By His Stripes
…and by his wounds (stripes) we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5b
In an upper room, Jesus gathered His disciples together to celebrate the Passover. Together, they would recall God’s great deliverance and look forward to the day when His people would, once more, be free. But Jesus also knew that His time was rapidly running out, and that He did not have long before He, too, would be offered as a sacrifice for sin.
In their haste, they had forgotten the formalities. No one had arranged for a servant to wash their feet.[1] No one stepped forward to perform the task. So, Jesus did it. To Peter’s horror, Jesus took a bowl and a towel and washed His disciples’ feet, and then He charged them, that they should do the same. One disciple, Judas Iscariot, saw this solemn act of service and decided that he had had enough. Judas was not interested in Jesus’ spiritual kingdom. He longed for the restoration of Israel. It was a political uprising he wanted, not a religious revival. So, Judas slipped away quietly and took his thirty pieces of silver.[2] It’s not a lot of money to betray a Savior. Jesus continued into the night, sharing with His disciples the core truths and values that He had tried to instill in them throughout His ministry. Some still did not understand. It was only after the event, looking back, that they grasped His meaning. Peter would, later, put it in graphic terms. The disciple who betrayed His Lord three times before the cock crowed, looked back upon the events of that first Holy Week and wrote: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”[3] Then, using a phrase taken directly from Isaiah’s suffering servant songs, Peter concluded, “and by His wounds you have been healed.”
Back in Jerusalem, the meal was concluded. The broken bread would remind Christ’s followers of His broken body; the poured out wine would remind them of His blood.[4] Then, in Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, and Judas identified Him with a kiss, and the hinge of history creaked open.
Lord Jesus,
Had I been there, would I have understood?
It seems so obvious now, so necessary yet so tragic. But then?
Would I have hidden from the truth? Would I have denied you, like Peter?
Would I have sold You out, like Judas?
Would I have watched and prayed, like Mary at the foot of Your cross?
Amen.
…and by his wounds (stripes) we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5b
In an upper room, Jesus gathered His disciples together to celebrate the Passover. Together, they would recall God’s great deliverance and look forward to the day when His people would, once more, be free. But Jesus also knew that His time was rapidly running out, and that He did not have long before He, too, would be offered as a sacrifice for sin.
In their haste, they had forgotten the formalities. No one had arranged for a servant to wash their feet.[1] No one stepped forward to perform the task. So, Jesus did it. To Peter’s horror, Jesus took a bowl and a towel and washed His disciples’ feet, and then He charged them, that they should do the same. One disciple, Judas Iscariot, saw this solemn act of service and decided that he had had enough. Judas was not interested in Jesus’ spiritual kingdom. He longed for the restoration of Israel. It was a political uprising he wanted, not a religious revival. So, Judas slipped away quietly and took his thirty pieces of silver.[2] It’s not a lot of money to betray a Savior. Jesus continued into the night, sharing with His disciples the core truths and values that He had tried to instill in them throughout His ministry. Some still did not understand. It was only after the event, looking back, that they grasped His meaning. Peter would, later, put it in graphic terms. The disciple who betrayed His Lord three times before the cock crowed, looked back upon the events of that first Holy Week and wrote: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”[3] Then, using a phrase taken directly from Isaiah’s suffering servant songs, Peter concluded, “and by His wounds you have been healed.”
Back in Jerusalem, the meal was concluded. The broken bread would remind Christ’s followers of His broken body; the poured out wine would remind them of His blood.[4] Then, in Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, and Judas identified Him with a kiss, and the hinge of history creaked open.
Lord Jesus,
Had I been there, would I have understood?
It seems so obvious now, so necessary yet so tragic. But then?
Would I have hidden from the truth? Would I have denied you, like Peter?
Would I have sold You out, like Judas?
Would I have watched and prayed, like Mary at the foot of Your cross?
Amen.
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