Isaiah 52,13-15; 53,1-12. Good Friday Vespers

Isaiah 52,13-15; 53,1-12           2321 

Karfreitag 031

Theodosia, Virgin on Tyre, Martyr at Caesarea Palestine, ✠ 308

2. April 2021

1. O Lord, Jesus, who by Your holy innocent suffering has wrought out grace for us poor and lost sinners, from the Heavenly Father, and purchased us onto eternal life; in the depths of our hearts we thank You for Your love, Your anguish and misery, and for Your vicarious death. We praise You for Your holy Passion, and will beseech You, preserve us eternally by Your love, and grant us grace to realize the eternal benefit of Your redemption, with grateful hearts. Cause us to be strengthened by the same in faith, and ever to become more joyful in hope, zealous in love, comforted unto patience, consistent in obedience and die daily unto sin. Help, O Lord, Jesus Christ, that in the end we may be comforted and rejoice in everlasting salvation by Your bloody death.  Amen. (Löhe 364-65) 

2. »Behold, My servant will act wisely; He will be high and lifted up, and will be exalted. As many were astonished at You – His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and His form beyond that of the children of mankind – so will He sprinkle all nations; kings will shut their mouths because of Him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.« 

3. The Prophet Isaiah, writing 800 years before Jesus was born, describes His crucifixion in great detail. Isaiah did this as a prophet of Yahweh by Divine inspiration. These 12 verses are rich in Christology, so let us unpack some of it for our Karfreitag meditation. 

4. Isaiah is often called the Fifth Evangelist because several of his later chapters speak in great detail about the Suffering Servant, who is Jesus Christ. Jesus is God the Father’s Servant. Jesus is high and lifted up on the cross, and this cross is His exalted throne. His appearance astonishes people: He is marred, in His human form, that is His body is beaten and bloodied with bruises, cuts and nails pierced into His hands and feet. The crucified Jesus is a broken man who barely looks human anymore. Such is the physical trauma of a crucifixion. The Gospel according to John tells us: »They will look on Him whom they have pierced« (John 19,37). John is referring us to the penultimate Prophet, Zechariah, who proclaimed: »And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on Me, on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only child, and we bitterly over Him, as one weeps over a first born« (Zechariah 12,10). 

5. The Romans whipped Jesus with 39 lashes: 20 across His back forming an „X“ and then 19 across His chest. They fashioned a crown using 6-inch long thorns and pressed it onto His head. He was forced to carry the crossbeam up to Calvary where He was stripped and crucified naked. Crucifixion often dislocated joints and the only way to breathe is to push up with your legs so as to relieve pressure on the chest and allowing one to gasp in a few breaths. It was a cycle of extreme pain on the upper body, then extreme pain on the legs and feet. Death occurred when one could no longer garner the strength to continue this action. Jesus suffered this way for 6 hours. Truly Isaiah prophesied: »He had no form or majesty so that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.« 

6. »All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.« Isaiah gives the verdict: we are the sinners who turned away from our loving God. Adam and Eve were the first insurrectionists, and every generation and offspring of theirs follows their sinful, rebellious path. God judged us guilty and deserving of eternal separation from Him when we die. And yet, God does not punish us with this verdict, for Someone else stepped forward and received our condemnation in our place. God mercifully put all our sinfulness upon His Only Son so that when He died on the cross, He died as one bearing all the iniquity of the world. 

7. Too often, Christians and churches ignore the reality of death. And when they do speak of Christ’s death it is sanitized. Christ was crucified for sinners, and Karfreitag does not let us shy away from the horrors of death, the grave and the end of life. Karfreitag forces all Christians and churches to look upon death, yes, the death of Jesus, and ponder it.  

8. The Gospels tell us how Jesus suffered, and how He died when He yielded up His life by His own accord (John 19,30). Let us not avoid this death, but let us look it straight in the eyes, for the death of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary is the stake in the heart of sin, death and the grave. Let us confess the whole truth here too. On Karfreitag, God died. We don’t normally think of God being capable of dying because He is immortal and omnipotent. Thus Jesus took upon Himself mortal human flesh and blood so He could suffer and die as the sacrificial lamb for the salvation of the world. Behold, the Son of God crucified, and the Lamb of God sacrificed for the sin of the world, yes, for all your sins! Christ crucified is the costly ransom that paid in full all our sinfulness. Behold, there is Jesus, the King of the Jews, and He suffered, died and was buried in a tomb!  

9.  Jesus’ crucifixion, death and burial means that there can be no doubt that God loves each and every fallen, sinful man and woman. Three years before He was crucified, Jesus told Nicodemus: »For God loved the world so much that He gave His Only Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life« (John 3,16). God desired to save the world from sin, death and hell, so He sent His one and only Son as the vicarious sacrifice to redeem the world. God did not spare Himself, but rather He sent His very best for you and your salvation. Thus Jesus preached: »And taking the Twelve, Jesus said to them: „Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the Prophets will be accomplished. For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they will kill him, and on the third day He will rise“« (Luke 18,31-33). This Christ crucified is what a life with purpose looks like. This is what a victorious life looks like. This is what obedience looks like. This is what God being lifted up looks like. This is what the Glory of God looks like. This is what God’s blessings to you look like. This is what a love looks like. This is what your salvation looks like. 

9. But Isaiah will not let us cry in anguish at Jesus’ tomb. »It was the will of Yahweh to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His life makes an offering for guilt, then He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days; the will of Yahweh shall prosper in His hand.« Friday drew to a close with Jesus dead and buried. Our sins had been, and even now are, atoned for, but as Friday night approached, the Lamb of God is still dead. The dark night of Friday covers the land and our hearts, for our Redeemer has died in our place, and in the dusk of the Easter Vigil we now prayerfully await the glorious dawn of Easter Sunday. »The Righteous One makes all to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.« Go in peace on this afternoon of salvation, for your sins have been paid off in full and you have that forgiveness in your Holy Baptism. Yes, you died and were buried with Christ in your Baptism (Romans 6,3-4). Jesus has been buried, but there is one more phrase in His sermon and we now await that glorious gospel of Easter Sunday to be proclaimed, for that is what victory looks like.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Almighty and Most Merciful God, pour out on us Your abundant blessing so that all who in true faith share this night in joyful celebration of the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ over Sin and the Serpent may be filled with Your heavenly benediction. Once we were in darkness, but now we are in the Light, even Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen. (A prayer from the Easter Vigil in the LSB Altar Book 532, modified).  Amen. 

Which is poured out for everyone

✠

 

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

  Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.