Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Saturday, 3 May 2014 "He was pierced because of our rebellions" ________________________________________
Daily Scripture: Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant will deal wisely.
He will be exalted and lifted up,
and will be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you
(his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men),
15 so he will cleanse[a] many nations.
Kings will shut their mouths at him:
for they will see that which had not been told them;
and they will understand that which they had not heard.
53:1 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground.
He has no good looks or majesty.
When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised,
and rejected by men;
a man of suffering,
and acquainted with disease.
He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;
and we didn’t respect him.
4 Surely he has borne our sickness,
and carried our suffering;
yet we considered him plagued,
struck by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought our peace was on him;
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray.
Everyone has turned to his own way;
and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed,
yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth.
As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he didn’t open his mouth.
8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment;
and as for his generation,
who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living
and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
9 They made his grave with the wicked,
and with a rich man in his death;
although he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him.
He has caused him to suffer.
When you make his soul an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring.[b]
He will prolong his days,
and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light[c] and be satisfied.
My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself;
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I give him a portion with the great,
and he will divide the plunder 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 made intercession for the transgressors.
Footnotes:
a. Isaiah 52:15 or, sprinkle
b. Isaiah 53:10 or, seed
c. Isaiah 53:11 So read the Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint. Masoretic Text omits “the light”.
Reflection Question:
Rabbis debated who Isaiah's fourth "servant song" was about. The first Christians had no doubt—they quoted this song more than any other verses to describe Jesus' redemptive suffering. The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology said, "Isaiah articulates a new and powerful vision of redemption in which violence is absorbed and transformed. In Isaiah 52–53 the heralding of Israel's divine warrior returning to bring Zion's deliverance (52:7–12), suddenly gives way to a description of a suffering servant of Yahweh (52:13–53:12)." Isaiah's vision was that God does not increase the level of violence to win. And in Jesus, the early Christians saw, God took violence onto himself and changed it into a redemptive force.
•Once again Jesus set the stage for the way New Testament writers applied Isaiah 53 by saying that the passage was about him (cf. Luke 22:37). It all came true in Jesus' saving death and resurrection, they said. What does Jesus' way of defeating evil as the Suffering Servant tell you about the kind of God we serve? What kinds of evil have you faced? How does Jesus' example guide you toward the path of true victory at those times?
Family Activiy:
As a family, share ideas about how you can work with God to bring comfort and care to others. Discuss each person's unique gifts and abilities. How can you use those to comfort others? How can family members combine their gifts with one another to care and help? Use construction paper to create the symbol of a heart. On it, write or draw the gifts of each person. Also write or draw about how those gifts can help to comfort people who are sad or lonely. Pray together, asking God to help guide you to use your ideas and gifts. Thank God for giving them to you. Display your family's "heart" as a reminder to comfort others this year.
Today's Prayer:
Dear Jesus, thank you for being the ultimate suffering servant. Please teach me how to transform my suffering into a creative, life-giving force as well. Amen.
Insight from Liz Gyori
Liz Gyori serves on the Resurrection staff as the Group Life Training Program Director.
I was raised in a Catholic family. My sisters and I attended parochial grade schools, and we made an appearance at Mass every Sunday. I admit that as a child, I tended to daydream that hour away, with my reveries interrupted by shifts from kneeler to pew.
Often, I found my gaze traveling to the large crucifix that hung prominently in the front of the church. I remember feeling profound sadness whenever I looked at it. The sight of Jesus’ broken body, with his head slumped over his chest, never ceased to shock and upset me. This raw display of his suffering, together with the knowledge that it occurred for my benefit, was incredibly troubling. So today’s GPS, with its’ description of Jesus as the ‘suffering servant of Yahweh,’ from Isaiah, struck a chord with me. Jesus tells his disciples in Luke 22:37 that he must fulfill what was written in Isaiah 53.
His terrible anguish on my behalf was the primary take-away of my early Christian education. I recall one teacher in particular who drilled that point home, but I don’t remember what else she taught us. We already know I was a daydreamer, so perhaps I just wasn’t paying close enough attention. However, I was full of questions about the information that did sink in over the years. In that 1970’s church culture, the adults in my life weren’t willing, or equipped, to engage in a faith dialogue with me. Eventually, after angering one too many authority figures with my “why’s,” I turned my back to the painful image of that crucifix, to religion itself, and considered my Christian education complete.
I am so grateful that God never turned His back to me, and put many wonderful people in my path, whose love and example led me to turn around to seek His face. Twenty years ago, my husband and I joined the Church of the Resurrection, where questions are welcomed and encouraged, and faith-building opportunities abound. Our three children have grown up in this church, mentored by a caring and supportive church family who are always interested in what they have to say.
I now understand that while I will forever be deeply moved by Jesus’ suffering, the truth does not stop there. There is so much more. As Isaiah 53 ends in The Message:
“Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.”
How glad I am to know that Jesus’ story, that our story, is not restricted to his broken body on the cross. Instead, all of us – all of the black sheep – can live our lives with hope and joy, because of the gift of his sacrificial love for us, the power of his resurrection and the promise of eternal life with him.
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