Friday, April 22, 2011

Isaiah 53:1-7


Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 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, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 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. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Holy Lord, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us.  You have, and you do still.
Lamb of God, silent -- slaughtered.

The contradiction between WHO you are and WHAT you did is enough to blow my mind and burst open my heart. Perhaps that is the bottom line in this mystery of faith which saves me from the prison of life and death in the world.

My mind needs to be blown apart, and my heart must be burst by the power of your mysterious love.

Is there any response that is adequate?  Although I can never fully comprehend what you have done, can I still express my awe-filled appreciation for what you were willing to do?

Yes.  I bow before your tortured death. I pray words of love and gratitude. I place my heart and my mind and my body before you, at your cross
on this Holy Friday
          
     this "Good" Friday.
                         
     The deepest, darkest, most terrible deed that humanity could accomplish, killing you, (because we did not understand who you were) revealed forever your inexplicable, powerful love that still reaches out to us to show you who you are and who we can be because you are! 

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