Read: Isaiah 53

The Righteous Servant

The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous. (v. 11)
“Am I a good person?” A high school friend asks me this question at least once a year. I wonder what my face looks like after she asks, because answering makes me so uncomfortable. I squirm in my seat and fidget as I think of what to say. What exactly is she looking for? Does she want to be justified, to know that the sum of her actions makes her a “righteous” person before God? And does she believe I am fit to provide an answer because I’m a seminary student?
A man asked Jesus, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus replied, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good” (Matthew 19:16,17). If Jesus wasn’t willing to comment on who and what is “good,” why should we?
Nothing we do or can do makes us “righteous” before God. And as for being good, well, the world is full of “good” people who do bad things and “bad” people who do good things. “Goodness” is irrelevant. The Father embraces us as righteous, not by our works, but because of the righteousness of the suffering servant, Jesus Christ.
The next time my high school friend asks, I hope I have the courage to say this to her. —Garret Szantner

Prayer: Lord God, we give thanks to you that we are not judged according to our effort, but by the plentiful righteousness of Jesus.

Read: Isaiah 53

The Shepherd and Sheep

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a
sheep that before its shearers is silent. (v. 7)
Jesus is portrayed often in scripture as both a sheep and a shepherd. That shouldn’t surprise us, given the agricultural realities of Israel during biblical times, but I got a little confused as a child when my Sunday school teachers taught me Jesus was both the “lamb of God” and the “good shepherd.” I learned that Jesus was gentle and peaceful like a lamb but he was also caring and watchful like a shepherd, and I wondered which was he, sheep or shepherd?
The answer, of course, is “both of the above.” Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Jesus tends to the flock of God. He calls us by name, prays for us, feeds us, and lays down his life for us.
Still, our shepherd is one of the sheep. That also shouldn’t surprise us, since in the Incarnation Jesus became one of us. Jesus is the lamb that is led to the slaughter, the “lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and, as the RCA communion liturgy puts it, “the perfect sacrifice offered once on the cross for the sin of the world.”
The lamb of God is also the good shepherd who presents us as righteous and blameless before the throne of the Father.
—Garret Szantner

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help our minds comprehend the magnitude of your life and work.

Read: Isaiah 53

Our Hope in Suffering

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. (v. 4)
Suffering is an isolating reality. I came to understand this as I held my sister’s hand while she suffered through a night of wondering whether her boyfriend would survive a horrific accident. Any hopeful words I offered did little to comfort her, and I was aware I could not fully understand all she was experiencing. Though we sat side by side, it felt like we were miles apart.
After many tears had fallen and night gave way to morning, God provided me with these simple words: “Even now Jesus Christ is present with your boyfriend at the hospital and holding his hand, just as Jesus is present with us.” Jesus is our hope in suffering. God is ever present with us, for he walked among us in Jesus Christ.
Though we cannot see him, Jesus is present with us in our suffering. More than that, Jesus is not only present, he is also able to understand our suffering because he bore our infirmities and carried our diseases. “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested” (Hebrews 2:18). Jesus is God’s promise that we are never alone in our suffering. —Garret Szantner

Prayer: Jesus, our Immanuel, make your presence and grace known to us in our affliction.

Read: Isaiah 53

The Un-noble Nobleman

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. (v. 2)
Superman is considered the first superhero, different than other heroes because he possessed unearthly powers and fought, in the familiar phrase, for “truth, justice, and the American way.” Those lines were written for the 1950s Superman television show at the height of the Cold War, and the writers tapped into the desire for someone “faster than a speeding bullet” and “more powerful than a locomotive” who could not only “leap tall buildings in a single bound” but, more significantly, would right the world’s wrongs.
Scripture proclaims Jesus Christ as Savior, one a far cry from Superman. His noble birth was not in a grand cradle draped with silk, but in a trough used to feed livestock. His form and appearance were ordinary; certainly he wore no shirt emblazoned with a large “S.” During his triumphal entry into Jerusalem he did not sit upon a handsome steed, but on a donkey. The crown placed upon his head was not of pure gold and fine jewels, but of thorns, which pierced his skin and caused blood to drip onto his scarlet robe.
Humankind is inclined to hope in heroes they create rather than Jesus Christ, the creator. Are our hopes set upon our own desires or upon Jesus? —Garret Szantner

Prayer: We confess, O Lord, that we have placed our hearts’ desires and hopes in things of this world. Set our eyes upon Jesus Christ.

Read: Psalm 116

Walking in the Light

I walk before the Lord in the land of the living (v. 9)
During the season of Lent, Sundays don’t count as part of the 40 days preceding Easter. Sundays are different. Each one is a mini-Easter, offering a respite from the solemnity of Lent. Sunday gives us a chance to celebrate the resurrection life of our risen Lord.
Psalm 116 invites us into this celebration. Composed after the psalmist has recovered from an illness, it praises the Lord for his graciousness, mercy, and protection. The psalmist recognizes that without the Lord, he would have been overcome by “the snares of death” (v. 3). He was in a place of despair, not unlike the distress that our sin-sick state causes us. Lent reminds us that we have been brought lower than low, and that without the deliverance of the Lord, we have no hope.
The Sundays in Lent also reinforce God’s goodness. He has “dealt bountifully” with us, delivering us not only from death, but also from tears and from stumbling. We no longer stagger around in the dark world of death, because Christ’s light shines in the darkness. Now we walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Having assumed a posture of humble repentance all week, we can now stand, lift up the cup of salvation, and praise the Lord with all his people.
—Grace Claus

Prayer: Gracious Lord, you have dealt bountifully with us, and we offer our thanksgiving to you.

Read: Lamentations 4:17-20; Psalm 146

A Better Alliance

We were watching eagerly for a nation which could not save. (Lamentations 4:17)
The word “alliance” makes me think of the television series Survivor, where average people are deserted in a dangerous, remote location and must compete to be the last “survivor.” Inevitably, contestants make alliances with those whom they perceive to be stronger players. Also, inevitably, they are betrayed by those they trusted and are “voted off the island.”
Israel fared no better when she looked to Egypt for rescue (Jeremiah 37:6-10). Israel ignored the wisdom of the psalmist: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help” (Psalm 146:3). Israel looked to political alliances with human kingdoms for rescue rather than relying on God, who had shown himself to be faithful again and again.
Israel’s history proved that God was always quick to rescue, and his love endured long after each crisis. We also often look to our own resources and alliances and struggle to fully depend on God. In financial loss, family crisis, or moral failure, we discover that our resources run dry and those we depend on are as human as we are. We are better served to put our faith and trust in God who “keeps faith forever” (Psalm 146:6). He delivers on his promises to sustain and protect us, and even more, to bless us. —Cody Raak

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your steadfast love; teach us to rely more fully on you.

Read: Lamentations 3:16-24

Hope Renewed

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. (v. 22)
I was a competitive swimmer growing up. While water was like a second home to me, I still needed to breathe. There were many races where I was sure that I would never get enough air in my lungs again. The fiery pressure in my chest would build and each quick snatch at air was only enough to keep going until I would finally finish the race, breathless and gasping. I felt I would faint for lack of air, until my heart gradually slowed, my gasps turned into deep inhalations, and my chest filled again with sweet, abundant oxygen.
Even though I knew I would breathe again, it certainly didn’t feel like it halfway through the race. Likewise, Jeremiah is in the middle of the pool of prophecy with a long swim ahead. He’s wondering if he’ll ever get another breath: “I have forgotten what happiness is” (v.17). But Jeremiah knows that just above the surface, there is sweet, sweet air. He is able to say, “My teeth grind on gravel” (v.16), and in the next breath say, “I have hope” (v.21).
We see in Jeremiah how despair and hope may stand side by side: “My soul…is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind…The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases” (v.20-22).
The promises of the Lord endure. —Cody Raak

Prayer: Father, do not abandon us in hopelessness, but open our eyes to your ever-new mercies.

Read: Lamentations 3:1-9; Jeremiah 7:16-20

Writing from the Tomb

He has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago. (Lamentations 3:6)
I wish I kept a regular journal. Writing is a way to let a hurricane swirl of thoughts and emotions out and begin to understand what one is experiencing. My sporadic journaling always comes after some personal crisis or deep hurt and is a way of freeing myself from an emotional tomb being built around me.
Similarly, Jeremiah experiences despair as a tomb: “He has walled me about so that I cannot escape” (Lamentations 3:7) and “He has blocked my ways with hewn stones” (Lamentations 3:9). Jeremiah’s way of dealing with this emotional tomb was to write about it.
The calling to be God’s prophet was a terrible burden. Throughout Jeremiah’s career, God warns him, “Do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you” (Jeremiah 7:16). “My anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place” (Jeremiah 7:20), and all of Israel’s suffering and lament were subsequently expressed by Jeremiah.
There is liberation in lament when we acknowledge our pain and express it. Lent is an opportunity for us to voice our deep disappointments and frustrations to God and ask him for comfort and rescue. As Lent continues, consider the example of Jeremiah. Try journaling and writing down your prayers and laments. —Cody Raak

Prayer: Lord, hear us as we pray from the tombs of our hurts, and answer us quickly.