Isaiah 53:8-9 * Good Friday 2007 * Pastor Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

In the English language one definition for the word “paradox” is “a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true.”

According to that definition, Good Friday is indeed a paradox, a day of seeming contradictions. Charles Dickens opened his classic work, “A Tale of Two Cities” with the famous line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

The same sentiment applies today. Today Christians throughout the world are both happy and sad. Today we simultaneously mourn and rejoice. Today we mark a great gain, yet feel a great loss. Today is the best of times and the worst of times.

The man hanging on the middle cross today also presents us with a great paradox, because at the same time he is both guilty and innocent. These are

THE CONFLICTING REALITIES OF THE CROSS

that we’d like to consider on this most solemn day. As we turn to verses found in Isaiah 53, let us contemplate these two seemingly contradictory statements:

1. Christ was truly guilty

2. Christ was truly innocent

How can it be said that Jesus Christ was guilty (meaning “deserving of”) everything He underwent? Perhaps you’ve heard the term “guilt by association.” What it means is that in spite of one’s personal innocence, one may be considered guilty because of being in the party of others who are not…

Such is the case with Jesus. Personally innocent, Jesus – the great friend of transgressors – took the burden of sinners upon Himself. His guilt was in the fact that all of His suffering and dying was as our representative and in our place. Earlier in this chapter, Isaiah makes this eminently clear with the precision and placement of his verbally inspired pronouns: “But HE was pierced for OUR transgressions, HE was crushed for OUR iniquities; the punishment that brought US peace was upon HIM, and by HIS wounds WE are healed.”

St. Paul writes similarly in 2 Corinthians: “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them… God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

In other words, we did the crime, Jesus did the time. Verse 8 of our text describes for us some of what was involved in this process when we are told “By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people he was stricken.” Let’s examine this Good Friday verse phrase by phrase.

“By oppression and judgment he was taken away.” The word “oppression” is by its very meaning negative, isn’t it? Oppression brings to mind mental pictures of sad faces and injustice and people having things forced upon them against their will.

Think of the passion history you heard just a few moments ago. Any outsider on the scene – including Pontius Pilate – would conclude there was no justice in the treatment Christ received. And the striking irony of it all is that those who carried out these injustices did it through the justice system. “Many hands were raised to wound him, none would intervene to save, but the deepest stroke that pierced him was the stroke that Justice gave.”

Therefore Isaiah writes: “By oppression and judgment (a legal term) he was taken away.” “Taken away” is a reference to death. He was taken away – He died – through the vehicles of justice and oppression.

The charge, you will recall, was that Jesus had spoken blasphemy. To the question, “Are you the Son of God?” Jesus answered “Yes, it is as you say.” And that was it. That’s all the religious leaders needed to hear to put him away. Another paradox: Jesus tells the truth and is convicted of speaking a lie. “By oppression and judgment he was taken away.”

“And who can speak of his descendants, for he was cut off from the land of the living.” As this phrase stands, it certainly conveys a truth. By His crucifixion today Jesus was certainly cut off from the land of the living. He died. As a result, He naturally would leave behind no physical descendants.

Among the people of Bible times a lot of stock was put in passing down one’s name and possessions from generation to generation. The fact that – outwardly speaking – it appeared Jesus was dying without leaving anyone to carry on his name was viewed as one more proof of a failed life, one more reason for mocking, one more piece of rationale for considering Him “stricken by God, smitten and afflicted.”

However, there is another way in which this phrase can be understood according to the original Hebrew language in which it was written. It could be translated along these lines: “Yet who of his generation considered that he was cut off from the land of the living?” The thought here is that none of Jesus’ contemporaries (the people of “his generation”) really gave His passing that much thought or bewailed his death.

Think about that. There were two groups of people at the foot of the cross; those who rejoiced in His death and those who mourned it. The former was represented by the religious leaders of the day – those who had worked so hard to make Good Friday happen. The latter was represented, as far as we know, by His mother Mary, a handful of other faithful women, and His disciple John. In other words, those who reviled Him far outnumbered those who supported Him.

As for the rest of humanity on that first Good Friday? We know the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus for what it means in terms of our salvation. We see our Savior. But the rest of the world at the time probably reacted to Jesus’ death with a collective yawn. In their eyes Jesus was just one more dead Jewish rebel Rome was trying to make an example of by showcasing on a cross. Crucifixion happened enough to be considered “no big deal.” Probably didn’t even register on most people’s emotional Richter scale.

So what we see is this. In His hour of utmost need, except for a few, Jesus is met with a crushing sense of aloneness. None of His generation stopped to consider Him…

Because they didn’t know why He was really there. Isaiah did. He spells it out clearly and succinctly: “For the transgression of my people he was stricken.” This is the message of Good Friday. Him for us. Our guilt was transferred to Jesus. This is the great exchange that took place on Good Friday. A classic case – the classic case – of “guilt by association.” Because of us we can say that Christ was truly guilty.

At the same time, Chris was truly innocent. The first verse of our text spoke about Christ’s death and guilt. The second verse speaks about His burial and innocence. “He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.” Let’s also look at this verse phrase by phrase…

“He was assigned a grave with the wicked.” A word or two on Jewish burial customs might be helpful. The preferred method of burial was in a burial tomb. Because this cost money, this was an option open to those who had some sort of means at their disposal.

For the poor and those who couldn’t afford tombs there were common burial grounds, much like our cemeteries today. But criminals had their own place. In a final show of disgust over who they were and what they had done, they were not even considered worthy to be among the others even in death. (Illustration: If you are a Civil War buff and ever visited Andersonville Prison Camp in Georgia, you’d find a massive cemetery for the prisoners of war who died there. But separated from the rest are the graves of six men known as “the raiders” because they preyed on their fellow prisoners. Same thing.)

At any rate, the enemies of Christ obviously planned to unceremoniously dump Jesus’ body into the “bad” section of one of these common burial grounds. What they wanted to convey and perpetuate was dishonor and disgrace.

But God did not allow that. What in fact God conveyed about Christ at His burial was honor and glory. Although “he was assigned a grave with the wicked” (and this is perhaps a better translation of the Hebrew), “but in his death he was with the rich.” We know, of course, that this was historically true. Jesus was laid to rest in the unused tomb of a rich man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea.

And so already at this point we begin to see the humiliation of Christ coming to an end and His exaltation, or glory, beginning. The Servant of the Lord was given an honorable burial after his dishonorable death because of His perfect innocence. “He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”

The Man who hung on the cross and whose lifeless body was placed in the tomb today is perfectly innocent. And because of His perfect innocence and sinlessness, death could not get a hold of Him. He was in the grave, but it wouldn’t be for long. And in a couple of days we will celebrate all the implications and ramifications of that fact.

But today we are confronted with the paradox of Good Friday and the conflicting realities of the cross. Jesus Christ was truly guilty because He carried our load of sin. He was truly guilty because of the loving association He has with us.

While at the same time He is perfectly innocent and without sin. He takes on our sin in order to make us righteous like Him in the eyes of God. The innocent takes the place of the guilty. He who owes nothing voluntarily pays with his life. And he dies, so we might live.

Glory be to Jesus. Amen.