He Carried Our Sickness

Reflections on Good Friday.

Today is Good Friday. If you haven’t yet this week, you should read at least one of the passion narratives. Here are all four. I also encourage you to find yourself with some local body of the Church today. Finally, I felt compelled to include a “Suffering Servant” passage from Isaiah for today.

But to our journey in Luke: It’s interesting that this passage from Luke comes before us on Good Friday. Jesus messes with a demon, taking care of its tormenting of a poor man to the point of muteness.

…and some people murmur about what he’s doing. How could a good man sent from God do such a thing except by evil powers?

People also murmured while Jesus was on the cross. He healed others, can’t he save himself?

Jesus was highly misunderstood. Looking back, it’s easy to cast judgment on those who murmured. But even today, it’s not too hard to find a whole variety of Christians who misjudge who Jesus was and is, opting for allotting with him things he never did and would never do.

Jesus is as clear as ever in this passage - Whoever isn’t with me is against me…

Those are strong words. And very clear.

But before I go on about other Christians misinterpreting Jesus, I want to be sure that I’m doing all I can to do it rightly.

Luke 11:14-26

Jesus was throwing out a demon that causes muteness. When the demon was gone, the man who couldn’t speak began to talk. The crowds were amazed. But some of them said, “He throws out demons with the authority of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons.” Others were testing him, seeking a sign from heaven.

Because Jesus knew what they were thinking, he said to them, “Every kingdom involved in civil war becomes a wasteland, and a house torn apart by divisions will collapse. If Satan is at war with himself, how will his kingdom endure? I ask this because you say that I throw out demons by the authority of Beelzebul. If I throw out demons by the authority of Beelzebul, then by whose authority do your followers throw them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if I throw out demons by the power of God, then God’s kingdom has already overtaken you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are secure. But as soon as a stronger one attacks and overpowers him, the stronger one takes away the armor he had trusted and divides the stolen goods.

“Whoever isn’t with me is against me, and whoever doesn’t gather with me, scatters. When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it doesn’t find any. Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house cleaned up and decorated. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and make their home there. That person is worse off at the end than at the beginning.”

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Look, my servant will succeed.
He will be exalted and lifted very high.
Just as many were appalled by you,
he too appeared disfigured, inhuman,
his appearance unlike that of mortals.
But he will astonish many nations.
Kings will be silenced because of him,
because they will see what they haven’t seen before;
what they haven’t heard before, they will ponder.

Who can believe what we have heard,
and for whose sake has the Lord’s arm been revealed?
He grew up like a young plant before us,
like a root from dry ground.
He possessed no splendid form for us to see,
no desirable appearance.
He was despised and avoided by others;
a man who suffered, who knew sickness well.
Like someone from whom people hid their faces,
he was despised, and we didn’t think about him.

It was certainly our sickness that he carried,
and our sufferings that he bore,
but we thought him afflicted,
struck down by God and tormented.
He was pierced because of our rebellions
and crushed because of our crimes.
He bore the punishment that made us whole;
by his wounds we are healed.
Like sheep we had all wandered away,
each going its own way,
but the Lord let fall on him all our crimes.

He was oppressed and tormented,
but didn’t open his mouth.
Like a lamb being brought to slaughter,
like a ewe silent before her shearers,
he didn’t open his mouth.

Due to an unjust ruling he was taken away,
and his fate—who will think about it?
He was eliminated from the land of the living,
struck dead because of my people’s rebellion.
His grave was among the wicked,
his tomb with evildoers,
though he had done no violence,
and had spoken nothing false.

But the Lord wanted to crush him
and to make him suffer.
If his life is offered as restitution,
he will see his offspring; he will enjoy long life.
The Lord’s plans will come to fruition through him.
After his deep anguish he will see light, and he will be satisfied.
Through his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant,
will make many righteous,
and will bear their guilt.
Therefore, I will give him a share with the great,
and he will divide the spoil with the strong,
in return for exposing his life to death
and being numbered with rebels,
though he carried the sin of many
and pleaded on behalf of those who rebelled.

Prayer

God,

We would rather not look at the cross. Certainly not to remember Jesus’ body hanging on it. We would prefer a faith that stays clean - abstract, spiritual, manageable. But you have refused such a faith.

In Jesus, you have taken our violence into yourself and not returned it. Unbelievable.

You have suffered what we do to one another, and you have made that suffering the place of our redemption. So keep us here today, not rushing past this day, not skipping ahead to resurrection. Teach us to see that the cross is not about us first, but about who you are. A God who would rather die than let violence have the last word. Make us a people who can wait, who can tell the truth about our world, and who can live without striking back.

Holy Father of all creation: We see your loving justice in Jesus of Nazareth. Make us more like him.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.