But It Was Our Sins That Did That To Him

Holy Week 2020

April 9, 2020

Thursday of Holy Week

But It Was Our Sins That Did That To Him

“. . . it was our pains he carried—

   our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.

Isaiah 53:4 (MSG)

In the first sixteen verses of John 19, the irony of the conspiracy to murder Jesus increases yet again. Pilate, who has absolute authority over Israel, vacillates. He is indecisive and fearful. At first, he toyed with the priests; if they wanted to crucify Jesus, he would let Jesus go, just to spite them. Then Pilate senses there is more being played out than he understands and wants to distance himself from the proceedings. Enter the ultimate irony. The priests, who were completely under the authority of Pilate, manipulate Pilate to do their bidding. Pilate capitulates, but the cost to the priests and the crowd is expensive beyond measure. They have repudiated their God by claiming they have no king, but Caesar. They have crucified the First Commandment: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me.” (Exodus 20: 2-3)

Thus the words of the Prophet Isaiah were fulfilled: (Please read this passage from Isaiah slowly, and outloud.)

“. . . it was our pains he carried—

   our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.

We thought he brought it on himself,

   that God was punishing him for his own failures.

But it was our sins that did that to him,

   that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!

He took the punishment, and that made us whole.

   Through his bruises we get healed.

We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.

   We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.

And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,

   on him, on him.

 He was beaten, he was tortured,

   but he didn’t say a word.

Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered

   and like a sheep being sheared,

   he took it all in silence.

Justice miscarried, and he was led off—

   and did anyone really know what was happening?

He died without a thought for his own welfare,

   beaten bloody for the sins of my people.

They buried him with the wicked,

   threw him in a grave of a rich man,

Even though he’d never hurt a soul

   or said one word that wasn’t true.

(Isaiah 53: 4-9 The Message)

My Takeaway: I’ve got nothing to say. I just need to be still.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.