Good Friday: Three Reflections Online Service (Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Psalm 22:1-31, Hebrews 10:16-25)

Bishop Rod Thomas, 2nd April 2021
Part of the Easter 2021 series, preached at a Other service

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52:13 See, my servant will act wisely ; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
52:14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him - his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness-
52:15 so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

53:1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
53:2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
53:4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
53:9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
53:10 Yet it was the Lord 's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

53:11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied ; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
53:12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
22:2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.
22:3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.
22:4 In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
22:5 They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

22:6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
22:7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
22:8 "He trusts in the Lord ; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."
22:9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast.
22:10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.

22:11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
22:12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
22:13 Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.
22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.
22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.

22:16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
22:17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.
22:18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
22:19 But you, O Lord , be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
22:20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.

22:21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22:22 I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.
22:23 You who fear the Lord , praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
22:24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
22:25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.

22:26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the Lord will praise him- may your hearts live forever!
22:27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord , and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
22:28 for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.
22:29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him- those who cannot keep themselves alive.
22:30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.

22:31 They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn- for he has done it.
10:16 "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."
10:17 Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."
10:18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
10:20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,

10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
10:22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.