NULL
Illustration
Object:
Our lesson, the Third Servant Song, about the Suffering Servant whom Deutero-Isaiah describes, refers to the Messiah sustaining the weary. We are weary from our conspicuous consumption cycle, which in 2012 had us accumulating an average household debt of $15,587, and from the rising health-care costs and inflation (it costs $486 to buy what you could get with $100 in 1973). John Calvin nicely describes how the Messiah who comes sustains us in that weariness:
"However that may be, he [our Lord] always watches carefully and runs to give aid; and even when we fly and resist, he calls us to him, that we may be refreshed by tasting his grace and kindness" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. VIII/2, p. 54).
In this sense, the suffering of our Lord is good news, as Martin Luther proclaimed: "...it hurts the Lord to see that we weep at the sight of his suffering. He wants us to be glad, praise God, thank his grace, extol, glorify, and confess him; for through this journey we come into the possession of the grace of God" (What Luther Says, p. 180).
"However that may be, he [our Lord] always watches carefully and runs to give aid; and even when we fly and resist, he calls us to him, that we may be refreshed by tasting his grace and kindness" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. VIII/2, p. 54).
In this sense, the suffering of our Lord is good news, as Martin Luther proclaimed: "...it hurts the Lord to see that we weep at the sight of his suffering. He wants us to be glad, praise God, thank his grace, extol, glorify, and confess him; for through this journey we come into the possession of the grace of God" (What Luther Says, p. 180).
