Theme: Healing and eternal life through the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, God's suffering servant and our Savior.

COMMENTARY

Old Testament: Isaiah 52:13--53:12
This is the fourth Servant Song. The usual scholarly interpretation identifies the Servant with the nation of Israel. I must straight out confess that I have real problems with this interpretation. First of all, the images are intimately personal. "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief..." (v. 3). A second problem, the author identifies himself with a collective ("our griefs, our sorrows"). In all probability, he is identifying himself with the nation of Judah. However, he refers to the Servant separately: "Surely he has borne our griefs...carried our sorrows." Thirdly, the author …