think about that, you have to step back for a moment and try to take it all in. God in His great love, sent His own Son to do all that for you and for the sins for the whole world. The blessings of that crucifixion are yours through faith, which itself is a gift from God through the power of the Holy Spirit. You have to stand in humble awe at that great gift of love. You have to ask yourself if there is some way that you can respond to that great love. You would be a foolish, ungrateful person if you did not respond in some way. You have been given the greatest gift that you could ever need.
Martin Luther put it very well in the meaning of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed. “For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.” With your heart and voice you can respond to God’s great love by thanking and praising Him. You can live with an attitude of thankfulness every day of your life. You have been given the greatest gift. The forgiveness of your sins is something that you could never work out for yourself. It had to be something that was done for you and now it is given to you as a gift. A thankful heart that expresses thanks in the things that you say and in the ways in which you respond to the blessings that God gives shows your praise and love to God.
You also show your thanks and praise to God with a life of service and obedience. You serve your Lord as you serve others. You can have that attitude of humble service that was demonstrated by your Lord Jesus Christ. You obey the Lord’s will in your life. You make the Lord’s will your will. You make obedience to His will your first priority. That is not an easy thing to do. You still have to deal with your sinful nature but like the power to believe, the Holy Spirit also gives you the power to overcome your sinful nature. He gives you the power to thank and praise, to serve and obey.
As we conclude our worship with the traditional readings, the singing of the hymns, the prayers, the extinguishing of the candles, and the closing of the book, how will you respond. Will you walk out in silence and only think of what an impressive service this was? I pray that you will think also about the great love of God, the great sacrifice of Jesus, and the way that you will respond to that great love and sacrifice. I pray that you will say once again with Martin Luther, “For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey my Lord.” O Holy Spirit, strengthen the hearts of your people through the Word and the Sacraments so that this may be our response now and forever. Amen.
And the peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment