Isaiah 53:4-12
"Holy Week" "Good Friday" - Years A, B, C
Seeking G*D while G*D is active in ways our senses can appreciate does imply an unceasing awareness. Asking whether G*D is present now, in the midst of this sorrow, this joy, this everyday, does increase our ability to catch a glimpse of G*D.
Of course we usually record our experience as more than a glimpse. We turn a moment into eternity. In doing so we cease asking whether G*D is present as we bask in echoes from the past — after all, we have had our fix and don’t need to attend for just a little while.
It is also worth seeking G*D where G*D is anticipated. Here the accumulated wisdom is clearer. Where is wickedness being pursued, G*D is present. Where widows and orphans are not cared for, G*D is present. Where doubt rises, G*D is present. Where idols reign in marketplaces, G*D is present. Basically, wherever G*D is an afterthought, G*D is becoming more present. The corollary is that wherever G*D is thought or felt to be present, G*D is already moving on.
What kind of perversity is this sort of steadfastness? It is the same challenge every teacher uses. Prophets have simply learned the latest lesson about how to learn about presence. Attend to the present; anticipate more depth than surface; there is more ahead than behind.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/02/isaiah-551-13.html
Isaiah 53:4-12
Here is a revolutionary theology to explain the hardships of exile. Here suffering is not in anticipation of suffering, but instead of the suffering of others. This vicarious suffering is not on behalf of some definition of "our own kind," but all. We endure our exile and the suffering it brings because such is in service to God who will use this self-sacrifice as a fulcrum point to redeem and restore the nations. [based on an excursus in the NISB]
If this is the case we need to rephrase this from some other singular person to the plurality of this community.
What difference would it make if this were written thusly, after the form of The Message :
But the fact is, it's their pain we carry --
their disfigurement, all the things wrong with them.
We thought we had brought this on ourselves,
that GOD was punishing us for our own failures.
But it was their sins that did this to us,
that ripped and tore and crushed us -- their sins!
We took the punishment, to make them whole.
Through our bruises they get healed.
They are all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
They've all done their own thing, gone their own way.
And GOD has piled all their sins, everything they've done wrong, on us, on us.
We were beaten, we were tortured,
but we didn't say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
we took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried and we were led off --
and did anyone really know what was happening?
We died without a thought for our own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of other nations.
We were buried with the wicked,
thrown in a grave the rich,
even though we'd never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn't true.
Still, it's in the consequence of GOD's beginning
for our wounds to be crushed into a healing balm.
As a result we give the particular of ourselves to heal the pervasiveness of sin
to see new life come from old wounds -- life, life, and more life.
And GOD's creation comes to maturity through us.
Out of that terrible travail of soul,
we'll see that it's worth it and be glad we did it.
Through what we experienced, GOD's favored people, servants,
will arise many "eye-opened ones,"
as we ourselves carry the burden of other's sins.
Therefore we'll be rewarded extravagantly --
the best of everything, the highest honors --
Because we looked death in the face and didn't flinch,
because we embraced the company of the lowest.
We have taken on our own shoulders the sin of the many,
we have taken up the cause of all the black sheep.
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A key here is the question, does anyone really know what is happening? Can we keep the traditional language and not fall prey to sloth? Can we change this language and not fall prey to pride? How do we approach the future being able to only see past and present? Is it worth our while to wrestle for understanding in the face of some grand plan? Is it worth our while to participate in the growth toward creation's maturity?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/october2003.html
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Isaiah 53:4-12 or Job 38:1-7, (34-41)
Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c or Psalm 91:9-16
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
Job is berated for not knowing that which came before humankind (Genesis 1 version) or for not having paid attention to what came after humankind (Genesis 2 version). Unfortunately to berate that made in one's image is to recognize one's own limitation. G*D simply has no adequate response to the reality stated in Isaiah, "It was the willingness of the Lord to crush with pain." There is no amount of fancy dancing and holy intimidation that will get G*D off the hook.
Likewise is it in community. There is nothing that will get James and John off the hook of looking for an inappropriate edge -- we will trap Jesus from the inside, he can't refuse our request; a Pharisee's trapping request, perhaps, but not ours.
Both G*D and the disciples need to hear again, "It is not to be so among us. Whomever desires honor must live it, day in and day out."
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yea, we are able
affirms our affirmation
that we are images
able to imitate
that which we imagine
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html