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Redemptive suffering

Isaiah 53

Rev. Peter R Green, Sunday morning, 20 Mar, 2005

CHURCH PEOPLE are generally untouched by the debate among theologians over who wrote Isaiah and when. It’s a bit more important than we often realise.

  Some people say there was one Isaiah who wrote during the time of King Hezekiah, around the mid 8th century BC. Others say there were two Isaiahs, or even three. Some say that Isaiah mark I wrote the early part of Isaiah and, a long time later, wrote the later part in a different style, and a second Isaiah wrote the middle bit, which was inserted about 450 — 500 BC.

  The late Christian writer, Leslie Weatherhead, once suggested that if anyone had asked the Apostle Peter to comment on some of the more complex Creeds of Christianity, he’d have said, “I’m going fishing!”

  Maybe you feel like going fising when you are confronted by the debate about Isaiah.

  Well, I’m no Biblical scholar. I won’t make any world–shattering sggestions today. But I will say this. Whatever we might know, or might think we know, about the writing and he dating of Isaiah, I think it is fairly clear that the book was edited well after Hezekiah’s time, and that it was edited partly to encourage the Jews when they got back to Israel after being captives in Babylon.

Why does a just God let good people suffer?

  One of the major questions which people continually ask, a question asked by believers and by non–believers alike, is, “Why does a just God let good people suffer?”

  The Old Testament gives several answers to the question.

Job's answer

  The first attempt to answer the problem of suffering is in the book of Job. Job is one of the earliest of the Biblical writings,and reflects a time, possibly even before Abraham.

  Job tells the story of a good man who loses everything. He goes from being one of the most blessed of men to loss of family, belongings, health and frendship. He lived in a palace; he s brought down to living on the garbage heap.

  We see behind the scenes in heaven. We see the devil accusing Job of being a crawler who only obeys God because of what he is getting out of the relationship. Satan is the ultimate cynic. He knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

  But Job doesn’t give up when he loses everything.

Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

  That’s Job‘s attitude.

Going beyond Job

  But after the Jews came back from Babylon, they asked the question again.

  They said, “We know that the devil might single out a very special person and put him to the test, but what about ordinary good people, who don’t have vast wealth, who don’t own half the country? Why do they suffer? Tall poppies might be put to the test, but what about those who have no special features that anyone should take an interest in them?”

Isaiah's answer

  And Isaiah gives us an answer.

  Suffering isn’t always a test. God can use our suffering to redeem our world.

  Chapters 52 and 53 of Isaiah are specially about redemptive suffering.

  Isaiah doesn’t go to the past to look for an answer, not like the writer of Job did. Isaiah went to the future.

  I don’t know if Isaiah really understood what he was pointing to. I don’t know if he had a clear picture in his mind of the coming Messiah. I don’t think it really matters anyway.

  Jesus doesn’t depend on what Isaiah wrote, but Isaiah depends on Jesus.

  It is Jesus who gives value to the Bible.

  Without Jesus, Isaiah’s prophecy is a nice thought. It points to the value of suffering for righteousness’ sake.

  With Jesus, the Bible’s prophecies become backups of the real thing, carbon copies of a perfect original — Jesus himself.

  Isaiah starts answering this question, “How can a just God allow ordinary good people to suffer the way we suffered in Babylon?”

  And he answers it in an unusual way.

A parallel in Jesus' ministry

  Do you remember when the rich young ruler came to Jesus?

  He fell at Jesus’ feet. He said, “Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

  You remember how Jesus answered him?

  First, he challenges the young man about what he really means by “Good master.”

  A lot of people say — and this is true enough — that Jesus is challenging the young man about whether Jesus himself really is God come in the flesh.

  But, at another level, he is also challenging the young man to think again about what real goodness is. He is saying in effect, “You throw the word, “good” around as though it meant nothing at all. You are thinking to yourself, ‘If I can just find out how to be a bit more good, then my place in heaven will be guaranteed.’ But it doesn’t work like that. You need to think about what you mean when you say,‘good’.”

  Then he says to the rich young man, “You know the commandments,” and he rattles off a few, just like the rich man would have done.

  That rich man doesn’t even think about what Jesus is saying to him. “Oh, I’ve done all that!” he says.

  So Jesus pins him down. He hits him at his most vulnerable spot. He says, “OK, here’s the way to get it right. Sell all you own, give everything away to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven. And then come and follow me.”

  That young man is so convinced that he is one of the good guys, just like Jesus. He is sure that God must be pretty pleased with him.

  And Jesus says, “Your wealth is your idol. You have put it between yourself and God. You aren’t prepared to do whatever it takes to get into heaven. You can’t keep the first and greatest commandment, to love God with your whole heart.

  Nor do you really love your neighbour, because you would rather hang onto your wealth than care for your poor neigbour.”

  Except that Jesus doesn’t say it; he leaves the young man to figure it out for himself.

Isaiah challenges the Israelites

  And that’s pretty much what Isaiah does. He takes all the thoughts that the captive Israelites have had, and he confronts them with their own way of thinking. He asks them to reflect on the truth behind their situation.

  In Chapter 52, Isaiah introduces the servant who does exactly as God wants.

  The Jews would have been pretty pleased to think, “This is about us.” We all like to identify with the goodies.

  But in Chapter 53, Isaiah challenges their perception of what God is really like:

ISA 53:1 Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

  These people think to themselves, “All that time we were in Babylon, and what did God do about it? Why didn’t he throw down thunderbolts and lightning and destroy those wicked Babylonians?” They want the “Arm of the Lord” revealed with a sword in it. But Isaiah shows a God of tender compassion.

^{ISA 53:2} He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

  This isn’t quite the picture of happy, shining people, is it? He says, “You think that being blessed is about being he kind of person who is popular and has good teeth or a good figure. The servant God can use is the one who is no great, sturdy olive tree, but is a little weed that looks like it might be dead by morning.”

^{ISA 53:3} He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

Like one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

  Isaiah says, “You just don’t get it, do you? The person who serves God even when it costs him, that’s the kind of servant God wants. You say, ‘If it costs you, then God must be punishing you.’ So you let others serve you and then call them God–cursed slaves.”

^{ISA 53:4} Surely he took up our infirmities

and carried our sorrows,

yet we considered him stricken by God,

smitten by him, and afflicted.

  “You’ve been whinging there in Babylon,” he goes on, “And you have never realised that your suffering could have been for the good of the nation you were put among. If you were really good people suffering bad things, where does it show? Did you change the life of the people around you through that experience, or did you just feel sorry for yourselves?”

^{ISA 53:5} But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

^{ISA 53:6} We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

  Then Isaiah sets up a great contrast, between the rebellious sheep and the sacrificial lamb. The rebels go wherever they want, as long as it is not where the shepherd wants them to go. But the true suffering servant is like the obedient lamb, ready to be sacrificed, just as Isaiah wrote it:

^{ISA 53:7} 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.

^{ISA 53:8} 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.

  Then Isaiah turns to the self–righteousness of the Jewish returnees from Babylon. “Do you think you’ve lost everything by being captives?” he asks. “My true servant loses the lot. He can’t afford to be choosy. He takes a grave where he can find it. Wicked oppressor of the people, or fat capitalist boss, the suffering servant can mix with them; he can even be united with them forever in hs death, because his holiness is internal, it isn’t a mere matter of keeping in with the right crowd and avoiding the wrong crowd.”

^{ISA 53:9} 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.

  “Do you think you’ve suffered?” Isaiah asks the Israelites. “What about when suffering seems to come directly from God’s hand? Will you accept it and let him bring glory to himself throgh you? Or will you scream and kick all the way?”

^{ISA 53:10} Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,

he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

Redemptive suffering illustrated

  In my College year group, one student negotiated with a church about being the Pastor.

  Things quickly turned nasty. The former pastor was still around, because he was having an affair with the youth leader; there was some sympathy for the pastor and youth leader, because the pastor's wife had been having her own affairs for some time; the secretary was not particularly well, and was getting sicker and sicker as it all dragged on.

  Accusations were made to the Baptist Union about remarks the student made when he preached in the church, remarks taken out of context. Another pastor was called in in an attempt to get him to find fault with the student. And hat was just the start of woes.

  The student and his wife decided not to return evil for evil, that they would not get angry and make accusations, or even defend hemselves, other than to restate the truth.

  Because they suffered like dumb sheep before a shearer, it started a process. People who had been half–inclined to go along with the troublemakers began to see what was really happening. They dug their heels in. They began to stand up for right.

  That student didn’t go to that church in the end. A Tasmanian student went there. He knew he only had to stay in that church for a year before going back to Tasmania, so he went in with his work boots on. He confronted each of the trouble-makers and demanded that they sort out their problems or leave the church. And he had a small band of good people behind him, who were there to see things put right. But if that first student had chosen not to suffer, if he had complained and fought back, the good people would have sided with the trouble–makers.

  The suffering servant brought about some elements of redemption in that church.

Jesus, the real model

  But the real model of a suffering servant is Jesus himself. Anything the rest of us might do is a pale echo of what he did.

  And he did it for us.

  He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. It is by his wounds that we are made whole.

Easter challenge

  Next week is Easter. It is a time to reflect on the nature of God’s love towards us, a pasionate love, a just love, a love which does not shrink from the world’s harsh realities.

  I want to encourage everyone here: this Easter, let’s re–affirm our commitment to Jesus. Let’s confess our distance from him, our slackness in maintaining the relationship, our selfishness and our sin. Let’s go back to where we started! And may God bless us as we do.

AMEN

© Peter R. Green 2005. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.)