Isaiah 53:7-9

He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

 

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

And who can speak of his descendants?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 

 

          Well, I may as well get it over with.  Let’s do it, NOW!  Impatience is a trait we exhibit so well.  We know how we are impatient for something good to happen.  Likewise, when something unpleasant is before us, we show impatience in those situations also.  We go through the trials of life complaining, pushing the blame onto someone else, cursing whatever it is that has come upon us, just to get the situation over with.  If so and so had done such and such, we wouldn’t be in this mess now, would we?  No, we do not even suffer patiently.  Just get it over with and get it over with quickly.

 

          Today as we read through the account of Jesus in the palace of the high priest, and next Wednesday as we read through Jesus’ trial in front of Pilate, being sent to Herod and back to Pilate again, we see how patient Jesus is throughout all that we put him through over that Thursday night and early Friday morning.  From the prayers of agony and betrayal in Gethsemane up to the moment he bows his head and dies, Jesus walks through the events one step at a time without one word of complaint or questioning.

 

          “He was oppressed and afflicted…”  To oppress means to burden harshly, unjustly and tyrannically.  Israel was oppressed in Egypt as Pharaoh burdened them with more and more work.  To oppress means to weigh heavily upon the mind or spirit.  Our sins weighed heavily on Jesus as he carried that weight that was far greater than the wooden cross given him.  He was afflicted as he was humiliated, mocked by everyone from the temple leaders to Herod to the various soldiers in whose hands he was thrown from moment to moment.  The scarlet robe placed on him was a Roman soldier’s robe. In their cruel humor they meant to ridicule a Jewish man even more as they forced him to wear the clothing cast off from a Gentile.  “You people call us filth?  Wear our clothes now!”  He was weakened physically by the beatings and standing a long time without food or water.  He was weakened mentally by the ridicule, the meanness, the ignoring who he really is, the Son of God.  When we look at what Jesus was being put through, each step of the way, don’t you wonder why he just didn’t open up and say, “All right, I did all these things you accuse me of, let’s just move on and finish what you are here to do.”

 

          “…yet he did not open his mouth…”  In this verse Isaiah tells three times that Jesus never says anything.  Twice that he does not open his mouth and once that he is silent.  Peter, who watched first hand later wrote, “When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”  [1 Peter 2:23]  Instead Jesus prayed to his heavenly Father.  He spoke to his mother Mary, John, and the repenting criminal next to him.  He did not scold, curse threaten, or seek revenge.  But, he suffered like a sheep which does not cry against its shearer compared to other animals that squeal and bellow.

 

          As Jesus’ suffering was excruciating beyond what the body is made to endure, and beyond anything that he deserved, he offered only words of compassion, benevolence, love and gentleness.  There were no words or actions of anger or revenge.  In all of this he takes our place as spoken in Psalm 44:22, “…we are considered sheep to be slaughtered.”  Satan licks his chops when he sees the sinner, ripe for his picking to be one in the eternal abyss with him.  We are the ones who should be experiencing this punishment not just momentarily until earthly death, but for all eternity.  As sinners, we are defenseless to Satan and his will.  But John the Baptist points to Jesus as the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.  It is this lamb who removes the stain and guilt of sin from you so that Satan can no longer devour you as that roaring lion he is depicted to be.  Instead, we are saved by the “…lamb looking as if it had been slain…” who alone can open the scroll in the Revelation to John. 

 

          “By oppression and judgment he was taken away.”  Note how throughout everything Jesus is subject to all of the laws and judiciary of his time.  He is convicted and sentenced by the temple authorities.  He is laughed off by a figurehead king, Herod.  He is formally sentenced to both torture and death on the cross by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. 

 

          “And who can speak of his descendants?”  Isaiah does not miss an insult here.  Just as a barren woman felt shame for not having children, a man who died without offspring of his own died in disgrace.  In the eyes of those around him was this additional disgrace.  What good was Jesus anyway?  He does not even have a child to bear his name.  Those people remember his reply that God could raise up stones to be children of Abraham, [Matthew 3:9], but from Jesus’ body he did not sire even one son to carry his name.  Instead he was “…cut off from the land of the living…”  It was for our sins, our transgression, our rebellion against God that he was sent to earth to die the death of a traitor.

 

          Jesus remained patient.  He let every part of his betrayal, sufferings, trials, and execution happen as they did because that is what he came to earth to do.  Although Isaiah, by his own capabilities, could not foresee seven hundred years into the future, to know even the Roman occupation, God led him by the power of the Holy Spirit to write these words so you and I today can see the prophecy fulfilled.  That is to verify in our hearts and minds the simple faith that God loved the world so that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him has eternal life. 

 

          Jesus not only patiently but willingly lived and endured each step, each insult, each act of violence against him, for one reason and one reason alone.  He knew then as you and I do today that all of this was for you to be presented at judgment washed in his precious blood to be white as snow, as pure wool. 

 

          The writer to the Hebrews explains this so swell, describing Jesus who “for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God.”  [12:2]            Amen.