Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12 on biblegateway.com
Verse 13See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Verse 14Just as there were many who were astonished at him-so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals- Verse 15so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.
Chapter 53Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Verse 2For 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. Verse 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.
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
As a young teenager, I remember being exposed to matters of social justice in the world for the first impressionable time, while at a summer confirmation camp. Mixed in with meals, Bible studies and outdoor adventures were times when we would talk about hunger, violence in the world and environmental issues about our relationship with God's creation. It was a lot to take in and take on as one person—and a teenager at that.
The end of the week concluded with a blessing service, where I heard again the promise of my baptism, that I was God’s child, sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Although I didn't know it at the time, that week was full of law and gospel. I was shown my own sin and the sin of the world, and further shown the promise of Christ, as Isaiah puts it: "The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Prayer
Saving Lord, take our excuses for sin and give us exceptional faith in our Savior. Amen.