Ascension Lutheran Church

Last Sunday our text was from the same chapter as today’s text: the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. In today’s section Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted. … By oppression and judgment He was taken away.” The sense of the original text is: “Through the violent treatment of those in … earthly power He was snatched away” (p. 443, Isaiah II, August Pieper, ©1979, NPH). In his account of the events at the end of Jesus’ life Matthew tells us that “a great multitude with swords and clubs came from the chief priests and elders of the people” to arrest Jesus and take Him away (26:47). Later when Jesus was on trial in the Jewish court the Bible says that “the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death…. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none” (Mt. 26:59-60). “Some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, ‘Prophesy!’ And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands” (Mk. 14:65). When Jesus was on trial before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, the Bible says that “Pilate … said to [the Jews], ‘I find no fault in Him at all.” And yet to try to satisfy those who hated Jesus “Pilate took [Him] and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they struck Him with their hands” (Jn. 18:38; 19:1-3).