Isaiah 50:1-11
The Suffering Servant
1 This is what the Lord says:
“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce
with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors
did I sell you?
Because of your sins you were sold;
because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 When I came, why was there no one?
When I called, why was there no one to answer?
Was my arm too short to deliver you?
Do I lack the strength to rescue you?
By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea,
I turn rivers into a desert;
their fish rot for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with darkness
and make sackcloth its covering.”
4 The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears;
I have not been rebellious,
I have not turned away.
6 I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!
9 It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me.
Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
the moths will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on their God.
11 But now, all you who light fires
and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
You will lie down in torment.
Matthew 27:27-31
The Soldiers Mock and Spit on Jesus
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
Luke 23:26-34
Jesus Says "Father Forgive Them for They Do Not Know What They are Doing"
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’30 Then
“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Approximately seven hundred years before Jesus came to walk the earth, the Prophet Isaiah wrote about a Loving Suffering Servant who would come to earth...Isaiah wrote that the Servant would offer His back to those who would beat Him...He would offer His cheeks to those who would pull out His beard...He would not hide His face from the mocking and spitting...Because the Sovereign Lord would help Him, and He would not be disgraced by these things...In what He did, He would not be put to shame...Because He knew the One who would vindicate Him was near...Who then could bring charges against Him?...Who really is His rightful accuser?...Let him confront the LORD!...It was the Sovereign Lord, who resurrected Him...So who can condemn Him?...They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up...Men will pass on, but He will be remembered...Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of this Suffering Servant?...Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God...But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze...This is what you shall receive from His hand: You will lie Him down in torment on the cross...
Isaiah writes about the compassionate and Suffering Jesus, years before He walked the earth...Jesus would be mocked and spit on, and gave His head to be struck again and again...He gave His back to those who flogged Him...He gave His head to be struck and then a crown of thorns was placed on it...And in spitting, the mocking, the beatings, He forgave them...He gave His life by way of a crucifixion...And He died on the cross for our sins...And His death was done in compassion and in LOVE for us...For the very ones who beat Him...So if we ask what Jesus might do for us today, let us think about what He has already done for us...Jesus cares for us...He LOVES us...Who would do this when all the while They had the power to stop this at anytime?...Who would begin their torture and flogging by saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing?”...Only Someone who LOVES you very much...He is the Centerpiece of LOVE for mankind...He is the reason for life...Loving, forgiving, merciful, and full of grace and truth...These things are the very reason for life itself...