"Hurt to Heal": A Reflection on the First Reading for October 21st: Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Isaiah 53.10-11

​It was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

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Isaiah 53 is the Scripture passage that outlines the nature of the Messiah, even down to His physical features, and it is worth reading in its entirety. Verse 9 leads into our reading for today, “although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth”. Verse 10: “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.” The will of the Lord!? Why? Why did it have to be this way? Isaiah’s words do not line up with what the people expect of their Saviour, and they certainly are not the descriptive phrases I would use for the Creator of the Universe and the Saviour of the World.

Isaiah is a prophet, and is called by God to deliver His word, His message. He is not there to make us comfortable in our sinfulness.  Prophets are not popular. They do not bow down to the culture and soft-soap the message.

Nothing has changed. We, in our modern culture, want only to hear comfortable words. Life for all of us will bring suffering to some degree. For some, more—for some, less. Why? Isaiah’s answer to the question is, because we have sinned and sin has a price—and God will pay the price for us, so that we might live forever! The pain and the suffering will bring restoration, healing, light and love, freedom and joy. "Out of his anguish he shall see light." And it’s true for each and every one of us today, if we follow Christ; Our God reigns. With Him, in Him, and through Him, we are taken from darkness to light over and over and over again. Jesus the Son became one of us, to go through everything we go through; to understand totally what it means to be human. Fully God and fully Man, He is and was and is to come. I don’t want to suffer and I certainly do not want to endure physical pain.  When I am in it, asking “why” is fruitless. Surrendering and trusting is the only way to the abundant life in Christ. Jesus himself prayed to His Father, “Let this cup pass from me.” But then he added, “Not my will, but yours be done.” (Matthew 26:39)

​Judy Savoy

"Our God reigns." - Judy Savoy (Ora Reflections)
​​Click here to praise Him in song

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