Pierced

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.
(Isaiah 52:13—53:12, CEB)

He bore the punishment that made us whole; by his wounds we are healed.

He bore our sin and by his wounds we are given a place with God.

His death was due to power. Power that was going to be lost. He was not a substitute for us. He was killed by religious power to maintain power.

His wounds healed us, but not as a substitute. As love.

Love for a fallen and broken world that loved the idea of the world it had more than the one the creator wanted them to see.

Love for a fallen and broken people that loved themselves and sought their own desire over that of the people created by God and what God desired.

Love of a God who died to show love.

Loving People. Loving God.