He Suffered in Trust

The moon, he smiles over Marietta tonight.

The silent witness with a grand story to tell.

For this same moon shone over

   The Upper Room Passover Guests,

      Gethsemane,

         The Religious Council’s mock proceedings,

            The Cross,

               And an Empty Tomb.

As we enter into the events of Passion Week, I strain to hear the sounds of Jerusalem. The frenzy . . . the fear . . . the fury.

 

It was all foretold . . . promised.

   The Rejection,

      The Betrayal,

         The Scattering,

            The Suffering.

One of the hardest chapters to read in the whole Bible is Isaiah 53.

This heart-wrenching prophecy of the suffering of our Savior, God’s Righteous Servant, held—of all things—promise.

“the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 
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.”

[Is 53:10b-11]

It is all for naught—their injustice and cruelty. God’s plan was promised to succeed.  And the suffering of Jesus would accomplish what God had promised long before—the justification of multitudes.

Oh, but let us not discount His agony in the face of suffering.

“[Jesus] began to be deeply distressed and troubled.

‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow

 to the point of death,’ he said to them.”

[Mk14:33b-34a]

But, just as He said;

“the Son of Man must suffer many things

and be rejected by the elders, chief priests

and teachers of the law, and that he must

be killed and after three days rise again.”

[Mk 8:31]

The Passion held promise.

In the most wretched atrocity, God sets a gem of beauty . . . a promise of victory.

With complete trust in the Father, and that promise to possess, Jesus endured immense suffering. A suffering inflicted by hate…yet endured by a love.

Is that hope what makes the moon smile?

“He was pierced for our transgressions,
   He was crushed for our sins; 
the punishment that brought us peace

was upon Him, 
   and by His wounds we are healed.”