Observation: This is one of four "servant songs" from Isaiah, which speak of a particular person with a special calling. In this case, the calling is to suffer on others' behalf, and to bear our iniquities.
Application: I know this text was written centuries before Jesus was born, and there are probably scholarly resources to tell me something of the original meaning, but as a Christian it is very hard to separate this servant song from the events of Jesus' death on Good Friday. Bearing our iniquities, wounded for our transgressions, taken away by a perversion of justice and making his tomb with the rich. That seems so much like Jesus' story to me, and after 2,000 years of interpretation it's hard to hear it any other way.
The more Good Fridays I observe, and the more times I hear this servant song, the more I realize that there is a mystery at the cross that bends our traditional sense of time, space, and relationships. In a way, it is all behind us: today, the cross is empty and Jesus lives. But also, in a very real way, the cross is present and current, in the suffering of humans and God's creation today. It all flows back to the cross. All our suffering goes there, which means that if you are in pain, Jesus is here. No matter when or where our pain comes from, no matter how or why we caused pain to others, the cross of Christ is its final destination. That is where it stays. To go there is to be born again, without yesterday's pain. And those who go there with you, born from that same source on that same day, are your siblings.
Prayer: God, thank you for meeting me in the midst of my pain. Help me to be present for my siblings who also suffer. Amen.
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