Sermon: Luke 13: 10-21 A Loosed Woman

One of the life skills you have to learn as you grow up is how to tie your shoelaces. When I was growing up, I was all fingers and thumbs, and couldn’t work it out for a while. Every Saturday, dad took me to watch football, and I wore wellies because it was so mucky at Dromore Amateurs old ground. The laces on them didn’t matter, but I just couldn’t get them tied. So for a while, mum or dad would tie my laces really tight so they wouldn’t come loose during the day. It was great to get home from school, and get them untied, loosened. The burden of school was finished for the day. Taking the school shoes off was the sign of that!

For men, there’s another thing you’ve to learn how to tie - your tie. I don’t wear a tie very often (because I could never get it tied right!), so when I do, it feels rather tight. It’s great to be finished, to be able to get it loosed. Getting it untied meant freedom!

In our reading today, we’re introduced to a woman who is bound. For eighteen years, she has been crippled by a spirit. She’s permanently bent over. For all those long years, she hasn’t been able to stand up straight. Can you imagine what her life was like? It affected everything. For every second of those years, she has been bent over. Held, bound, imprisoned.

The setting is important. Luke tells us that Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. The Jews gathered (a bit like we do), to hear God’s word read and taught and to praise and pray. It’s the sabbath, the day of rest. Jesus is already teaching whenever the woman arrives.

So he calls her to the front. He declares the freedom and then demonstrates the freedom. ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he touches her, lays hands on her, immediately she stands up straight, and begins praising God. She had been bound for eighteen years. She couldn’t stand up straight. Yet one word and one touch from Jesus and she is free. Released. She is a loosed woman.

You expect that everyone would join her as she praises God. They know her. They live beside her. They’ve watched her struggle all this time. You’d think they would be happyfor her, and join the chorus of praise. But over her shout of praise comes another voice. A negative voice. Not just once, he ‘kept saying to the crowd.’ (14) ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ (14)

The leader of the synagogue, the religious man in the local community is indignant. He’s not joyful, he’s angry. He’s annoyed because Jesus did some work on the sabbath. He saw this cure as a work, he reckons Jesus broke the sabbath. After all, the woman had endured this condition for 18 years. It wasn’t life threatening, she could have waited one more day until the sabbath was over.

It also sounds as if there were miracles happening all the time at his synagogue. ‘Come on those days and be cured...’ But this isn’t something he could do. This was something only Jesus could do. Only the Saviour could bring about freedom in this way.

Jesus confronts the hypocrisy. That’s what it is. Look at verse 15. ‘Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?’ Looking after animals doesn’t stop on the sabbath. You can’t just leave them until the next working day. There’s a duty to care for them. There’s a need for mercy, to give them what they need. And how they did that was by untying the animals to give them water. They released the animals so they could drink.

Isn’t that what Jesus was doing? ‘And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ If you untie your animal on the sabbath and don’t give it a second thought, why would you want this daughter of Abraham, this woman in God’s family to be left bound up?

Jesus has the power to break our bondage. Jesus is able to bring freedom. Just as he said those words on that day, so he still says: ‘Woman, you are set free.’ You can be a loosed woman, a loosed man. Perhaps there’s something you’re struggling with. Some addiction that you seem bound by. The same old sin you fall into time after time. That one temptation you just can’t resist. The same patterns of behaviour, anger. You fight and fight but just can’t get free. You think you’ve got away from it, only for it to come back stronger again.

You may not be powerful enough to defeat it, but Jesus is. He can bring freedom. He is able to release you. Why not come to him today? Ask him to bring freedom. Listen as the cords are loosened, the chains broken, and he says ‘You are set free.’

God’s kingdom changes lives. The woman’s life would never be the same again. No longer would she walk around bent over. She could walk upright, looking people in the eye. But that was just the start. As Jesus brings freedom and release in individual lives, the consequences are bigger than you could imagine. The freedom that Jesus brings enables people to flourish, in new life in his kingdom.

You’ve probably heard the saying ‘great oaks from little acorns grow.’ Jesus uses the same idea, only with something even smaller, to show how God’s kingdom changes lives, as it grows from small beginnings. In two pictures, Jesus explains the kingdom that is breaking in.

‘It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’ Something so small you would hardly see it, yet it grows big enough for birds to nest in its branches.

Or move from the garden into the kitchen. ‘It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’ A wee bit of yeast in a big bowl of flour works through the whole batch until it’s all leavened. The whole loaf rises because of a wee tiny bit of yeast. From such small beginnings, God’s kingdom grows. The freedom that Jesus brings erupts into fullness of life. That means the small things we do for the kingdom can have a big impact, bigger than you’d ever imagine.

A word at just the right time; an act that shows God’s love; a sharing of what Jesus has done for you; a prayer for someone or some situation; the Bible reading that gives you the word from God you needed to hear that day; the word of freedom over your life or someone else’s that (humanly speaking) changes the course of their life and their eternity.

God’s kingdom is growing, and continuing to grow from small, seemingly insignificant beginnings. The Lord Jesus is the King, who wants to loose you from your chains and set you free to serve him. Don’t leave without knowing that freedom he brings. Don’t stay bound, when he offers freedom. Man, Woman, you are set free - in Jesus’ name. Amen!

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 8th March 2015.

Sermon: Luke 12: 35-53 The Faithful Servant

I used to work in a corner shop owned by a man called Jackie. On a Tuesday evening and a Saturday evening from 6.30 - 10.30, there was me and another teenager manning the shop. Besides serving customers, there were the shelves to keep stocked, and cleaning to do. Sometimes, there wasn’t much to do. The shop was quiet, the shelves were full, and all was clean. You’d have a bit of time to stand and chat, but you always had to be on the lookout. Not for customers, but for Jackie himself. At any moment he might pop in, through the front door or through the back door, just to see how things were going.

He wasn’t paying us to stand around talking (as he told us on more than one occasion!). When he was away, he expected us to work as if he were there. Some of my colleagues found it so tiring to work when he was there, and needed a rest once he had gone away again (only for him to have forgotten something and to walk back in, and find them lounging over the counter!). When the cat’s away, do the mice play?

We find ourselves in a similar situation in this morning’s reading. What will it look like to be a good servant, a faithful worker in God’s kingdom? Last week, you might remember, we looked at the greed of the man wanting a share of his brother’s inheritance. Jesus told the story of the foolish farmer who was rich, but not rich towards God. Jesus tells us to store up treasure in heaven, not on earth, by seeking God’s kingdom as our first priority.

This morning, we see what seeking God’s kingdom looks like. Jesus is pointing forward to the time after the cross and the resurrection, to the period after the ascension, when Jesus is no longer on the earth. His servants are here, keeping the business going. This is a word for us, for our time. Seeking God’s kingdom means watching and working while we wait for his return. Because Jesus will return. We just don’t know when.

So first, the watching. Imagine a big house, something like Downton Abbey. The master has gone away for the evening to a party. A wedding feast. There’s no indication of how long the party will go on, or how late the master will get home. But when he does get home, at whatever time, he expects his servants to be ready to greet him. To open the door when he knocks, to usher him in out of the cold. Alert, watching, waiting, ready. They’re not sleeping, or snoozing, they’re ready. There is a blessing for those watching servants.

It’s an unexpected blessing. You’d expect that the servants would have to do their job, make the master a bite of supper or a cup of tea, and get him ready for bed. but look at verse 37. The master caters for the servants. The master serves the servants. It’s unheard of! But we’re not in Downton anymore, we’re in the kingdom of God.

When Jesus returns, he himself will provide for and care for his servants. We’ll be welcomed to his wedding feast, given a place at the table, and given the best food to eat. All those who are watching and waiting for him - all who have longed for his appearing (2 Tim 4:8).

The only thing is that we don’t know when it will be. If you’ve ever had your house broken into, it’s a horrible experience. For someone to be in your space, looking at and taking away your things, it’s terrible. If you’d known when they were coming, you would have been ready for them, maybe with a poker or something stronger. But that’s the point. The thief doesn’t ring up and make an appointment. He doesn’t post a card to say I’ll be in your area on Tuesday morning, if it would be convenient to call? In the same way, Jesus says he is coming at an unexpected hour, so be ready. Watch for his coming, whenever it may be.

So are you ready? Are you watching for him eagerly? Ready to welcome him, and surprisingly to be served by him? When the Queen came to Enniskillen for her Jubilee service, the Rectory was made ready (and searched carefully by the security brief). The Dean had to be ready for her coming for morning coffee. The King of Kings has told us he is coming. Are we ready to receive him? Watch!

But as Jesus goes on (and doesn’t really seem to answer Peter’s question), he says that it’s not enough to watch, we also have to work while we wait for his return. The master has left us work to be getting on with. In school, when the teacher left the classroom, the work was forgotten until they appeared at the door, giving off about the noise! What about us? Will we be found at the master’s work when he returns? Again there’s a blessing involved (43).

The unfaithful servant, however, is in danger. He doesn’t care what the master said, he beats the other servants and eats and drinks and gets drunk, lording it over them. But whether he expects him or not, the master will return and deal with him. He’ll be punished, condemned, put with the unfaithful.

So what is the work the master has left us? At the end of this gospel, he sends the disciples out as his witnesses to all the nations. We have been given the job of sharing the good news, telling people about Jesus the Saviour of the World. Are we getting on with this task, or are we merely looking after ourselves and our own preferences?

Have we forgotten about the return of the Lord Jesus, given up on him, and happy to do what pleases us, with no thought of his judgement? You see, there are consequences to our obedience or disobedience. In verses 47-48, the people in view are all servants of the master. These aren’t strangers, these are servants. To know what he wants and to disobey is a serious offence, more serious than not knowing what he wants and doing the same.

In this way, this parable is probably for church leaders (in whatever role), as we take charge and feed the other servants. So pray - pray for those who lead in this congregation, in the organisations, in the diocese - pray for faithfulness, to keep to the work the master has allocated. Pray for focus, to keep on track.

The big message of this morning’s reading is that Jesus is coming. He will return. He wants to find us watching and working as we wait for his return. He has given us work to do, because he completed the work he had to do. He came two thousand years ago to bring fire to the earth. He had a baptism to be baptised with, a work that he had to do, a submersion that only he could do - to go down under the waters of death, to rise to new life. And while his death on the cross brings peace, Jesus says that he also brings division.

Not everyone welcomes Jesus. Not everyone serves Jesus. The division comes on the earth, between those who belong to Jesus, and those who reject him. But Jesus says that division can even be found in families. Households can be divided by him. Some become his servants, and work and watch for him. Others will reject him, refusing to serve him.

But remember where the blessing lies. The blessing is for those who serve the Servant King, who died to bring peace, who serves his servants in his paradise. Will you watch and work for him as you wait for him to return? Let’s pray.

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 22nd February 2015.

The Way of the Cross (41)

The very last in this Lenten series, The Way of the Cross, and a bonus one, because it's a brilliant reminder of what has happened to our sins through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout, we've been seeing how the Old Testament prepares the way for the Lord's passion and death, the whole of the Old Testament is the road to the cross. Having reached the end of the road, can we be sure that our sins are gone?

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old. (Micah 7:18-20)

In the best sense of the phrase, and towards his chosen people, love wins. Our sins are gone - thrown into the sea. As one preacher remarked, they're in the sea, and God has set up a 'no fishing' sign.

For God's covenant people, there is the unending promise of faithfulness, steadfastness, love, compassion and forgiveness of sins. And it was all achieved through the precious death of our Lord Jesus Christ, who willing laid down his life for us, giving himself in service to save the unlovely.

As we conclude this series, we can be confident that the cross was no accident; that it reflected the eternal purpose and plan of the Trinity, to save a people for Jesus, who will praise him through all eternity.

To him be the glory and the praise, both now and ever. Amen!

The Way of the Cross (40)

It's the last day of Lent, forty days since Ash Wednesday (not counting Sundays, which are Feast Days), and Easter Eve. It should really be the end of our series, but we'll continue another couple of days to include another couple of great prophecies of what the Lord Jesus would do when he came.

It's the day after Good Friday, the day before Easter Sunday. An in between kind of day. Neither one thing nor the other. Having been laid in the tomb before sundown on Friday (the beginning of the Sabbath), Jesus remains in the tomb on Saturday. Three days he is in the tomb, before being raised on Sunday. What should we think of today? What else, but the sign of Jonah?

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17)

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40)

The Lord Jesus not only regarded Jonah as a historical figure, but also as a sign pointing to his own work of dying and being buried before being raised from the dead. Even as Jesus is buried, his work continues, charted out in advance through the predictions of the prophets, and in this case the prophetic action of the pathetic prophet.

In contrast with the first disciples, who spent that first Easter Eve in fear, wondering how things had turned around completely within a week, we know how the story ends. It's hard to 'unremember' it, but we don't have to - we can celebrate every day as Easter people.

At the same time, Jesus so fully identifies with us that he even goes to the grave, lying in the tomb for us, and our salvation. He has passed through the valley of the shadow of death - we need not fear the grave. It cannot hold us.

The Way of the Cross (39)

The prophet Zechariah, guided by the Holy Spirit, points us toward a very important day in the calendar. Much more important than a royal wedding, bigger than cup final day, or someone's birthday, the day was in the future for Zechariah.

It all centred on some events that would happen in Jerusalem, the very events that we recall on this day, Good Friday, as we look back to the first Good Friday. As we've seen throughout our series, the passion was predicted centuries beforehand by the prophets.

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 weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn...

On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. (Zechariah 12:10; 13:1)

The pierced one is the one from whom mercy and grace flow; the fount of every blessing and the fountain for the cleansing of sin. We cannot now journey to see the Lord Jesus on the cross, and yet we can still stand at the cross, seeing in our heart what he has done for us, to offer salvation and freedom.

You may know your need of cleansing, but have you been cleansed? There's a world of difference between knowing that you're stinking when you come back from playing sport or working in the garden, and actually having a shower. The shower is needed - and you naturally want to be clean, so you go and wash.

What of your soul? What of your heart? Do you see your need? Have you been cleansed by this free-flowing fountain for forgiveness? Come, and be clean, through the pierced one, from whose side flowed the blood and water.

The Way of the Cross (38)

The events of Maundy Thursday, the washing of feet, the Lord's Supper, the prayer in Gethsemane, come so quickly that it's hard to keep up with what is happening at times. You can imagine the 24 hour news crews dashing to get their cameras rolling, live reports coming in, minute by minute updates on the trial. You could be tempted to think that it all kicked off, taking Jesus by surprise. He was in control up until the soldiers arrived, led by the chief priests and Judas, but then it turned out differently to how he had expected.

Not so, says the person who has read their Bible! Even as Jesus is arrested, he continues to fulfill Scripture, his enemies playing their part unawares. None more so than in Gethsemane, where the prophet Zechariah helps us to understand what is happening.

Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. (Zechariah 13:7)

This is exactly how it turns out as Jesus is arrested, and the Eleven are scattered in fear. Alone, the Saviour continues, the shepherd of the Lord, stricken for the flock, giving his life to save them and gather them from their separation.

The Way of the Cross (37)

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which the LORD inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger (Lamentations 1:12)

Those words are uttered by one on the receiving end of the judgment of God, the punishment of the Almighty. The judgement has fallen, yet many continue on their day-to-day life, unconcerned, unaffected, unmoved.

The words were first uttered by the devastated inhabitants of Jerusalem, when that city finally fell to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. The Lamentations (which we probably don't think enough about - it probably doesn't fit into our happy-clappy always high Christianity) are an extended meditation and cry of lament; pouring out pain to God. Jerusalem fell, and the surrounding nations were glad - Edom threw a party. The people of God, however, turn to lament.

These very words could be on the lips of the Lord Jesus as he dies on the cross (indeed, they are used with powerful effect in Stainer's Crucifixion). We're told that the place where Jesus was crucified was on the highway, many people were passing by and could see what happened to rebels and criminals. Yet they regard it as a spectacle, something to enjoy and revel at, rather than something precious, amazing, powerful.

No wonder that the lights were dimmed, the sky turned black and there was darkness for those three hours of intense suffering on the cross, as the LORD inflicted his fierce anger, his wrath towards sin, on the sinless substitute.

The same question rings out today - is it nothing to you? Think of the many people who care nothing about the cross, or the one who suffered on it for our sake. Perhaps a cross is used as a piece of jewellery, but with no thought to what it meant.

Can we make nothing of it as Christians? Do we imagine that once we've been a Christian for a while we don't need to think about the cross any more? That we're somehow making ourselves worthy and can earn our place in heaven once we've been given a jump start? Forbid it that we should ever think nothing of the cross. Rather, as Paul writes:

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

The Way of the Cross (36)

What can you do when a covenant is completely broken? Whether it's the marriage covenant which no longer binds two people together, or a business partnership which has gone sour; things are painful, uncertain, sad.

The prophet Jeremiah lived in the days of a painful divorce. The people of God in Judah had forsaken their God; turned their back on his covenant; renounced their marriage vows. Jerusalem was falling down around them, the besiegers coming over the horizon. The covenant had failed, not because of God, but because of the people.

Jeremiah has words of hope, words of comfort, and words of a new covenant - a covenant that would not be broken:

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each one his brother, saying 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

As Jesus dies on the cross, he fulfills the old law, the old covenant, and institutes the new. He has perfectly obeyed the Law that condemns us, and so the law is written on our hearts, so that we are able to obey it. As we draw near in faith, God is our God, and we his people.

And when we live in the new Jerusalem, there will be no need of ministers, teachers or elders - all of us will perfectly know the Lord. How wonderful that will be - our dull hearts no longer dull, living by sight and not by faith.

And to cap it all, the glorious promise of sins forgiven and forgotten - through the blood of Jesus. Remember those words of Jesus as he shared the Last Supper and instituted the Holy Communion?

Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matt 26:27-28)

The Way of the Cross (35)

The very last section of Isaiah 53 contains a few more surprises, as we'll see as we reflect on it today.

The first one comes in verse 10. Despite the servant of the LORD having done no violence and having no deceit in his mouth, the reason for his death is surprising. On his death certificate, what would be recorded as cause of death?

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10)

The LORD crushes his servant, his Son. It was his plan and purpose, foretold for so long beforehand, and yet isn't it still shocking? The only one who perfectly pleased the LORD suffers at his hands, dying for guilty, filthy rebels who deserved the punishment.

But the crushing wasn't the end of the will of the LORD - Jesus' death isn't the end. Rather, it's a new beginning - the verse continues to talk of him seeing his offspring, having prolonging days, and prospering the will of the LORD. This isn't a Da Vinci Code type Jesus and his children by marriage. The offspring are all his children, his brothers and sisters who are given birth in the gospel, who live in the benefits and blessings of his sacrifice.

Ultimately, by the knowledge of the servant, the righteous one, many will be made righteous. His sacrifice is satisfying, the will of the LORD has been fulfilled, as God takes on the punishment God inflicts, to let us go free and be righteous in his sight. His death was not the end, and so our death is not the end either, as we trust in Christ. Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

The Way of the Cross (34)

As Isaiah 53 continues, we keep on seeing the intricate details writ large so many centuries before Jesus fulfilled them exactly. In the next stanza, we see the details of his trial, his burial, and the declaration of his innocence.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7-10)

Behold the Lamb of God, silent before his judge; committing himself to God, the just judge (1 Pet 2). In this he gives us the example to follow as we trace his steps and suffer wrong for the sake of the gospel. How quick we can be to protest at unfair treatment - and from so young an age.

If a sibling or friend got one more sweet than you, you were quick to protest. Even as adults, we can be quick to defend our own rights, but slow to consider the needs of others. As Christians, we are not guaranteed an easy life - persecution will come when we stand for Jesus, because if they hated him, they will hate you.

Can you follow the example of Jesus and endure when you do good and suffer for it? How much we need his grace, to follow in his steps, the grace that flows through his gracious sacrifice on the cross. It's a witness to a watching world, who may ask the reason for the hope that is in us, even when enduring trials.

O let me see thy footprints,
and in them plant mine own.

The Way of the Cross (33)

Behold the man upon the cross, and what do you see? For many, as they think of Jesus on the cross, they see a tragic ending to an interesting life. Jesus, the teacher, cut short because he was offending people.

Others may think of Jesus as being under the curse. That's how some of those watching that day were thinking - if God wants him, let God save him. After all, he's dying the death of a criminal - and there's no smoke without fire.

But when we become a Christian, our perspective on the cross changes, so that we can echo the words written so long before the cross, in the prophecy of Isaiah 53. That death, that agony, wasn't purposeless - it was for us; for me. In a wonderful way explained only by penal substitution, Jesus is dying in our place, for our sins, for our healing.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned - every one - to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)

Ours is the guilt, his the righteousness.

Ours is the sin, his the remedy.

Ours is the death, his the rescue.

As Paul would later write, 'the Son of God, who loved ME and gave himself for ME. (Galatians 2:20, emphasis added).

As we journey towards the cross, may we never forget the reason Christ died - for us, for me, for you. How marvellous, how wonderful is my Saviour's love for me.

The Way of the Cross (32)

As we continue to ponder the Servant of the LORD, we find more astonishing and amazing descriptions of his person and work in Isaiah 53. Given who this is, it's remarkable how 'ordinary' and unremarkable his life was:

For he grew up before him life a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2)

In contrast with the great and the good, the beautiful people we see all the time in marketing and advertising, the Lord Jesus was plain, nothing special to look at. But as if that were not enough:

He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)

We often fear rejection, and so try to please people, to be liked and accepted by them. How lonely the mission of the Son of God, who knew what it is to be rejected and despised. How amazing, that the very God who created the world, when he came to the world, was rejected by the world.

We turned our back on him, refused to listen, and thought he had something wrong with him? The man of sorrows identifies with our sorrows, because he has known them, and bore them. That agony of the cross was the ultimate sorrow, yet he did not turn away; he endured the cross for the joy that was set before him.

Hallelujah! What a Saviour.

The Way of the Cross (31)

The servant of the LORD is described in various passages towards the end of Isaiah, and we're going to slow right down over the next few days as we think about one of the most famous prophecies of the cross and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.

Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall 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 shall he sprinkle many nations;
kings shall 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. (Isaiah 52:13-15)

This last and greatest of the servant songs portrays the servant of the LORD in surprising ways - high and lifted up, but marred in appearance; his form so deformed as to hardly be considered human. So surprising, that kings shut their mouths because of him; so shocking that this should be one so highly favoured.

And in this first stanza, the mention of sprinkling many nations - for cleansing, purifying. In some way the work of the servant of the LORD, while marring him, will cleanse and heal others. That's all we're told in the first section of this amazing prophecy - so tune in tomorrow for another portion, and a further revealing of the mystery of the passion of the Son of God.

The Way of the Cross (30)

Is God forgetful? That's the question that Zion, the city of God was asking. To all intents and purposes, it looked as if God had forgotten them. When the prophet Isaiah writes chapter 49, he is looking ahead to the time of the exile and return from exile. Jersualem, his city, could soon be destroyed. It would look as if God had forsaken and forgotten.

So how does the LORD reply? What is the answer to this charge of forgetfulness on God's part?

Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me. (Isaiah 49:15-16)

The Lord had them inscribed or engraved on his hands. Similarly, when we ask if the Lord Jesus could ever forget us or forsake us, we're brought to the same reassurance - the palms of his hands bear the engraving of his love for us. Those wounds of love are a permanent sign of his unchanging love for us.

Amazingly and wonderfully, the resurrection body of Jesus continues to bear those scars. Those marks of sacrifice are our comfort; the wounds of the cross are for our joy and peace. I will never leave you nor forsake you, declares the Lord (Heb 13:5)

The Way of the Cross (29)

It has often been said that the prophet Isaiah could be counted as the fifth evangelist - his prophecy is, in places, so very clear in describing the person and work of the Lord Jesus that it's as if it's another Gospel account. As we've already seen, and will continue to see for a few more days, the foretelling of the passion is fairly detailed. But it's not just the passion we're focusing on in these days of Lent, leading up to Easter. We're also seeing the prediction of new life, the promise of resurrection in Jesus.

As we come to Isaiah 25, the prophet portrays a great feast on 'this mountain.' The mountain he's talking about is Jerusalem, the city on the mountain. There's mention of rich food and well-aged wine, but of particular interest is what the LORD himself swallows at the feast:

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death forever;
and the LORD God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the LORD has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
"Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the LORD; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." (Isaiah 25:6-9)

The Lord swallows up the covering, the veil that covers all people - the covering of death. Death is swallowed up in victory, as the immortal one dies - the grave cannot hold him, death cannot swallow him.

So on that mountain of the Lord, the hill of Jerusalem, death is swallowed up and defeated. Jesus has won the victory, life is his to give, so that all tears are dried up and wiped away. Here's another reason to join in another of Isaiah's salvation songs - let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation!

The Way of the Cross (28)

In the very first verse of Isaiah's prophecy, we're given the list of kings who were reigning while he was prophesying. Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Some good, some bad, none great. Throughout, he looks forward to the coming of a new king, the promised king. A new king in David's line who will be different:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit...
In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples - of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:1,10)

This coming king will be the signal, and all God's people will come to him. Those in exile, those from the four corners of the earth, those who are far off; all will come near and dwell in safety. Never more will there be hurt or harm on all God's holy mountain. And on that day, there will be a new song:

You will say in that day:
I will give thank to you, O LORD,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:
Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 12:1-6)

This salvation has been won for us, we can sing this great song through the Lord Jesus, the root of David, lifted high as the signal of salvation. Through him, the exiles are returning, and God's people are being gathered together from all the nations, to live in the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness dwells.

The Way of the Cross (27)

The first chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah is fairly shocking the first time you read it. The LORD God of Israel addresses his people, and tells them what he thinks of them and their religious observance. And it's not at all complimentary.

Israel is worse than an ox or a donkey, because those 'dumb' animals know their owner, but Israel doesn't know nor understand their God. Like a doctor, God diagnoses the problem: 'the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint', there's no soundness in the whole body, top to bottom. Israel are even called by the names Sodom and Gomorrah - an insult in anyone's book, those places being renowned for their sinful behaviour.

On the Ship of Fools website they have a section called Mystery Worshipper. Unannounced, a stranger will visit a church service, and then give fairly detailed feedback on what they thought of it - the welcome, music, sermon, tea, and a lot else besides. Isaiah 1 gives a not-so mystery worshipper's opinion on the Jerusalem temple. It couldn't be worse, as he describes 'this trampling of my courts... my soul hates... I will not listen...'

Their sin is obvious, getting in the way of their worship. Their sin must be dealt with. But how?

Some now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

Later in the book, Isaiah will declare that Israel's self-righteousness is like filthy rags in God's sight. They simply can't do it themselves - and neither can we. Instead, the Lord himself takes our crimson stains and gives us his purity. He cleanses, so that we are clean.

How precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow
No other fount I know,
nothing by the blood of Jesus.

The Way of the Cross (26)

Recently I was watching Lesser Spotted Ulster on TV. For those outside the province who haven't a clue what I'm talking about, it's a programme where presenter Joe Mahon travels around the townlands of the nine county province of Ulster seeing the sights, meeting the locals, and giving a flavour of a particular corner of the country.

Joe was helping to build a dry stone wall somewhere in rural Donegal. The wee man who was teaching him must have been in his seventies or eighties, but worked like a good one! The secret, he said, was to use whatever stone you lifted wherever you could - not wasting time looking for the perfect stone to fit the hole, but by using what came to hand - it would all fit together somehow.

Yet there's an incident in Scripture that shows much more fussy builders. They had came across a particular stone and got rid of it. It was oddly shaped, didn't fit into their plans, and so it was discarded. The ironic and surprising thing, though, is that the rejected stone was actually the most important - the cornerstone - the one that holds the whole building together.

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This is the LORD's doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:22-24)

These verses aren't about the literal building of a house, but rather they point to what was happening when Jesus was crucified. He was the stone rejected, the one who didn't fit with the expectations of Israel. He was the Messiah, the Christ, but not as the people of Israel expected, and so was rejected. When standing before Pilate on trial, the voices cried out 'Crucify, crucify.'

As Jesus died on the cross, it was the ultimate rejection; condemned as a common criminal, cursed by God, mocked by the people. But Good Friday was not the end of the story. The rejected Messiah is the cornerstone Messiah, the one in whom the plans and purposes of God have been fulfilled and finished.

As Jesus rises from the tomb, the rejected Messiah is vindicated by the Father; Jesus is raised, ascended and glorified to the right hand of the Father, the place of honour and glory, from where he rules the universe, and from where he will return to judge every person who has ever lived. That's why it is marvellous in our eyes - because God has done it; we can therefore rejoice in the day of deliverance and salvation.

Little wonder, then, that this very passage is quoted by Jesus to describe his mission (Matt 21:42, Mark 12:10-11, Luke 20:17) as well as Paul (Eph 2:20) and Peter (1 Pet 2:4-7), including his defence in front of the rulers of Israel:

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:11-12)

The Way of the Cross (25)

To be attacked by an enemy is one thing; to be betrayed by a friend is altogether more painful. When a close friend suddenly turns, it can be very distressing; the confidence gone, the closeness lost, the relationship soured.

When Jesus was choosing his twelve disciples, we're told in the gospel accounts from the outset that Judas Iscariot was the one who betrayed Jesus by bringing the temple guard and imperial soldiers to Gethsemane. In one sense, by the time you come to read of it, it's no surprise - we know long before it happens that Judas is the betrayer.

[Interestingly, the disciples weren't so confident that Judas was the betrayer. Remember when Jesus reveals at the Last Supper that one of them will betray him? They eleven don't all turn round and look and point at Judas, knowing it's him. Instead they ask the question, "Is it I?"]

There's a sense in which even before coming to the Gospels, we know that one of Jesus' closest friends will betray him, turning against him. It's another detail of Messiah's life that is told plainly centuries before it happens through the prophetic writings of the Old Testament. Through an unknown incident of David's life, the Holy Spirit points towards the experience of the Messiah, as he drives David to write:

Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. (Psalm 41:9)

Opposition is nothing new - the rest of the Psalm shows how many people are plotting against God's King. The new and startling feature is that even the King's friend has turned against the King. I've previously discussed the rights and wrongs of Judas, but suffice it to say here that Judas' betrayal was known long before it happened.

Despite the appearance of being on the inside, respectable, one of the twelve, Judas was not one of God's people. In his own free activity, he fulfilled this portion of the prophecy, which led to the crucifixion and glorification of Jesus.

The Way of the Cross (24)

As we saw yesterday, none of us can fulfil God's standards or keep God's law. Even our righteous deeds can't help us, because they're so caught up in sinful motives.

Our next Psalm (40) is attributed to Jesus by the writer to the Hebrews, as the witness to what he would do when he came:

In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Then I said, "Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart." (Psalm 40:6-8)

Here we see prophecied the perfect obedience of the Son to the Father, the only one who truly delighted in the Father's will, the one who willingly went to the cross in obedience. Temple sacrifices would not and could not make us right with God - but they pointed to the one perfect, sufficient sacrifice of perfect obedience, the life lived, the death died, in perfect trust.

Lawbreakers become lawkeepers, not through moral effort; not through trying harder. In Jesus' obedience we are credited with obedience, and his grace transforms us, gives us a 'heart transplant' to love and keep God's law, just as Jesus did. It doesn't happen immediately, we still fail and fall; but God's grace empowers us to get up, repent, and keep going. And all through the obedience of the Son to death, even death on a cross!