Tag: #Good Friday

I have all sorts of things to write about. Today, though, there is only One Story to tell.

53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2  For he grew up before him like 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.
3  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.
4  Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5  But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6  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.
7  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.
8  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?
9  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. (Is. 53:1-9)

¹  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
²  O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
³  Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
⁴  In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
⁵  To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
⁶  But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
⁷  All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
⁸  “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
⁹  Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
¹⁰  On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
¹¹  Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.
¹²  Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
¹³  they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
¹⁴  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
¹⁵  my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
¹⁶  For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
¹⁷  I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me;
¹⁸  they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
¹⁹  But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
²⁰  Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog!
²¹  Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
²²  I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
²³  You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
²⁴  For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
²⁵  From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
²⁶  The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever!
²⁷  All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
²⁸  For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
²⁹  All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive.
³⁰  Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
³¹  they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it. (Ps. 22)

Today is Good Friday. We remember the death of God.
If you read this far, you saw that the end is NOT death. For, “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord…”

Blessings to you all.