Saturday March 30, 2024
Theme: “The death of Jesus Christ: foundation of our salvation”
Text: Isaiah 53:1-9
1. Who believed what we were told? Who has recognized the arm of the Lord? 2. He stood before him like a weak plant, like a shoot out of dry ground; He had neither beauty nor splendor to attract our attention, And his appearance had nothing to please us. 3. Despised and abandoned by men, A man of sorrows and accustomed to suffering, Like one from whom people turn away their face, We have disdained him, we have paid him no regard. 4. However, it is our sufferings that he has borne, It is our pains that he has taken care of; And we considered him punished, Struck by God, and humiliated. 5. But he was wounded for our sins, Broken for our iniquities; The chastisement that gives us peace fell on him, and by his stripes we are healed. 6. We were all wandering like sheep, Each one went his own way; And the LORD has brought upon him the iniquity of us all. 7. He was mistreated and oppressed, and opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers; He did not open his mouth. 8. He was taken away by anguish and punishment; And among his generation, who believed that he was cut off from the land of the living And smitten for the sins of my people? 9. They have placed his grave among the wicked, his tomb with the rich, although he had committed no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Let's remember:
In reality, humanity paid nothing to achieve eternal salvation. God has settled everything in his own bosom. He took his own Son, offered him as a sacrificial offering, and became the object of redemption for humanity languishing under Adamic sin. For free, humanity was saved while there was one who suffered martyrdom: Jesus Christ. He lived in peace and eternal glory when he accepted the ignoble mission of descending below the sky to save humanity. Jesus, the righteous one punished for what he did not do. No one recognized the arm of the Lord behind this work. Jesus looked like a weak plant, like a shoot emerging from dry ground; He had neither beauty nor splendor to attract our attention, and his appearance had nothing to please us. But it is He who saved the world by His death on the cross. He had to be despised and abandoned by men, those who looked at him could not bear to see him because he had become so horrible; everyone turned their faces away. Alas, this is the price of our salvation. He took on our suffering and pain when the world thought he was being punished, stricken by God, and humiliated. He was wounded for our sins, broken for our iniquities; he took the chastisement that gives us peace, and it is by his stripes that we are saved and healed. He brought the lost sheep back into the divine fold. For our salvation, he was mistreated and oppressed, but he did not open his mouth to justify himself at the risk of being released for innocence. He agreed to become a lamb to be led to the slaughter, He did not open his mouth. Excellent Saturday. Amen
Alain Louz.-