surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows

Good evening brothers and sisters,
Today's reading is a beautiful word from the Book of Isaiah about God's suffering servant who is sent to bring Israel back to God. This passage wasn't written about Jesus, but we believe Jesus fulfilled the hope expressed here. God's servant takes the sins of the people on himself and receives the punishment we deserve in our place. It isn't fair, but the servant agrees to "take one for the team" in a big way. In worship today we read this passage once in good Presbyterian intellectual engagement and once trying to let the passage speak right to our heart about God's love and redemption for us in Christ. If you have the chance this evening I'd suggest doing the same thing: read once for "head" understanding and once more to let God's love sink into your heart. Jesus loves you.

God bless,
Sam

Isaiah 53:3-12

³He 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. ⁴Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

worship and righteousness

Good morning all,
Scholars usually divide Isaiah into two or three parts. So called First Isaiah is basically chapters 1-39 and was probably written or at least composed orally in the 700s BC. The overall theme is calling for justice and warning of God's judgment. Second Isaiah is either the rest of the book or chapters 40-54 along with some earlier material, and dates from the exile after Jerusalem's fall. This section is most concerned with reminding the people that even though they have been punished, God will restore them with a glorious return from exile and a renewal of the world. Many of our Lenten text come from this section. Finally, Third Isaiah is chapters 55-66 as well as some earlier material and dates from the return from exile. The end of exile didn't solve all of Judah's problems, so this section deals with that disappointment and seeks to build up hope in God's future. Like the other prophets we've read, First Isaiah warns of judgement, but there's a hopefulness in Isaiah we don't really see in Amos.

Yesterday Isaiah compared Judah's fate to that of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that it was different only because the Lord left a few survivors in Judah. I expect that comparison would already be pretty shocking for the chosen people of God, but here Isaiah makes the comparison even stronger. He calls the leaders of Israel, "Rulers of Sodom" and "People of Gomorrah." The specific complaint is that Judah's society is unjust. They may worship in all the ways the tradition teaches. They bring all the offering the Law tells them to bring, but their lives are not touched. Doing the right thing in our lives is more important than worshiping the right way. Or maybe put a different way, living the right way is the foundation of worshiping well. If our lives don't show the faith our worship proclaims both become hollow and hypocritical.

God bless,
Sam


Isaiah 1:10-20
10Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; 13bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation— I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. 14Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. 15When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.

16Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. 18Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 19If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 20but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.