Suffering
Commentary
It is clear that the writers of the New Testament accept the suffering role of God's Messiah and write it into what they put down for us. Matthew surely is best at this as he paints in the threatening backdrop to the birth stories, pictures the opposition as it gathers, and finally traces the events of that last week to their deadly and gloomy conclusion.
But why?
Are the New Testament writers just Jews committed to a sacrificial system that seems to demand some price paid, some propitiation to a God requiring penance? Is what we read just a rewrite of the sacrificial system? Is Jesus the sacrifice to replace all sacrifices? What are we to hear?
Surely the New Testament writers use the sacrificial language. They needed to so that their readers would understand. But they would understand more than some imagine.
They would understand that the central meaning of the sacrificial system is best caught up in the old, old story of Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac. Some get all bogged down in discussions of the wrong issues in this story. The central meaning of it is caught up in words written in at the end of the story, "So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord will provide."
There it is. In the Jewish sacrificial system God named the sacrifice. Thus God made a way.
So it is with the suffering servant. The act points back to God. Jesus' suffering and death is no price paid to the devil (as some imagine) or offering to God in an effort to curb his wrath. It is a revelation of the very heart of God, who makes a way, who provides.
In the suffering of Jesus we see clearly portrayed before our very eyes the act of a self-giving God, one who himself suffers, who himself bears the price, who pays the penalty for our sin and offers restoration and fellowship to all who will accept his gift and say "yes" to his offer.
OUTLINE I
The Pursuing God
Isaiah 52:13--53:12; Hosea 6:1-6; Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9; John 18:1--19:42
Introduction: Why not begin by pointing up the contradiction in the term Good Friday. What was good about such a day? It was on Friday (remember, Friday began on Thursday at 6 p.m.) that he was arrested, dragged from one place to another in an effort to get him condemned, betrayed first by Peter and then abandoned by all, abused by Roman soldiers, forced to carry his own cross and, finally, crucified with two common criminals in full view of all. Good Friday?
For Us: "Upon him was the chastisement that made us whole." Read the theme article again and rediscover for the congregation what is proclaimed about no other god. Our God is one who suffers when we sin. He is the most put-upon god in history. Trace again the Old Testament story: the rejection in Eden, the cruelty of man to man in those early days, the mess at Babel, the hostility to Moses who was sent to their rescue, the grumbling in the wilderness, the apostasy of the Golden Calf incident, the whoring after the Baals, the choosing of a man for a king, etc. Make your own list. This is a God much put upon, one who would be justified in any wrathful act he chooses.
And Yet: God persists. He keeps on trying: the patriarchs, Moses, military leaders, judges, prophets, judgment, kindness ... you name it. He hangs in there, persists. The Old Testament opens with the story of this God coming to Adam and asking "Where are you?" The New Testament ends with the reminder, "Behold I stand at the door and knock."
Conclusion: Use Francis Thompson's poem The Hound of Heaven for closing. You'll need to exclude certain parts. Choose that which hangs together and let its message reaffirm the message of the day.
OUTLINE II
The Look That Offers Hope
John 18:1--19:42
Introduction: Most congregations need to hear the story told again. So review the events that lead up to the scripture and then tell the story of Good Friday as it is told by the writer of The Gospel of John. Note especially the role of Peter and his failure.
1. Review Peter's record. This is the disciple who is always ready to act. He protests his allegiance; he cuts off the priests' servant's ear. He will deny Jesus three times. He will be in the vanguard at the empty tomb. It will be Peter who preaches at Pentecost (Acts 2), who will go to Caesarea and learn an important lesson from Cornelius (Acts 10), and who will go to Jerusalem with Paul to defend the Gentile converts from the stringency of the Pharisees (Acts 15). Watch him as he turns from brash braggart to trembling denier, to an open-minded Jew, to evangelist for the faith.
2. Encourage the hearer to review his/her own pilgrimage in the faith. Create scenarios in which all of us have at one time or another been all the things Peter was and done all that he did. Lead each person to ask just how many times he or she has heard the cock crow in the distance. Review some of the ways in which all of us deny.
3. Remind the hearer that Jesus never gave up on Peter and that he never gives up on us. If we will persevere, perhaps the day will come when, like Peter, we will hear the voice of acceptance and commission as did Peter in John 21.
Conclusion: Use this poem for closing:
The Meaning of the Look
I think that look of Christ might seem to say -
"Thou Peter! art thou then a common stone.
Which I at last must break my heart upon,
For all God's charge to His high angels may
Guard my foot better? Did I yesterday
Wash thy feet, my beloved, that they should run
Quick to deny me 'neath the morning sun?
And do thy kisses, like the rest, betray?
The cock crows coldly. - Go, and manifest
A late contrition, but no bootless fear!
For when thy final need is dreariest,
Thou shalt not be denied, as I am here;
My voice to God and angels shall attest,
Because I know this man, let him be clear."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
OUTLINE III
An Offer That Still Stands
Isaiah 52:13--53:12; Hosea 6:1-6
Introduction: Remind the hearers that, as Christians, we are so accustomed to hearing the suffering servant passage interpreted in the light of Christian understandings that we have lost sight of its original meanings. A recovery of the original situation can be helpful.
The Times: Second Isaiah, chapters 40-55, were clearly written to a people in the process of return from the exile to Babylon. Broken, beaten, worthless and defeated was Israel, and yet the prophet sees meaning in it all. If she will, Israel can be the means of God's salvation of the nations. If she will.
Review the Material: Verses 13-15 of chapter 52 give a vivid picture of the broken servant. Chapter 53 begins with the pagan kings of the surrounding nations looking on the wreckage and declaring what they see. (Isaiah 53:1-9) Then the prophet explains it all and offers the role to his people. The question is open. Will Israel accept this role?
The Offer Still Stands: Review the contention of the theme article and share with the congregation ways in which individuals and nations may embrace the suffering "for others" role and thus be the instrument of redemption. Mention of such persons as Ghandi or Martin Luther King, Jr., etc., may contemporize the illustrations. Be careful; not everyone can be a Ghandi or a King. Everyone won't even have the option. But each can be a part of such a redemptive model where they are and as is given to them.
Conclusion: Invite the hearers to prayerfully consider real ways in which to live out a new intent. Recall the promise to those who so live as stated in Isaiah 53:10-12 and Hosea 6:1-6. Remind them that the promise was kept for the only one who ever fully believed it and lived it out.
But why?
Are the New Testament writers just Jews committed to a sacrificial system that seems to demand some price paid, some propitiation to a God requiring penance? Is what we read just a rewrite of the sacrificial system? Is Jesus the sacrifice to replace all sacrifices? What are we to hear?
Surely the New Testament writers use the sacrificial language. They needed to so that their readers would understand. But they would understand more than some imagine.
They would understand that the central meaning of the sacrificial system is best caught up in the old, old story of Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac. Some get all bogged down in discussions of the wrong issues in this story. The central meaning of it is caught up in words written in at the end of the story, "So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord will provide."
There it is. In the Jewish sacrificial system God named the sacrifice. Thus God made a way.
So it is with the suffering servant. The act points back to God. Jesus' suffering and death is no price paid to the devil (as some imagine) or offering to God in an effort to curb his wrath. It is a revelation of the very heart of God, who makes a way, who provides.
In the suffering of Jesus we see clearly portrayed before our very eyes the act of a self-giving God, one who himself suffers, who himself bears the price, who pays the penalty for our sin and offers restoration and fellowship to all who will accept his gift and say "yes" to his offer.
OUTLINE I
The Pursuing God
Isaiah 52:13--53:12; Hosea 6:1-6; Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9; John 18:1--19:42
Introduction: Why not begin by pointing up the contradiction in the term Good Friday. What was good about such a day? It was on Friday (remember, Friday began on Thursday at 6 p.m.) that he was arrested, dragged from one place to another in an effort to get him condemned, betrayed first by Peter and then abandoned by all, abused by Roman soldiers, forced to carry his own cross and, finally, crucified with two common criminals in full view of all. Good Friday?
For Us: "Upon him was the chastisement that made us whole." Read the theme article again and rediscover for the congregation what is proclaimed about no other god. Our God is one who suffers when we sin. He is the most put-upon god in history. Trace again the Old Testament story: the rejection in Eden, the cruelty of man to man in those early days, the mess at Babel, the hostility to Moses who was sent to their rescue, the grumbling in the wilderness, the apostasy of the Golden Calf incident, the whoring after the Baals, the choosing of a man for a king, etc. Make your own list. This is a God much put upon, one who would be justified in any wrathful act he chooses.
And Yet: God persists. He keeps on trying: the patriarchs, Moses, military leaders, judges, prophets, judgment, kindness ... you name it. He hangs in there, persists. The Old Testament opens with the story of this God coming to Adam and asking "Where are you?" The New Testament ends with the reminder, "Behold I stand at the door and knock."
Conclusion: Use Francis Thompson's poem The Hound of Heaven for closing. You'll need to exclude certain parts. Choose that which hangs together and let its message reaffirm the message of the day.
OUTLINE II
The Look That Offers Hope
John 18:1--19:42
Introduction: Most congregations need to hear the story told again. So review the events that lead up to the scripture and then tell the story of Good Friday as it is told by the writer of The Gospel of John. Note especially the role of Peter and his failure.
1. Review Peter's record. This is the disciple who is always ready to act. He protests his allegiance; he cuts off the priests' servant's ear. He will deny Jesus three times. He will be in the vanguard at the empty tomb. It will be Peter who preaches at Pentecost (Acts 2), who will go to Caesarea and learn an important lesson from Cornelius (Acts 10), and who will go to Jerusalem with Paul to defend the Gentile converts from the stringency of the Pharisees (Acts 15). Watch him as he turns from brash braggart to trembling denier, to an open-minded Jew, to evangelist for the faith.
2. Encourage the hearer to review his/her own pilgrimage in the faith. Create scenarios in which all of us have at one time or another been all the things Peter was and done all that he did. Lead each person to ask just how many times he or she has heard the cock crow in the distance. Review some of the ways in which all of us deny.
3. Remind the hearer that Jesus never gave up on Peter and that he never gives up on us. If we will persevere, perhaps the day will come when, like Peter, we will hear the voice of acceptance and commission as did Peter in John 21.
Conclusion: Use this poem for closing:
The Meaning of the Look
I think that look of Christ might seem to say -
"Thou Peter! art thou then a common stone.
Which I at last must break my heart upon,
For all God's charge to His high angels may
Guard my foot better? Did I yesterday
Wash thy feet, my beloved, that they should run
Quick to deny me 'neath the morning sun?
And do thy kisses, like the rest, betray?
The cock crows coldly. - Go, and manifest
A late contrition, but no bootless fear!
For when thy final need is dreariest,
Thou shalt not be denied, as I am here;
My voice to God and angels shall attest,
Because I know this man, let him be clear."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
OUTLINE III
An Offer That Still Stands
Isaiah 52:13--53:12; Hosea 6:1-6
Introduction: Remind the hearers that, as Christians, we are so accustomed to hearing the suffering servant passage interpreted in the light of Christian understandings that we have lost sight of its original meanings. A recovery of the original situation can be helpful.
The Times: Second Isaiah, chapters 40-55, were clearly written to a people in the process of return from the exile to Babylon. Broken, beaten, worthless and defeated was Israel, and yet the prophet sees meaning in it all. If she will, Israel can be the means of God's salvation of the nations. If she will.
Review the Material: Verses 13-15 of chapter 52 give a vivid picture of the broken servant. Chapter 53 begins with the pagan kings of the surrounding nations looking on the wreckage and declaring what they see. (Isaiah 53:1-9) Then the prophet explains it all and offers the role to his people. The question is open. Will Israel accept this role?
The Offer Still Stands: Review the contention of the theme article and share with the congregation ways in which individuals and nations may embrace the suffering "for others" role and thus be the instrument of redemption. Mention of such persons as Ghandi or Martin Luther King, Jr., etc., may contemporize the illustrations. Be careful; not everyone can be a Ghandi or a King. Everyone won't even have the option. But each can be a part of such a redemptive model where they are and as is given to them.
Conclusion: Invite the hearers to prayerfully consider real ways in which to live out a new intent. Recall the promise to those who so live as stated in Isaiah 53:10-12 and Hosea 6:1-6. Remind them that the promise was kept for the only one who ever fully believed it and lived it out.
