Good Friday – The Sacrifice Once For All

Watch the service

Who Would Believe Us?

It was his knees. Years ago there was a girl. She had a dad that loved her and she loved him. There was a problem, though. The problem was his knees. You see, he was a carpenter. And his speciality was tiling. He did wonderful work, and quickly too. And as a result of spending that sort of time on the ground, his knees were crusty-looking and calloused. And, on top of this, he wouldn’t wear jeans or pants to cover them up because they got in the way of his work. So, not only did his knees look strange. But also, he wore shorts most of the time, advertising how strange they looked. And his daughter was embarrassed that her dad’s knees looked different than the knees of all the other dads. And there’s an irony in that fact. He wore his knees out for her, to provide her with food, shelter, and clothing. But she was embarrassed of him. This evening, the prophet, Isaiah, paints for the same sort of picture: “¹ Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ² He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him. ³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. ⁴ Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.” (Is. 53:1–4 CSB17)

Who would believe us? That’s the question Isaiah asks. Who would believe that the Lord provides this suffering servant to rescue people. And the people are embarrassed at him, instead of believing in him. There’s a word-play going on in these words. The first word can either mean, “he was despised” or “we despised him.”¹. It’s kind of like, in english, when we say, “you” and we have to wait for the context before we figure out if it’s you (singular) or you (plural) that someone is talking about. The people Isaiah is writing assume it’s a “them”—those people way out there. But then, at the end of verse 3, he makes it clear: “we didn’t value him.” (Is. 53:3 CSB17)²

And with that we word, we realize that God’s word isn’t just talking about those people in Isaiah’s time. He is also speaking about us. The carpenter gets calloused and crusty knees because he cares for his daughter. But his daughter is embarrassed at him and by him. We become embarrassed at Jesus because, even today, his appearance is weak, frail, and not that impressive. He comes to us with humility in his word. And that’s not that impressive.

But, my dear friends, there are words here—beautiful, meaningful words that move us to repent of our shame and embarrassment because Jesus carries our sicknesses. One of the effects of the fall into sin is that creation itself is changed and corrupted. There are diseases and disorders. There is pain and panic. This is a frustrating part of our every day life. The student tries out for the track team and keeps getting injured. And later on she finds out that her body wasn’t built for that sports—and maybe not really for most sports. The young man grows up and becomes sad. And it’s not just the sort of sadness that comes with tragedy and then goes away with good news. It hangs there like a cloud of darkness. And he finds out that his brain chemistry doesn’t work the way that others do. A middle-aged man gets cancer. And the pain from his many chemo treatments stays with him. And all of these, in their own ways, are results of the fall into sin. And sadly, for so many of these conditions, they stay with us.

But here we hear beautiful, meaningful words. Jesus carries our sicknesses. On the one hand, we have to admit in all humility that we don’t will not be able to grasp the depth of meaning in that statement. But we can appreciate it. It means that, as God’s word tells us here, Jesus is one who knows sickness.³ The depth of the pain that you might be going through now and will go through in the future—he knows it perfectly. And he carries it for you. And the effect is that, in heaven there will be no sickness at all.

Isaiah asks the question, “who would believe us?” And as we consider the fact that Jesus carries our sicknesses, instead of being ashamed of Jesus, we believe in him and rejoice in him. But there’s more. Isaiah writes: “⁵ But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. ⁶ We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.” (Is. 53:5–6 CSB17)

Jesus carries our sicknesses. But here we see even more proof of his great love for us. He was crushed for our sins. The word that Isaiah uses here has a powerful picture behind it. It’s the word for rebellion.⁴ It shows us the great depth of our sin. The Lord is good and kind to us, giving to us a suffering servant who would go so far so as to be crushed in our place to take away our sins, and we respond by rebelling against him. And if we’re wondering what that rebellion looks like, Isaiah tells us. We, like sheep, go our own way.

Isaiah says the words, “who would believe us?” Who would believe that the sheep would be ashamed of the shepherd. But we confess that there are times that we are. Who would believe that the sheep would rebel and go their own way. Yet we do.

But there is also so much beauty and rejoicing these words. For the Lord turns our shame-filled and wandering hearts back to him in true repentance. We repent. We return. And we rejoice. For just as Jesus carries our sicknesses, he also was crushed for our sins. And there on the cross we begin to see the full depth of that. For, in such great love toward us, Jesus allows his Father to turn away from him so that his Father would not turn against us.

Isaiah asks the question, “who would believe us?” When we see that Jesus carries our sicknesses and that he is crushed for our sins, with joy and confidence we can say, “we will.” We will believe him. We will follow our Lord. We will trust in him even amidst our suffering and sickness. We will cling to him even amidst our failings and frailness. For he carries our sicknesses and he is crushed for our sins. Amen.