“He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:3-5)
This passage is the last of the so-called servant songs from the book of Isaiah. Christians identify the “suffering servant” with Jesus, but Isaiah is most likely referring to exiled Israel suffering Babylonian captivity. In both cases, what appears to be rejected (53:3) is redeemed. In fact, what appears to be “struck down by God” becomes a sign of God’s faithfulness. A significant fact is the consciousness on the part of Israel and Jesus of their complete dependence on God.
Pain and suffering come with existence in this world. Confidence in God’s presence in the midst of pain and suffering is a gift of grace, affirming that God’s love claims us and makes us whole even when we are “despised and rejected.” Ours is a world in which love and the banality of evil are in constant conflict. Jesus’ death on the cross reminds us that God does not intervene supernaturally to prevent suffering, but human suffering is never the last word. God’s love remains a “light to all nations” (49:6) drawing us into God until God is all in all. Like the “good thief” hanging next to Jesus on the cross, we can trust that we remain with Christ in suffering and in death.
I think of a six-year-old boy named Jimmy whom I knew 40 years ago. When a priest offered him a communion wafer so that he could have Jesus Christ inside him, he replied, “I already have Jesus inside me.” Jimmy died shortly thereafter. Jimmy understood God's presence in the midst of suffering and death.
Prayer: God of grace, in the cross of Jesus we find the epitome of divine compassion. Help us to have child-like trust in your deep and abiding love even as we experience evil, suffering, and death. Amen.
Ernest Krug
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