PASTOR'S MESSAGE

 

Bruised for Us

Isaiah 42:1-7

    

One day a man came hobbling into the doctor’s office, assisted by his wife.  The poor guy could hardly move.  He was bent over and grimacing with pain as he shuffled along, his hands like two rigid claws.  The receptionist looked on sympathetically. “Oh dear,” she said.  “Arthritis with complications?”  “No,” said the man’s wife.  “Do-it-yourself with concrete blocks.”

            That poor man was obviously bruised and battered, hurting and in pain.  And he needed someone to heal him and bind up his wounds.  I’m sure we can all relate to that in one way or another, for we all experience the bumps and bruises of life, not only physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Everyday living can batter us with some pretty tough beatings:  disappointments in our relationships, failures at work, frustrations in the home, sadness and depression that overwhelm us, let-downs in our financial situation, crises in our marriage, not to mention the day to day annoyances we all face – sick kids, flat tires, bad service and so forth.  Indeed, such bumps and bruises can rob us of our peace of mind, as well as our sense of hope and well-being.  They can even cause our faith to falter and fail.

            That’s the situation that the prophet Isaiah was addressing in our Old Testament lesson for today, when he described the people like a bruised reed and a smoldering wick.  Martin Luther, in his commentary on Isaiah, says that the metaphor of the bruised reed and the smoldering wick refers to someone who has ‘a bruised and timid conscience,’ which is to say that the greatest bruising and beating we take comes from our own sin, and our guilty conscience that nags us.  After all, the reason there are pain and problems in the world is because of sin.  And oftentimes the sadness and frustration we experience in life is as a result of our own sin.

            For instance, much of the dissatisfaction and unhappiness in marriage is due to sins against the 6th Commandment, for we don’t always love and cherish and respect our spouse as highly as we ought.  Likewise, much of the sadness and lack of joy we have comes from sins against the 3rd Commandment, for it doesn’t just mean that we should come to church on Sundays.  It means we need to have a walking-talking relationship with God every single day, as we pray and study His Word.  And much of the restlessness and frustration we feel in life comes from sins against the 9th and 10th Commandments, because we’re not always content and thankful for what God has given us.  These are just some of the bumps and bruises that our sin causes.

            However, one of the worst bruises that our sin inflicts upon us is guilt.  Guilt gnaws away at us and haunts us.  It destroys our peace.  It can even cause sickness and emotional turmoil, which is not what God wants.  But unfortunately, some people mistakenly think that the bumps and bruises we experience in life are God’s way of getting even with us for sinning against Him. They’re His way of clubbing us over the head and punishing us. 

It reminds me of the young boy, who was shopping at the mall with his parents one day, when he became separated from them and got lost.  Fortunately, he ran into a security guard, who agreed to help him find his parents.  After searching for some time, the young boy said to the security guard through tears, “Do you think we'll ever find them?”  And the guard said, “I don’t know kid.  It’s a big mall, and there are so many places they can hide.”

Certainly, that was not a very comforting thing to say.  But sadly that’s how many people view God.  They think He is hiding from us in anger at our sin, that He wants to inflict us with pain because of our disobedience.  But on the contrary, God doesn’t want to hurt us.  Instead, He wants to take away our hurt.  He doesn’t want the bruise of our sin and guilt to haunt or destroy us, instead He wants to remove it.  He doesn’t want to hide Himself from us in shame and revulsion, instead He came to seek us out and save us.  He even went so far as to be beaten Himself with the bruise of our sin, so that He could heal the wounds of our guilt and iniquity.

That’s what God was talking about in our text, when, through the prophet Isaiah He said:  “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him and he will bring justice to the nations.  He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.  A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.  In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.” 

When Isaiah wrote this prophecy he was talking about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ our Savior.  And this prophecy was fulfilled in our Gospel lesson for today, when at Jesus’ Baptism, God put His spirit upon Him, so that He could establish justice on the earth.  And the Good News is that Jesus did that by justifying us in God’s sight, declaring us ‘not guilty’ of our sin, innocent of all guilt and shame, completely righteous in God’s eyes.  That’s why our text says:  “A BRUISED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF.”  You see, Jesus did not come into this world in order to break us to pieces like a flimsy reed, or chop us down because our sin.  In fact, just the opposite.  St. John once said:  “GOD DIDN’T SEND HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO CONDEMN THE WORLD; BUT THAT THE WORLD THROUGH HIM MIGHT BE SAVED!” 

In other words, Jesus didn’t come to hurt us, but to heal us; not to knock us down, but to lift us up; not to condemn us, but to save us.  And yet, in order to accomplish that, He Himself had to be bruised with our sin on the cross.  He had to be broken to pieces and chopped down by God’s condemnation in our place.  As Isaiah described it elsewhere:  “HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS; HE WAS BRUISED FOR OUR INIQUITIES; AND BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED!”  Yes, Jesus was bruised, even crushed by our iniquity, so that we don’t have to be.  Instead, He has healed and removed all the bruises of our sin and guilt.  We may still have pain and problems in life, but Jesus has conquered our sin and sadness. 

Which is why in our text, Jesus is called God’s ‘chosen servant’ in whom He delights.  Those words were echoed in our Gospel lesson for today, at the Baptism of Jesus, when God the Father said:  “YOU ARE MY SON, WHOM I LOVE; WITH YOU I AM WELL-PLEASED.”  It was at Jesus’ Baptism that God publicly proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, the Anointed One, who was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power to make us well-pleasing to God.  Or to put it another way, it is through Jesus God’s chosen Servant, that you and I have become God’s beloved sons and daughters.  And that happened in our own Baptism, when God chose us to be His own precious saints, and anointed us with the Holy Spirit and faith.

As a matter of fact, in the Hebrew text the verb ‘choose’ means: ‘to take a keen look at,’ and it was used of examining precious metals.  As such, it shows us just how special and valuable you and I are to God that He would choose us to be His very own.  Now usually, a choice is based on merit.  For instance, the federal government awards multibillion dollar contracts to those companies that can manufacture the finest product.  Judges choose the winner of a beauty contest on the basis of looks, poise, talent, and personality.  Coaches choose players on the basis of skill.  However, God’s choice is based not on our merits, but on the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior.  That’s what Jesus accomplished for us on this day by being Baptized for us, and then later undergoing the Baptism of death on the cross to save us. 

Martin Luther used to say that at the Baptism of Jesus a blessed exchange took place.  Jesus took our sins upon Himself and drowned them through His Baptism and in return clothed us with His righteousness to blot out our sin.  And all of that He poured out to us in our own Baptism, where He publicly proclaimed that He has chosen us to be His precious children.  And He continues to pour that out to us in His Holy Word and His Holy Supper, where He nourishes our faith.  For when our faith is like a bruised reed or a smoldering wick, He does not crush us or snuff it out, but fans it into flame, so that we can be alive in Him.

In his book, Proclaim Salvation, David Ewert tells of a first-century Jewish rabbi, who saw his son killed by the Romans.  He witnessed more atrocities when the Romans crucified some Jewish zealots, among them some of the young men of his own village.  He was bitter towards God and complained to Him, as he prayed in the synagogue, “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you created our body, but you never had your blood poured out. You have no body to ache and to die. You haven’t experienced human grief. You ask us to love you. How can we love you? How can we believe in your love for us if you do not share our human suffering?”

But my friends, the Good News of the Gospel is that in Jesus Christ, God did take on a human body and poured out His blood to save us.  He truly did experience all our grief and suffering, when He took our sins upon Himself to erase them for good.  That began at His Baptism, when as God’s chosen servant He fulfilled the Law for us, and it ended at the cross where He took our beating for us to save us.  And all of that He poured out to us in our own Baptism, to remove the bruises of our sin and guilt and to heal us with His Love.  In thanks for all that, may God empower us by His Holy Spirit to live as His chosen servants, by reaching to the bruised reeds and smoldering wicks around us with the saving love of Jesus.  For His Name’s sake.  Amen.

                               

           

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