Isaiah 53:1-12 The Lord’s Servant,
Part 2
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
****
“The Silence of the Lamb”
I am not a big fan of psychological thrillers.
I guess they have the intended effect of giving me the creeps! Nonetheless, a
couple with whom my wife and I are friends enjoy that type of movie so, a
number of years ago when we were together, we watched “Silence of the Lambs.”
It worked! I kept thinking about that movie, getting chills every time.
Obviously I think about it still.
One of the mysteries of the book of Isaiah is
the identity of the servant about whom he writes in chapter 53. Is it a
particular person known to Isaiah? Is it the prophet himself? Is it the nation
of Israel collectively? There is no definitive answer. But it became apparent
to the early Christians that Jesus, in his life and death, matched the
description. And one of the things that is remarkable to me, both about the
servant in this passage and about Jesus, especially in his crucifixion, is the
silence of the one being oppressed! Well, not silence exactly, at least
in the case of Jesus. “Father, forgive them. Woman, behold your son. Today you
will be with me in Paradise.” Words of grace in the midst of a cruel and
unjust death. I know that I totally lose my patience when someone drives
“unjustly.” How gracious, then, that Jesus speaks words of love and forgiveness
and is otherwise silent, not calling for revenge.
It’s a little creepy. I know I don’t deserve
such grace and love. None of us do. But there it is. Advent incites us to
consider again the powerful way in which God's love enters again and again into
our world and our lives and our struggles. And to not stay silent but to tell
of this life-giving Lamb.
Pastor Paul Egensteiner has been
pastor at Emanuel in Pleasantville since 1997, before that serving a congregation
on Staten Island for 12+ years. He says, “I am blessed in more ways than I
could possible hope to count, but I will single out my beautiful wife Marianne
Dietrich and my sons Will and Luke and their lovely wives Tori and Jenna,
respectively. I am also blessed with wonderful, supportive colleagues in the
Tappan Zee Conference of the ELCA.”
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