January 18th - Reflection

Isaiah 53:1 -12 (NRSV)
The one like a lamb

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.

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.

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 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

Reflection
These verses will bring you to your knees. These verses will humble you. This is that exchange. Jesus took on our sin and took on the punishment we deserved and became the sacrifice. Jesus carries our wounds and illnesses. We ran away from our sin and left them all on Jesus. He was left to take the brunt of all that we did. Only Jesus stayed to take our sin upon himself.

And he took it! He took it all for us. He took the punishment for our sins. Here is the perfect lamb blemished by the sin of others. The perfect One in our stead. No violence comes from him. He takes the punishment for the sin we deserved. He knew that it had to be done; not for him...but for you and me. Jesus didn't have to do this...but he did! His love for us is so deep that he poured out himself to death, bearing the sin of many. Jesus became our sin and died!

But in this death...oh in this death...in this anguish...Jesus will see light! The light of resurrection. Jesus is Light and that Light brings life to all the world! Stay on your knees but a moment...for in his Light you are called to be disciples of a new life for you and all. Off your knees to follow Jesus and run and tell of this great Light! Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Thanks! --- Amen