Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Remember how Psalm 110 was quoted
some 30 times in the New Testament? Well, Isaiah 53 is quoted or alluded to
some 40 times!
For the Christian reader, it is
obviously the prophecy about the suffering, death, and
resurrection of our Lord Jesus. A disfigured, marred appearance; despised and
rejected by his contemporaries, especially the religious leaders of Israel; punished
by God, stricken, smitten, pierced for our transgressions—the whole think simply
screams of the crucifixion.
Someone
asked me, “We Christians clearly see Jesus there; how did the Israelites
understand it?” I don’t really know what the Israelites thought about this
chapter. It doesn’t seem to have figured in their reflection much at all in the
years before and around Jesus. In fact, it seems to have been part of Jesus’
theological genius to have used this passage as the lens through which He
understood what it means to be the Messiah.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.