Scripture and history fulfilled
Commentary
Our new American president has been elected and has been in office now nearly the first 100 days. The National Museum of American History has recently opened a new permanent exhibition under the title "The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden." Reminiscent of Thomas Jefferson's 1797 reference to the office as "a splendid misery," the title of this long-awaited exhibition captures the yin and the yang of the highest office in the land.
On this Good Friday, we encounter once again Christ Crucified through the scriptural account of his misery (passion). His splendid accomplishment -- the salvation of humankind -- was exhibited on the cross for all to see. This glorious burden which he bore with resolute humility elevated him to "the highest office in the land" -- or as Paul expressed it, "Bestowed on him the name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9).
Let us enter into the texts for this somber day to discover what distinguishes Jesus from all the rest of humankind, that we should offer him our devotion not only on this day, but every day we draw breath.
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Just before Isaiah begins his melancholy rhapsody on the suffering servant, he breaks out in a chorus of exultation about the good tidings being announced to the people. Those good tidings were about the end of their exile and the restoration of Jerusalem. The people were going home! Their departure from exile, however, would not be like the hasty departure from Egypt during the Exodus. Yet, it will be the same God who bared his holy arm to Pharaoh who will now bare his holy arm to the king of Babylon. Just as God led his people to the promised land then under Moses and Joshua, so now will he return his people to the promised land, where the people of God "shall be exalted and lifted up" (52:13).
The servant -- the one who had suffered so much -- is the personification of Israel, who had gone through so much. As the text begins, one can see all of Israel characterized in the image of the man who was "so marred ... despised and rejected ... smitten by God ... wounded" (52:14; 53:3, 4, 5). In this light, the restoration of Israel will become all the more remarkable. The promised prosperity holds a striking contrast to the suffering Israel has endured.
As one is caught up in the melody of this somber anthem, one begins to conclude that the suffering servant who is at the heart of this score is no longer a simple personification of Israel. There is a sense that a particular individual is being described. It was not a far stretch of faith's imagination for early Christians to see quite readily a prophetic meaning to these words from Isaiah. They could read Jesus into the text almost without effort. He, a son of Israel no less, was "so marred ... despised and rejected ... smitten by God ... wounded." The Gospel writers must have had this text in mind as they described Jesus in the night of his betrayal and on the day of his crucifixion. "He opened not his mouth" (53:7) ... "by judgment he was taken away" (53:8) ... "they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death" (53:9) ... "he made intercession for the transgressors" (53:12). As if reflecting on the image of Isaiah 53 (especially verses 6-8, 11), John mentions that Caiaphas counseled the people that one man should die for the people (John 18:14).
Paul picks up the theme of Isaiah 53:4a when, in 2 Corinthians 5:21, he describes Jesus as the one who knew no sin, yet was made "to be sin," so that in him believers can stand right before God. Our griefs and sorrows are the manifestation of the brokenness of our humanity. This is what Christ took upon himself in order that we might be healed.
Peter (in 1 Peter 2:24) takes up the imagery of Isaiah 53:5 and applies it to Jesus on the cross. He continues with reference to straying sheep, which Isaiah had used to speak poetically of the sin of the people. Peter then brings it back to God, who is the soul's Shepherd and Guardian. In like fashion, Isaiah made the point that all the things that have happened to Israel are the Lord's will. Even if the discipline seems harsh or cannot be understood at the time, nevertheless it is still God's shepherding and guarding intentions that motivate the actions to which Israel is subject.
The point in all of this is that even when the people suffer judgment, they are still God's people. The One who wounds and bruises will also know just how to heal. He will not strike and run; he will strike and hold and lift up in the end to "divide him a portion with the great" (53:12).
Hebrews 10:16-25
Remembering the words from Jeremiah 31:31-34, the writer to the Hebrews concludes the argument (in chapter 10) for the sufficient work of Christ as the one to offer the perfect and complete sacrifice for sin that effects forgiveness. The Jewish sacrificial system required the shedding of blood to atone for the sins of the people. This requirement was met most dramatically annually on the Day of Atonement. With Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, his blood was shed once for all. As far as the Christians were concerned, this not only ended once and for all the practice of animal sacrifice, but it also eliminated the need for any kind of offering for sin. What Jesus did was not only far superior to the old way of representing atonement, but it was also final as far as any on-going need to continue to achieve atonement. "Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin" (10:18).
In the work of Jesus, we can see the faithfulness of God, fulfilling promises made. What Jeremiah spoke about in terms of "the days are coming" (Jeremiah 31:31) has come! The promises God expressed through the prophet have been fulfilled in this new day of Jesus. Not only Jeremiah's vision, but also Isaiah's vision has come to pass. The suffering servant of whom Isaiah spoke so eloquently has been embodied in one particular son of Israel, namely Jesus. "The blood of Jesus" comes from the wounds, bruises, and stripes of the one who was called upon to bear the sins of the world.
The promises to Abraham, the Exodus event, the return from Exile, all the prophetic words uttered in the midst of those times and between those times, all the cultic worship practices of the nomadic tribes as well as those of the settled citizens of the post-Solomon kingdoms, come to an incarnated focal point in Jesus. Paul sums it up best, when he writes, "For all the promises of God find their yes in him" (2 Corinthians 1:20).
It is within this reality of salvation that the writer to a persecuted church exhorts steadfastness in faith, hope, and love (10:19-25). The believers are encouraged to "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering" (10:23). Like a captain may have to pilot the ship by fixing upon an object on the horizon, so too are Christians to be fixed upon "the blood of Jesus." When we gaze upon the crucified one, we see into the very heart of God.
It used to be that the curtain in the Temple separated the Holy of Holies from the congregation. Only the high priest was allowed to go behind it -- and then only on the Day of Atonement. But, now, in the death of Jesus on the cross, the Temple curtain has been torn. That tear opens the way into the very presence of God; Jesus' body is correlated to that tear. He is in himself the way into the very presence of God. Therefore, in the midst of any tribulation, draw near to him and so draw near to God, who is faithful to promises made. The congregation is encouraged to live the way of Jesus -- that is, the way of love. Love is the antidote for any evil in the world.
Finally, all this is understood as an interim between the days of the Lord and the ultimate Day of the Lord, when he will come again and establish God's justice everywhere forever. Confident in what has been done already through Jesus and hopeful for what is yet to be done by Jesus, the believer is to continue living in the rhythm of worship and good works in the fellowship of the saints.
John 18:1--19:42
The passion of the Triduum, which was narrated in Luke on Palm Sunday, is revisited through the eyes of John. He sees in the events of the crucifixion, especially, the fulfillment of God's plan as developed throughout the history of God's chosen people for the sake of the world. There are three specific references to the fulfilling of Scripture, relating to what took place on Golgotha. The casting of lots for Jesus' clothes (Psalm 22:18), his thirst (Psalm 69:21), and his death (Psalm 34:20 and Zachariah 12:10) are understood as fulfilling what the Scripture spoke about prophetically in centuries past. Because the congregations of the faithful throughout the generations sang the hymns of faith (psalms), many were prepared to see in these events surrounding Jesus' passion the very fulfillment of God's Word. So, when John reports Jesus' last word from the cross as tetelestai (from telew, to complete, fulfill, carry out), he is telling all readers of his Gospel that Jesus brings to completion on the cross all that God the Father sent him to do. He has carried out his mandate, fulfilling it through obedience, even to death on the cross.
In recounting the various scenes on that Thursday night and Friday, John shares some experiences that the synoptic gospels do not include. Jesus' "High Priestly Prayer" is offered outside Gethsemane. The content is not about the cup passing over; instead, it is about glorifying the Son and the Father, with Jesus receiving the glory once again that he laid down through the incarnation. As Jesus continues, he prays for the protection of the disciples as they are sent out into the world to carry on the gospel cause. Jesus adds petitions for the unity of the disciples just as the Father and he are united. This oneness in the disciples will be a testimony to the world as to the authenticity of Jesus' mission and the disciples' position as the newly beloved of God.
Once in Gethsemane, Jesus is subject to betrayal and arrest. How interesting to see that his very presence is intimidating to his captors. There is no intimate kiss, nor cowering of the disciples. (In Matthew's account, they all fled!) Instead the mob steps back for a moment and cowers. There is an interesting contrast developed when the Gospel writer identifies Peter as the one who cut off the high priest's servant's ear. For in just a few moments, this same aggressive Peter who comes to the defense of his Lord will deny him three times before the cock crows.
In the course of Jesus' interrogation, Pilate asks the question, "What is truth?" This is said in response to Jesus' reference to people of truth hearing his voice as a faithful witness to the truth (18:37). What is truth, then? Is it what you make of it? Or is it that which makes you as a bearer of truth itself? This parallels the issue of power, which is not personally owned but bestowed "from above," from the One who is the author of power itself, as well as truth itself!
Just as Peter denied Jesus three times, the enemies of Jesus reject him three times (18:40, 19:6, 19:15). Three times the issue of Jesus' kingship is brought up by players in this death scene: by an incredulous Pilate (18:33-38), by mocking soldiers (19:1-3), and by shrewd Jews who knew how to argue their point (19:12-15). When the sign identifying him as the king of the Jews is placed over his head on the cross, it is written in three languages: Latin, the language of politics; Greek, the language of commerce; and Hebrew, the language of faith. Jesus' kingship, his rule, is ultimately over all aspects of our lives -- the city, the market, and the heart.
Application
Although as Christians we claim that the suffering servant motif has found its realization in Jesus, there still remains the most uncomfortable history of the Jewish people over the past 2,000 years. As a people, the Jews have been persecuted around the world. We are familiar with the pogroms in Russia and Europe throughout the Middle Ages up to the present, culminating in the Holocaust. With the on-again/off-again conflict in the Middle East, we are left today with shrugged shoulders and a quizzical expression. The words of Isaiah still are prophetic for the Jewish people as the suffering servant of God, despised and afflicted. Although we can say that Jesus fulfills the experience of biblical Israel, there still leaves much unsaid about the relationship between contemporary Jews and Messiah Jesus. Where is Jesus today in relationship with the suffering of the contemporary people of Yahweh? How can the church help people like Berish in Elie Wiesel's The Trial of God, who says, "I resigned from membership in God ... Let Him find another people. Let Him push around another Jew -- I'm through with Him! ... God sought me out and God struck me down. So let Him stay away from me ... God is merciless, don't you know that?" How does Good Friday speak to Berish and people like him, who are convinced that God is not relevant?
As we reflect upon the meaning of the cross on this holy day, we enter into the meaning of suffering. It is possible to discover in the midst of suffering the call to draw nearer to God -- especially when one by faith sees God already present in the suffering through the cross of Christ. Every event of suffering is an occasion for God to be with us, no matter how deep or dark the valley of shadows may be. There is no distance so great that God is not willing to go to be near his beloved, redeem his beloved, and ultimately have his beloved.
The beloved of God are, in turn, called to a life of love and good works. This way of life does not earn God's favor or nearness. It responds with thanksgiving to the reality that God is already near and bestows his favor upon the beloved. The servant is the one who best emulates the Master, for he himself came to serve instead of being served. This is a vital word to speak to the world today, which is in as much danger as it has ever been of turning in upon itself in self-absorption, privatizing religion into a "personal feel good" condition instead of allowing religion to blossom into a social do good conviction. The words of Micah 6:8 ring loudly and clearly, especially as they are exemplified so perfectly in the life and passion of Jesus!
Two characters who quietly appear after the death of Jesus are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. The latter we have already met (John 3), so we are not surprised. He has shown himself to be a seeker for truth, who weighs the important things of life very carefully, perhaps even at the risk of his own reputation and standing in the community. Remember, the rest of the Pharisees were not too favorably disposed toward Jesus! Joseph of Arimathea, however, is new to us. Where did he come from? He came from out of the secret places. Why? "For fear of the Jews" (19:38), we are told. For many reasons, even today, people are afraid to put their trust in Jesus. What are those reasons? How can they be addressed in convincing ways, so that the doors of faith may be open in hearts that need to know God for eternal life (John 17:3)? Believers will come from unlikely places, secret places, if only the faithful will be bold in their proclamation of Jesus, crucified and risen. Fears can be overcome!
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
We live in a society in which the word "sin" has lost its meaning. The famed psychiatrist, Karl Menninger, published a book in 1973 with the title, Whatever Became of Sin? In that book, Menninger said that the principal characteristic of our society is the loss of a sense of responsibility. Very few people are willing to take responsibility for their actions any more. What they do is always someone else's fault. "My parents didn't raise me right," goes the explanation, or "I've got a psychological hangup," or "I live in an evil environment," or "I was on drugs/alcohol and didn't know what I was doing," or "Given the situation, it was absolutely necessary." Maybe we could sum up all the excuses with the popular (and sometimes joking) phrase, "The devil made me do it." Whatever the excuse given, individuals, groups, and even nations refuse to take final responsibility for their actions (cf. Genesis 3:12-13).
But the loss of responsibility for our actions makes Good Friday meaningless, doesn't it? For Good Friday is the day on which we remember God's dealings with human sin on the cross of Christ. However, if no one is responsible, then there's nothing to be forgiven by that cross, is there? There is no sin, no one at fault, no one to be mercifully pardoned. Christ died for nothing, and we can forget about his crucifixion. Indeed, some radical feminists have even maintained that the cross is nothing more than child abuse on the part of the Father, and that we do not need that blood and sacrifice. So forget about Good Friday.
The fact is, as 1 John writes, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). And the reason is that we did not make ourselves nor were we made for ourselves alone. None of us created ourselves. God created us, every one of us in his image, belonging to him in an ineradicable relationship. He created us responsible to him, above all, for everything we do with the gift of life he has given us. And through his commandments and Word made flesh, he spelled out his will for our lives. But as we all well know, we have not followed his will, and we have not often been the persons he intended us to be. As Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., writes in Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, we do not do the things we are supposed to do, and we do the things we are not supposed to do. And whether we acknowledge it or not, that has broken our relationship with our Creator God. "Your iniquities have made a separation/ between you and your God," Third Isaiah tells us, "and your sins have hid his face from you/ so that he does not hear" (Isaiah 59:2). By our intentional or unintentional rejection of God's will, we have cut ourselves off from the Lord, who is the one Source of life and good, joy and peace, and without him, we can have none of those gifts.
If the God of the Bible and therefore of the Christian faith has one predominant personal characteristic, alongside his power and majesty, it is his merciful love toward all of us, his creatures. He will not give up on us. He will not surrender us, his own creations, to the terrible consequences of our sin. "How can I give you up...?" he cries out, "How can I hand you over...? ... My heart recoils within me/ My compassion grows warm and tender" (Hosea 11:8). And so this God of overwhelming love sends the Suffering Servant, of whom we read in our Old Testament lesson from Second Isaiah.
Certainly originally this passage from Isaiah 52:13--53:12 was intended as a call by the prophet to the Israelites in exile in Babylonia to suffer and die, if necessary, in order to draw all nations to the worship of the one true God. It therefore portrays, in a vision of the future, that sacrifice and the conversion of the nations.
God speaks in 52:13-15 and 53:11-12. The voice of the nations is heard in 53:1-9. The poem starts out with a portrayal of the exaltation of the Servant. The Servant will "prosper," that is, he will succeed in his purpose, and that will utterly amaze and startle many others who see the Servant's vindication (52:13-15). For, as the nations express it in 53:1-3, the Servant was one whom they had despised and rejected, like a disfigured cripple or diseased soul from whom one automatically turns away. But now the Servant will be exalted and lifted to high station.
In 53:4-6, therefore, the nations ponder the reason the Servant, now honored by God, was subjected to ostracism, blows, and scorn. They had thought that the Servant's suffering was the result of God's curse upon the Servant. But now the nations come to the conclusion that the Servant bore his suffering for their sake. No reason is given in the passage for this conclusion. The nations simply realize that the Servant has borne the consequences of their sin against God. They were the ones who should have been punished, but the Servant bore the punishment for sin in their stead.
In 53:7-9, the nations go on to detail the suffering the Servant has endured for them. He was taken to trial and unjustly condemned to death. No thought was given to his family, and he had no offspring to carry on his name. Instead he was killed and then even given a shameful burial in the grave of a rich and wicked man, although he was entirely innocent.
But, says verse 10, all of that was carried out according to the will of the Lord, in order to bring all peoples to saving knowledge of God. The Servant was a sacrifice, an offering for the sin of all the others. And in the purpose of God, he will finally live. There is no clear statement of resurrection here. But the Servant will see the fulfillment of his God-given purpose (v. 11), and his sacrifice, given in his righteous innocence and obedience, will count to justify all others as also righteous in God's eyes. God will make the Servant great, (v. 12), and the Servant will live, because he has suffered and died on behalf of so many others.
We do not know exactly how Second Isaiah applied this Servant Song to his contemporary Israelites, nor do we know their reception of it. We have to say that we are not even sure who Second Isaiah had in mind -- and perhaps the prophet himself did not know! Second Isaiah was simply given the Word of the Lord, which he then faithfully preached to the Israelite exiles. The truth of the Scriptures lies not in the ability of human beings to see clearly or to interpret correctly, but in the actions of God, who speaks his word and then fulfills it. And the church has for 2,000 years realized that this sixth century B.C. proclamation from Second Isaiah can only be seen as fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord. Indeed, time and again, the New Testament picks up phrases from this prophecy and applies them to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Our Lord's suffering and death were not just the evil consequences of a fickle Jewish crowd and a fearful Roman governor. They were also the intentional actions of the God who will not give up on any of us sinners. Christ took upon himself the punishment that we deserve every day for our every day sins, even though he himself was innocent of sin and righteous. And by that sacrifice, he made every one of us sinners who believe in him also to be counted innocent of sin and righteous in the eyes of our God, our Creator and Lord. You and I therefore have had our relationship with our Maker restored, and we now are able to know through faith, once again in our daily round, the life and good, the joy and peace that come only from our heavenly Father. Thanks be to God for his inestimable gift!
On this Good Friday, we encounter once again Christ Crucified through the scriptural account of his misery (passion). His splendid accomplishment -- the salvation of humankind -- was exhibited on the cross for all to see. This glorious burden which he bore with resolute humility elevated him to "the highest office in the land" -- or as Paul expressed it, "Bestowed on him the name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9).
Let us enter into the texts for this somber day to discover what distinguishes Jesus from all the rest of humankind, that we should offer him our devotion not only on this day, but every day we draw breath.
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Just before Isaiah begins his melancholy rhapsody on the suffering servant, he breaks out in a chorus of exultation about the good tidings being announced to the people. Those good tidings were about the end of their exile and the restoration of Jerusalem. The people were going home! Their departure from exile, however, would not be like the hasty departure from Egypt during the Exodus. Yet, it will be the same God who bared his holy arm to Pharaoh who will now bare his holy arm to the king of Babylon. Just as God led his people to the promised land then under Moses and Joshua, so now will he return his people to the promised land, where the people of God "shall be exalted and lifted up" (52:13).
The servant -- the one who had suffered so much -- is the personification of Israel, who had gone through so much. As the text begins, one can see all of Israel characterized in the image of the man who was "so marred ... despised and rejected ... smitten by God ... wounded" (52:14; 53:3, 4, 5). In this light, the restoration of Israel will become all the more remarkable. The promised prosperity holds a striking contrast to the suffering Israel has endured.
As one is caught up in the melody of this somber anthem, one begins to conclude that the suffering servant who is at the heart of this score is no longer a simple personification of Israel. There is a sense that a particular individual is being described. It was not a far stretch of faith's imagination for early Christians to see quite readily a prophetic meaning to these words from Isaiah. They could read Jesus into the text almost without effort. He, a son of Israel no less, was "so marred ... despised and rejected ... smitten by God ... wounded." The Gospel writers must have had this text in mind as they described Jesus in the night of his betrayal and on the day of his crucifixion. "He opened not his mouth" (53:7) ... "by judgment he was taken away" (53:8) ... "they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death" (53:9) ... "he made intercession for the transgressors" (53:12). As if reflecting on the image of Isaiah 53 (especially verses 6-8, 11), John mentions that Caiaphas counseled the people that one man should die for the people (John 18:14).
Paul picks up the theme of Isaiah 53:4a when, in 2 Corinthians 5:21, he describes Jesus as the one who knew no sin, yet was made "to be sin," so that in him believers can stand right before God. Our griefs and sorrows are the manifestation of the brokenness of our humanity. This is what Christ took upon himself in order that we might be healed.
Peter (in 1 Peter 2:24) takes up the imagery of Isaiah 53:5 and applies it to Jesus on the cross. He continues with reference to straying sheep, which Isaiah had used to speak poetically of the sin of the people. Peter then brings it back to God, who is the soul's Shepherd and Guardian. In like fashion, Isaiah made the point that all the things that have happened to Israel are the Lord's will. Even if the discipline seems harsh or cannot be understood at the time, nevertheless it is still God's shepherding and guarding intentions that motivate the actions to which Israel is subject.
The point in all of this is that even when the people suffer judgment, they are still God's people. The One who wounds and bruises will also know just how to heal. He will not strike and run; he will strike and hold and lift up in the end to "divide him a portion with the great" (53:12).
Hebrews 10:16-25
Remembering the words from Jeremiah 31:31-34, the writer to the Hebrews concludes the argument (in chapter 10) for the sufficient work of Christ as the one to offer the perfect and complete sacrifice for sin that effects forgiveness. The Jewish sacrificial system required the shedding of blood to atone for the sins of the people. This requirement was met most dramatically annually on the Day of Atonement. With Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, his blood was shed once for all. As far as the Christians were concerned, this not only ended once and for all the practice of animal sacrifice, but it also eliminated the need for any kind of offering for sin. What Jesus did was not only far superior to the old way of representing atonement, but it was also final as far as any on-going need to continue to achieve atonement. "Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin" (10:18).
In the work of Jesus, we can see the faithfulness of God, fulfilling promises made. What Jeremiah spoke about in terms of "the days are coming" (Jeremiah 31:31) has come! The promises God expressed through the prophet have been fulfilled in this new day of Jesus. Not only Jeremiah's vision, but also Isaiah's vision has come to pass. The suffering servant of whom Isaiah spoke so eloquently has been embodied in one particular son of Israel, namely Jesus. "The blood of Jesus" comes from the wounds, bruises, and stripes of the one who was called upon to bear the sins of the world.
The promises to Abraham, the Exodus event, the return from Exile, all the prophetic words uttered in the midst of those times and between those times, all the cultic worship practices of the nomadic tribes as well as those of the settled citizens of the post-Solomon kingdoms, come to an incarnated focal point in Jesus. Paul sums it up best, when he writes, "For all the promises of God find their yes in him" (2 Corinthians 1:20).
It is within this reality of salvation that the writer to a persecuted church exhorts steadfastness in faith, hope, and love (10:19-25). The believers are encouraged to "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering" (10:23). Like a captain may have to pilot the ship by fixing upon an object on the horizon, so too are Christians to be fixed upon "the blood of Jesus." When we gaze upon the crucified one, we see into the very heart of God.
It used to be that the curtain in the Temple separated the Holy of Holies from the congregation. Only the high priest was allowed to go behind it -- and then only on the Day of Atonement. But, now, in the death of Jesus on the cross, the Temple curtain has been torn. That tear opens the way into the very presence of God; Jesus' body is correlated to that tear. He is in himself the way into the very presence of God. Therefore, in the midst of any tribulation, draw near to him and so draw near to God, who is faithful to promises made. The congregation is encouraged to live the way of Jesus -- that is, the way of love. Love is the antidote for any evil in the world.
Finally, all this is understood as an interim between the days of the Lord and the ultimate Day of the Lord, when he will come again and establish God's justice everywhere forever. Confident in what has been done already through Jesus and hopeful for what is yet to be done by Jesus, the believer is to continue living in the rhythm of worship and good works in the fellowship of the saints.
John 18:1--19:42
The passion of the Triduum, which was narrated in Luke on Palm Sunday, is revisited through the eyes of John. He sees in the events of the crucifixion, especially, the fulfillment of God's plan as developed throughout the history of God's chosen people for the sake of the world. There are three specific references to the fulfilling of Scripture, relating to what took place on Golgotha. The casting of lots for Jesus' clothes (Psalm 22:18), his thirst (Psalm 69:21), and his death (Psalm 34:20 and Zachariah 12:10) are understood as fulfilling what the Scripture spoke about prophetically in centuries past. Because the congregations of the faithful throughout the generations sang the hymns of faith (psalms), many were prepared to see in these events surrounding Jesus' passion the very fulfillment of God's Word. So, when John reports Jesus' last word from the cross as tetelestai (from telew, to complete, fulfill, carry out), he is telling all readers of his Gospel that Jesus brings to completion on the cross all that God the Father sent him to do. He has carried out his mandate, fulfilling it through obedience, even to death on the cross.
In recounting the various scenes on that Thursday night and Friday, John shares some experiences that the synoptic gospels do not include. Jesus' "High Priestly Prayer" is offered outside Gethsemane. The content is not about the cup passing over; instead, it is about glorifying the Son and the Father, with Jesus receiving the glory once again that he laid down through the incarnation. As Jesus continues, he prays for the protection of the disciples as they are sent out into the world to carry on the gospel cause. Jesus adds petitions for the unity of the disciples just as the Father and he are united. This oneness in the disciples will be a testimony to the world as to the authenticity of Jesus' mission and the disciples' position as the newly beloved of God.
Once in Gethsemane, Jesus is subject to betrayal and arrest. How interesting to see that his very presence is intimidating to his captors. There is no intimate kiss, nor cowering of the disciples. (In Matthew's account, they all fled!) Instead the mob steps back for a moment and cowers. There is an interesting contrast developed when the Gospel writer identifies Peter as the one who cut off the high priest's servant's ear. For in just a few moments, this same aggressive Peter who comes to the defense of his Lord will deny him three times before the cock crows.
In the course of Jesus' interrogation, Pilate asks the question, "What is truth?" This is said in response to Jesus' reference to people of truth hearing his voice as a faithful witness to the truth (18:37). What is truth, then? Is it what you make of it? Or is it that which makes you as a bearer of truth itself? This parallels the issue of power, which is not personally owned but bestowed "from above," from the One who is the author of power itself, as well as truth itself!
Just as Peter denied Jesus three times, the enemies of Jesus reject him three times (18:40, 19:6, 19:15). Three times the issue of Jesus' kingship is brought up by players in this death scene: by an incredulous Pilate (18:33-38), by mocking soldiers (19:1-3), and by shrewd Jews who knew how to argue their point (19:12-15). When the sign identifying him as the king of the Jews is placed over his head on the cross, it is written in three languages: Latin, the language of politics; Greek, the language of commerce; and Hebrew, the language of faith. Jesus' kingship, his rule, is ultimately over all aspects of our lives -- the city, the market, and the heart.
Application
Although as Christians we claim that the suffering servant motif has found its realization in Jesus, there still remains the most uncomfortable history of the Jewish people over the past 2,000 years. As a people, the Jews have been persecuted around the world. We are familiar with the pogroms in Russia and Europe throughout the Middle Ages up to the present, culminating in the Holocaust. With the on-again/off-again conflict in the Middle East, we are left today with shrugged shoulders and a quizzical expression. The words of Isaiah still are prophetic for the Jewish people as the suffering servant of God, despised and afflicted. Although we can say that Jesus fulfills the experience of biblical Israel, there still leaves much unsaid about the relationship between contemporary Jews and Messiah Jesus. Where is Jesus today in relationship with the suffering of the contemporary people of Yahweh? How can the church help people like Berish in Elie Wiesel's The Trial of God, who says, "I resigned from membership in God ... Let Him find another people. Let Him push around another Jew -- I'm through with Him! ... God sought me out and God struck me down. So let Him stay away from me ... God is merciless, don't you know that?" How does Good Friday speak to Berish and people like him, who are convinced that God is not relevant?
As we reflect upon the meaning of the cross on this holy day, we enter into the meaning of suffering. It is possible to discover in the midst of suffering the call to draw nearer to God -- especially when one by faith sees God already present in the suffering through the cross of Christ. Every event of suffering is an occasion for God to be with us, no matter how deep or dark the valley of shadows may be. There is no distance so great that God is not willing to go to be near his beloved, redeem his beloved, and ultimately have his beloved.
The beloved of God are, in turn, called to a life of love and good works. This way of life does not earn God's favor or nearness. It responds with thanksgiving to the reality that God is already near and bestows his favor upon the beloved. The servant is the one who best emulates the Master, for he himself came to serve instead of being served. This is a vital word to speak to the world today, which is in as much danger as it has ever been of turning in upon itself in self-absorption, privatizing religion into a "personal feel good" condition instead of allowing religion to blossom into a social do good conviction. The words of Micah 6:8 ring loudly and clearly, especially as they are exemplified so perfectly in the life and passion of Jesus!
Two characters who quietly appear after the death of Jesus are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. The latter we have already met (John 3), so we are not surprised. He has shown himself to be a seeker for truth, who weighs the important things of life very carefully, perhaps even at the risk of his own reputation and standing in the community. Remember, the rest of the Pharisees were not too favorably disposed toward Jesus! Joseph of Arimathea, however, is new to us. Where did he come from? He came from out of the secret places. Why? "For fear of the Jews" (19:38), we are told. For many reasons, even today, people are afraid to put their trust in Jesus. What are those reasons? How can they be addressed in convincing ways, so that the doors of faith may be open in hearts that need to know God for eternal life (John 17:3)? Believers will come from unlikely places, secret places, if only the faithful will be bold in their proclamation of Jesus, crucified and risen. Fears can be overcome!
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
We live in a society in which the word "sin" has lost its meaning. The famed psychiatrist, Karl Menninger, published a book in 1973 with the title, Whatever Became of Sin? In that book, Menninger said that the principal characteristic of our society is the loss of a sense of responsibility. Very few people are willing to take responsibility for their actions any more. What they do is always someone else's fault. "My parents didn't raise me right," goes the explanation, or "I've got a psychological hangup," or "I live in an evil environment," or "I was on drugs/alcohol and didn't know what I was doing," or "Given the situation, it was absolutely necessary." Maybe we could sum up all the excuses with the popular (and sometimes joking) phrase, "The devil made me do it." Whatever the excuse given, individuals, groups, and even nations refuse to take final responsibility for their actions (cf. Genesis 3:12-13).
But the loss of responsibility for our actions makes Good Friday meaningless, doesn't it? For Good Friday is the day on which we remember God's dealings with human sin on the cross of Christ. However, if no one is responsible, then there's nothing to be forgiven by that cross, is there? There is no sin, no one at fault, no one to be mercifully pardoned. Christ died for nothing, and we can forget about his crucifixion. Indeed, some radical feminists have even maintained that the cross is nothing more than child abuse on the part of the Father, and that we do not need that blood and sacrifice. So forget about Good Friday.
The fact is, as 1 John writes, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). And the reason is that we did not make ourselves nor were we made for ourselves alone. None of us created ourselves. God created us, every one of us in his image, belonging to him in an ineradicable relationship. He created us responsible to him, above all, for everything we do with the gift of life he has given us. And through his commandments and Word made flesh, he spelled out his will for our lives. But as we all well know, we have not followed his will, and we have not often been the persons he intended us to be. As Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., writes in Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin, we do not do the things we are supposed to do, and we do the things we are not supposed to do. And whether we acknowledge it or not, that has broken our relationship with our Creator God. "Your iniquities have made a separation/ between you and your God," Third Isaiah tells us, "and your sins have hid his face from you/ so that he does not hear" (Isaiah 59:2). By our intentional or unintentional rejection of God's will, we have cut ourselves off from the Lord, who is the one Source of life and good, joy and peace, and without him, we can have none of those gifts.
If the God of the Bible and therefore of the Christian faith has one predominant personal characteristic, alongside his power and majesty, it is his merciful love toward all of us, his creatures. He will not give up on us. He will not surrender us, his own creations, to the terrible consequences of our sin. "How can I give you up...?" he cries out, "How can I hand you over...? ... My heart recoils within me/ My compassion grows warm and tender" (Hosea 11:8). And so this God of overwhelming love sends the Suffering Servant, of whom we read in our Old Testament lesson from Second Isaiah.
Certainly originally this passage from Isaiah 52:13--53:12 was intended as a call by the prophet to the Israelites in exile in Babylonia to suffer and die, if necessary, in order to draw all nations to the worship of the one true God. It therefore portrays, in a vision of the future, that sacrifice and the conversion of the nations.
God speaks in 52:13-15 and 53:11-12. The voice of the nations is heard in 53:1-9. The poem starts out with a portrayal of the exaltation of the Servant. The Servant will "prosper," that is, he will succeed in his purpose, and that will utterly amaze and startle many others who see the Servant's vindication (52:13-15). For, as the nations express it in 53:1-3, the Servant was one whom they had despised and rejected, like a disfigured cripple or diseased soul from whom one automatically turns away. But now the Servant will be exalted and lifted to high station.
In 53:4-6, therefore, the nations ponder the reason the Servant, now honored by God, was subjected to ostracism, blows, and scorn. They had thought that the Servant's suffering was the result of God's curse upon the Servant. But now the nations come to the conclusion that the Servant bore his suffering for their sake. No reason is given in the passage for this conclusion. The nations simply realize that the Servant has borne the consequences of their sin against God. They were the ones who should have been punished, but the Servant bore the punishment for sin in their stead.
In 53:7-9, the nations go on to detail the suffering the Servant has endured for them. He was taken to trial and unjustly condemned to death. No thought was given to his family, and he had no offspring to carry on his name. Instead he was killed and then even given a shameful burial in the grave of a rich and wicked man, although he was entirely innocent.
But, says verse 10, all of that was carried out according to the will of the Lord, in order to bring all peoples to saving knowledge of God. The Servant was a sacrifice, an offering for the sin of all the others. And in the purpose of God, he will finally live. There is no clear statement of resurrection here. But the Servant will see the fulfillment of his God-given purpose (v. 11), and his sacrifice, given in his righteous innocence and obedience, will count to justify all others as also righteous in God's eyes. God will make the Servant great, (v. 12), and the Servant will live, because he has suffered and died on behalf of so many others.
We do not know exactly how Second Isaiah applied this Servant Song to his contemporary Israelites, nor do we know their reception of it. We have to say that we are not even sure who Second Isaiah had in mind -- and perhaps the prophet himself did not know! Second Isaiah was simply given the Word of the Lord, which he then faithfully preached to the Israelite exiles. The truth of the Scriptures lies not in the ability of human beings to see clearly or to interpret correctly, but in the actions of God, who speaks his word and then fulfills it. And the church has for 2,000 years realized that this sixth century B.C. proclamation from Second Isaiah can only be seen as fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord. Indeed, time and again, the New Testament picks up phrases from this prophecy and applies them to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Our Lord's suffering and death were not just the evil consequences of a fickle Jewish crowd and a fearful Roman governor. They were also the intentional actions of the God who will not give up on any of us sinners. Christ took upon himself the punishment that we deserve every day for our every day sins, even though he himself was innocent of sin and righteous. And by that sacrifice, he made every one of us sinners who believe in him also to be counted innocent of sin and righteous in the eyes of our God, our Creator and Lord. You and I therefore have had our relationship with our Maker restored, and we now are able to know through faith, once again in our daily round, the life and good, the joy and peace that come only from our heavenly Father. Thanks be to God for his inestimable gift!
