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
“Richard the Lionhearted” or “Pat the Sheepish:” Which would you prefer to be called? Often in a job interview, an applicant is asked, “If you could be any animal, which would you be and why?” No doubt, they are looking for someone who can compare himself favorably. Have you ever heard of anyone comparing himself or herself to a Tarantula spider, a three-toed Sloth or a Sidewinder rattlesnake?
I don’t like to be compared to a sheep! Isaiah, however, is compelled to compare us to that which is appropriate: “All we, like sheep, have gone astray.” (Isaiah 53:6) I first want to object, but then I realize that he’s right. Why is it so easy to be led astray? Like sheep, we don’t do it on purpose, but just put our heads down and eat until we’re lost. Looking only at those things within our own little worlds, it’s easy to do.
Prayer
Lord, lift up our heads, so that we don’t eat ourselves lost. Help us to see where we are and know whose we are. Amen