To the brothers and sisters in Christ at Immanuel:  Grace, mercy and peace to all of you from God our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ who is our risen and ascended Lord and Savior.  Amen.

 

            In the second hymn verse we just sang, we note the abrupt change from a joyous and enthusiastic welcome to the shout to crucify Jesus.  We ask ourselves and God, “Why?”  “Why does Jesus suffer so much?”  “Why does Jesus have to suffer so much?”

 

            Long before the passion of our Lord, God answers these questions through Isaiah’s prophecy in 53:4-5.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

 

            “Surely…” Isaiah writes.  This is a certain thing.  It is not pretend.  It is not merely symbolic.  Jesus’ suffering and death really happened as God tells in this passage, has prophesied since the Garden of Eden, and as the Gospel writers accurately record the events for us to know.

 

            “He took up our infirmities…”  Jesus substitutes himself for us and now does all of this for us.  A doctor or surgeon can prescribe a remedy or procedure to cure an illness or condition.  But that doctor cannot take your illness and put it on himself and carry it for you.  Jesus put upon himself our infirmities, our sicknesses.  God is not talking about the flu or cancer or a broken part.  He is talking about the most lethal of sicknesses, sin.  As Jesus took up our infirmities, it is not one or two just to relieve the pain some, but he takes all of our sins away from us and puts them upon himself.

 

            We cannot recover from the illness of sin.  We cannot stand up before God under the weight of this disease, the weight of guilt in sin.  But Jesus is able to and does carry this great weight in our places. 

 

            As Jesus carries this weight for us, we are perplexed and confused in this life as we praise him and beg for his mercies one moment, then cast him off yelling, “Crucify him,” the next.   We are the bystanders, the temple leaders, the soldiers at Calvary wondering, “Why, if this man really is God, why doesn’t he save himself?  “Why has God forsaken Jesus?”

 

            “But…”  In this little word, we see that Isaiah’s account takes us in a new direction away from our thoughts to God’s thoughts and purpose. 

 

            “He was pierced…”  We easily concentrate on the nails and spear that physically pierced Jesus’ body.  What Jesus endured was far more than the brutal torture and crucifixion that we see.  Jesus’ pure, sinless and holy body was permeated, totally polluted and defiled.  What was perfect in goodness is now ruined with corruption of every kind.  And the reason is for our transgressions, our open rebellion in sin against God. 

 

            Not only is Jesus’ body ruined in this way, he “…was crushed…”  He was totally broken and shattered not in his body, but in his spirit.  Jesus was torn apart inside and out because of our fault, not his.  It is the weight of our depravity and guilt that crushes Jesus leaving him appear defenseless in the eyes of the world. 

 

            “The punishment that brought us peace was upon him.”  Through Paul God instructs us that the wages, what we earn, of sin is death.  In death nothing is good.  Death is being rejected by God.  In death you are separated from all and any little part of his goodness.  There is only evil and eternal burning in an unrelenting and all consuming fire.  Knowing that kind of death is before you gives you no hope, no peace. 

 

            But God loves you and wants you to be with him in everlasting life and not that everlasting death I just described.  You and I cannot survive God’s wrath and punishment for sin.  We cannot live in peace in any way without forgiveness and knowing we are in God’s perfect grace again.  God knows we cannot survive the torrents of hell and return to him on our own.  That punishment is now placed on Jesus who willingly endures it for you, suffering every bit of what we deserve so that we are brought in Jesus’ holiness and made one with God in his grace, his eternal and perfect love for you again.

 

            How does Jesus accomplish all of this?  It is by his wounds, all that happens to him that causes his blood to flow to heal you.  It is by his wounds, his blood alone, that sins are washed away and you are made pure and holy again.  A very ill person whose blood is bad receives a transfusion of good blood to restore him to health.  Our sinful souls need the transfusion of perfect blood to make us whole again too.  It is Jesus’ blood, sacrificed as he did, given and shed for you as he did, that makes your wounded spirits whole again.  Jesus shed his blood for all sins of all people of all time.  In that way, you have the confidence and joy that the blood of Christ cleanses each believer from all sin. 

 

            An elderly Christian spoke of her pastor’s visit with the Lord’s Supper.  “I feel renewed, like a new person again,” she said.  That is why Christ suffered, poured out his blood and died for you, to make you a new person in him, and a new and holy person for all eternity.                  Amen.