In the Footsteps of Jesus #20

^{Isaiah 53:1-12}

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

³ He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes ^[c] his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied ;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

"VIA DOLOROSA"

Some visitors carry wooden crosses down the narrow winding streets. Others flog themselves with leather whips. Some content themselves with making the journey upon their knees. All of them are trying in some small way to enter into the suffering of Jesus as He traveled the Via Dolorosa. The Way of Sorrows, the traditional pathway Jesus followed from Pilate’s Hall to Calvary. Commemorated by 14 stations or stops this trail leads through the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem.

As we walked its narrow corridors we found ourselves walking through the meat market, where even today the blood of sheep and goats run in the cracks. The stench was horrible. Yet greater was Jesus’ horror as he followed his cross to the place of his execution. The crowds filling the streets with taunts. The push of the soldier’s spear in his already torn back. The heat and the exhaustion taking its toll as the weight of our sins begin to fall upon his head.

As I think back upon that long walk in the footsteps of Jesus, as I ponder what he endured for me the words of the hymn come to mind: “Jesus to Calvary did go, His love for mankind to show; What He did there, brought hope from despair: O how He loves you, O how He loves me, O how He loves you and me.”

Question: How much does Jesus love me?

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for walking the Via Dolorosa for us. Amen.