God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Repulsive Attraction and
my focus is our First Lesson (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). Let us pray. Heavenly
Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go
to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we
rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds
and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most
Holy Trinity. Amen.
Periodically, we
are faced with a lectionary passage that is complex. It raises questions and
leaves us wondering why the scribe was inspired by God not only to write these
words, but also to place them where they are. Our passage from Isaiah today is
one of those. Rather than preach in my typical style, this evening, a bit of
teaching to try to make sense not only of Isaiah, but also Christ Crucified on
a Good Friday and what all of this might mean for our lives as individuals and
as a congregation.
Today’s
passage is a poem about God’s Servant. There are four Servant poems in Isaiah (42:1-4;
49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13–53:12). You should read them together and aloud because
poems are intended to be read aloud. Each is inserted in the text for a
particular reason, but we have to excavate the text to understand why it is
there.
The second half of
Isaiah, aka The Book of Consolation, often speaks of Israel as a servant of
Yahweh, chosen, saved, and set apart to be God’s witness before nations. But
the second song distinguishes the Servant from Israel. We read in 49:5-6: “And
now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring
Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—for I am honored in
the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—he says: ‘It is too
light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and
to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the
nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’”
These verses and
others contrast the Servant from the nation of Israel by highlighting qualities
showing the Servant to be a particular individual. The Servant is called from
the womb of his mother and named by God (49:1). God also put his spirit on this
Servant (42:1), made him a disciple and opened his eyes (50:4-5) so that
establishing justice on earth (42:1,3), he may instruct mankind (42:4; 50:4), and
sort and judge humanity by his word (50:10-11). All this he performs gently and
without display, as we read in 42:2-3: “He will not cry aloud or lift up
his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth
justice.” In the end, he even appears to have failed. He says “I
have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet
surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.”
(49:4)
I make the point
that the Servant is an individual because to argue that the nation of Israel is
the Servant, as some do, means that we would have to pay no attention to what
the Word of God says in these poems. Serious Christians do not turn a blind eye
or a deaf ear to God’s Word.
This Servant is
also suffering. His suffering begins to cast its shadow on him in the second
song and continues into the third. It wounds and bruises the one who bore the
sins of others. When we reach the fourth and final song – we begin to see
clearly who this Servant is, although Isaiah never names him.
I have said this
before. Sometimes you go to Bible class, and sometimes Bible class comes to
you. So, we begin with verse 13. Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he
shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. The Lord promised to
be personally present to his people, and in his Servant fulfills this promise.
To act wisely means that the Servant knew exactly what to do in order to bring
about the intended result. And the threefold exaltation expresses a dignity
beyond any other. It is impossible not to be reminded of the resurrection,
ascension and the heavenly exaltation of Jesus Christ.
14
As many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human
semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. Here
astonishment is similar to how appalled, shocked and shattered we were on 9/11.
It is akin to what a bereaved wife feels at the sudden death of her husband. He
was so marred, so disfigured far beyond what The Passion of the Christ
portrays that you would instinctively step back in horror and wonder aloud not
“Is this the Servant?” but “Could this possibly even be human?!”
15
So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of
him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have
not heard they understand. The Servant’s work is
holy, and like the priest performing his ministerial duty, he sprinkled blood
on many nations. The silence of the kings is inexplicable. We are reminded of
Job’s reply to God, “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand
over my mouth.” (40:4)[1] I am sure that at times
you found yourself speechless. Compound that moment exponentially and you begin
to understand who Isaiah was describing.
The poem continues
into chapter 53. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom
has the arm of the LORD been revealed? Who believed? No one. Why?
Because there is no belief before divine revelation. There is no human reason
to desire this ordinary looking Servant during the time of Isaiah or at some
time in the future. Yet, the arm of the Lord is the Lord himself who acts even
when you can’t see Him.
The reason no one
believed is found in verse two. 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, and no beauty that we should desire him. This
person had an earthly look. How could a mere man born of natural means be the
arm of the Lord? Of course, this is what was said of Jesus. “Isn’t this
the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary?” (Mt 13:55) Isaiah
was saying that this Servant had no distinctive look. Yet, the prophet’s
imagery pointed to the truth for those who had eyes to see.
The Servant was
not well built, impressive or handsome, and so we can actually feel what Isaiah
was doing when we recall how people dismissed Jesus’ Messianic status because
he came from Nazareth and not Bethlehem (Jn 7:41-42). Because it was not easy
to believe that he could be the Lord to come, people shunned him, as we read in
v. 3.
3
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we
esteemed him not. Isaiah’s realistic and descriptive image
of the Servant showed that people were mockingly dismissive towards him. Yet,
we should not think that he was an incessant sorrower and sufferer in himself
but was so only because he took on our sorrows and weaknesses as his own.
That
the Servant is of no esteem, a big fat zero, according to Isaiah, is actually a
reflection of us. Those who see the Servant and find no beauty in him reveals how
bankrupt our human emotions are. We are not attracted to him. He is repulsive
to us. To spend time with this Servant and then reject him exposes one’s
misguided human will and collapsed human mind both corrupted by sin. In other
words, we will never arrive at Truth through reason and will. “Nothing but
divine revelation can make the Servant known to us and draw us to him.”[2]
4
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Notice how Isaiah
placed the words he and we. He acted as a substitute and
carried our sorrows. He dealt with everything that alienates us
from God. He dealt with all that deserved wrath and fulfilled the will
of God. He was truly the Lamb of God. Obversely, we long for more
– a longer life, a healthy, comfortable life so that we can retire with no
financial worries. I include myself in this. We do not long for what the
Servant experiences – to be humbled and humiliated. Yet, that is what he
accepted.
5
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are
healed. He was pierced fatally because we
deliberately flouted the Lord and His Law; and our fall from grace resulted in
an ever-flowing fountain of sin. In order to secure and restore our peace with
God, his punishment was necessary. Why? Because we strayed.
6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Straying sheep summarizes our inadequacy and errant nature; and so, the Lord
laid upon this Servant our sins. This verse expresses common culpability and
individual responsibility. We cannot blame a herd instinct. Hence, by divine
act the Servant was the meeting point for all of our sins.[3] Each sin of every sinner is a separate wound
in the heart of this man of sorrows. If that does not bring us to our knees, I
don’t know what will.
And
so, the Servant lets it happen to him. In these next verses we see his
procession (7), execution (8) and burial (9). He was oppressed, and he
was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the
slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened
not his mouth. The Servant offered no physical or verbal resistance at
all. He knew well and went to his death with a calm, thoughtful submission.
Isaiah
was a priest who knew the efficacy of the altar and the sacrifices which God
appointed. During his vision in the Temple, he cried, “Woe is me! For I
am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one
of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken
with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has
touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
(6:5-7) Isaiah’s idea for Substitution is theologically and biblically
brilliant. Isaiah knew that the blood of animals could never take away our
sins. We see that in Hebrews 10:4: “It is impossible for the blood of
bulls and goats to take away sins.” Even when the priests offered these
mandated sacrifices, they looked forward to the perfect sacrifice yet to come. The
Servant did not deserve to die but volunteered to die for our benefit because only
a person can substitute for personal sin, and this one with knowing submission
went forward to die for us.
8
By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who
considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the
transgression of my people? The Servant endured the
punishment which should have fallen upon “my people” (God’s people), indicating
that the speaker here is God. He is struck by God in our place.
9
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Now dead, no violence or deceit could ever be found in the Savior. Yet, his
burial place is among all – the wicked and the rich.
10
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his
soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong
his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
We find that it was not only the Lord’s will to crush the Servant, but also His
delight. The Servant made his soul, his whole being a guilt offering for us.
Death ushered the Servant into sovereign dignity and power. His life, now ended
on earth, continues in reality and effectiveness. God restored the Servant on
the far side of the grave where the dead are alive. As we read earlier in
Isaiah, “Thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house
of Jacob: ‘Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale.
For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will
sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in
awe of the God of Israel.’” (29:22-24)
11
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge
shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and
he shall bear their iniquities. The Servant’s death is
not simply something that happened, but it is a purposeful act. This verse is one of the fullest statements
of atonement theology ever written. The Servant knew the needs that had to be
met and what had to be done. He was fully acceptable to the God our sins
offended and was appointed by God to complete this task. He was righteous –
free from every contamination of our sin – but personally identified himself
with our sin and our need, and totally committed himself to the role of the
Suffering Servant, accomplishing it fully.
12
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the
spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered
with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for
the transgressors. Only the victors divide the spoil.
That
said, let me ask you two questions. What attracts you? What repulses you? In
regards to the Suffering Servant and Christ Crucified, what attracts you and
repulses you?
Let me give only
one example that makes sense to me. When I served as a pastor in Canonsburg, I
was temporarily assigned to be the chaplain of Western Center. The facility is
no longer there. It’s now Southpointe. If you ever saw the opening scene of Silence
of the Lambs, Western Center’s Administration building served as a backdrop
to where Hannibal Lecter was imprisoned. In its day, Western Center was home to
hundreds upon hundreds of men and women with severe physical and mental disabilities.
Some were immobile and lived their lives in giant cribs. They were placed under
the care of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and even though they were loved
by parents and siblings, a good number were neglected or abused by staff. Why?
Because sinful people saw God’s children as repulsive human beings not created
in the image of the Almighty. Repulsive is how people saw and see Christ
crucified.
The Gospel of John
which we heard this evening sees as attractive what the world saw and sees as
repulsive. Christ crucified was not, is not the bloody end for Jesus and the
Gospel. Christ crucified is the glorious achievement of Almighty God. It is
God’s moment of glory.
I close by
paraphrasing Francis Chan, an evangelical pastor, who recently asked his
listeners, “If you could name your wishes, what would they be?” He then asked
if anyone wished to see God’s glory.
Friends, if you have not, add that to
your bucket list. And if you wish to see God’s glory, look to Christ Crucified.
That is God’s glory because we know what happens next. This repulsive
attraction between Christ Crucified and Christ Risen keeps us going like a
magnetic force. Keep that in mind until Easter morning when I will ask another
question. Until then, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your
heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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