tenebrae

Tenebrae: latin; shadows or darkness

[ With a loud bang, He appeared, bent low in agony. Scenes flashed across the screen showing this man, broken and bruised. A story of death. ]

I still cannot explain why this story affects me so. Wasn't he just a guy who lived some thousand years ago and was crucified like so many others under Roman rule? Is his story so different from countless others? Would I weep had it not been my Jesus dying that death on the screen?

No, it is different. And something resonantes in me, in all of us, that this isn't just a human death. God gave part of himself. He united his perfection and our humanity, and as worlds clashed, darkness fell. Despair reigned. Truth was taken. Hope had flown.

[ Candles are snuffed. Silence. Tears. Heavy hearts. ]

Help us to know your pain, Lord.

Oh, He never lets go. The shame speaks from deep within: you aren't worthy of this. My mind reels. Why, God? Why did someone do that for me?

And whispered to my heart are the words:

Because I AM LOVE.

Truth stirs in my belly and thankfulness pours out through my tears.

He. is. love.

Isaiah 53

Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?

The servant grew up before God-- there was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We thought he was scum.

But the fact is, it was our pains he carried

our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.

We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures.

But it was our sins that did that to him,

that ripped and tore and crushed him.

Our sins.

He took the punishment that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on Him.

On Him.

He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off. Did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true.

Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he's see life come from it--

life, life, and more life.

And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.

Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,

will make many righteous ones, as he himself carried the burden of their sins. Therefore I will reward him extravagantly-- the best of everything, the highest honors--

because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch

because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sins of many. He took up the cause of all the black sheep.

Help us to know your story, Lord.