Passover 2026: Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and the Gospel

 The "suffering servant" prophecy in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, with its picture of substitutionary atonement, is foundational for Christianity.  

The Gospels indicate that this prophecy shaped Jesus' self-understanding.  In Luke 22:37, Jesus says that Isa 53:12, which describes the servant as "numbered among the transgressors," would be fulfilled in him.  Earlier that same evening he explained to his disciples that the wine of one of the cups of Passover represented "my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Mt 26:28).  Here his language also reflects Isaiah 53:!2, which says that the servant "poured out his soul to death" and "bore the sin of many."

Jesus' disciples initially resisted the idea that he, the Messiah, would be put to death in Jerusalem (Mt 16:13-23), but they came to understand that Jesus indeed would be the suffering servant.  Peter, who protested against this idea when he first heard it, later held up Jesus' example of sacrificial love as one for his disciples to emulate, using Isaiah 53 (1 Pe 2:18-25).  In verse 22, Peter quotes Isaiah 53:9 ("there was no deceit in his mouth") in reference to Jesus.  He makes several more allusions to Isaiah 53 in the ensuing verses.  

Matthew sees Jesus' healing ministry as a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4 (Mt 8:14-17).

Many people have come to faith in Jesus the Messiah through the powerful words of Isaiah 53.  One example from the first century is the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.  Philip uses Isaiah 53 to explain the Gospel to the eunuch and lead him to baptism (Ac 8:26-40).  

Paul recognized in Isaiah 52:!5 a prophecy of the Gospel going to the nations (Romans 15:21.).  John and Paul both saw in Isaiah 53:1 the fact that there would also be resistance to that revolutionary message (John 12:38; Rom 10:16).  Paradoxically, Jesus' being "lifted up" on the cross would be an exaltation and a victory (Isa 52:14; John 12:32).  

I recommend the book The Gospel According to Isaiah 53 for more on the amazing message of the Suffering Servant.

Seder 146: Deuteronomy 14-16---Sabbath Principles

 Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17 deals with topics related to the Sabbath commandment, things like worship at the annual festivals and observance of sabbatical years.  In discussing these topics, Moses speaks not in terms of making regulations, but in terms of opportunities for the whole community together to rejoice before God, with no one left out.  He places quite a bit of emphasis on helping poor members of the community.  

In Deuteronomy 14:22-27, Moses describes an annual festival tithe that would enable the people to experience regular events analogous to the covenant meal at Horeb 40 years before (Exodus 24:9-11).  Another tithe collected in years 3 and 6 of every 7-year cycle would be used to help the poor (vv 28-29).

Year seven was the sabbatical year, a time of release of debts.  In the seventh year, "every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor" (15:2).  Daniel Block proposes that this may have meant releasing what the debtor had given the lender as collateral rather than cancelling a loan altogether.  That way creditors would be willing to make loans, and debtors would be able to gain economic benefit from the collateral and get on a better financial footing.  

Deuteronomy 15:3 says that this debt release did not apply to loans to foreigners.  It's assumed that such loans would be business loans to people who were not permanent residents, not personal loans for someone who has fallen into debt.  This was not a matter of prejudice against foreigners, which is spoken against elsewhere in the Torah (e.g., Lev 19:33-34).  

Moses holds up an ideal in which the Israelites are obedient to God and poverty is eliminated (vv 4-6).  In the meantime, though, there would be poverty, and people should come to the aid of those who needed it (vv 7-11).  (Certainly Jesus' reference to Deuteronomy 15:11 in Matthew 26:11 was not intended to imply that the poor should be neglected.)

Hebrew slaves should be released with generous gifts, Moses adds (vv 12-15).  It has been observed that this is a principle which God made sure the Egyptians carried out when the Israelites departed from them (Ex 12:36).   

In Deuteronomy 16 Moses describes the three annual pilgrimage festivals---Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles---that Israelites would have the opportunity to celebrate.  Daniel Block identifies some key principles in the theology of worship expressed in Deuteronomy 16:1-17:

1. True worship involves an engagement with God and is focused on him. 
2. True worship occurs at God's initiative and must be conducted on his terms.
3. True worship is communal.
4. True worship is driven by gratitude to God for his redemption and daily provision.
5. True worship involves the offering of our resources and ourselves.

Seder 86: Mark 1:40-45---Why Was Jesus Angry?

 When John the Baptist sent two disciples to Jesus to ask if Jesus was really the Messiah, Jesus listed a number of mighty works that bore witness to his messiahship: "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard:  the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them" (Luke 7:22).  

We can understand why Jesus included "lepers are cleansed" in this list.  The book of Leviticus gives instructions for the priests on how to identify a defiling skin condition, but it is not expected that the priests could take such a condition away.  In Jewish tradition, taking away a skin condition was considered to be tantamount to resurrecting the dead---b Sanhedrin 47b.  This tradition is based on Num 12:12.

So it was an amazing miracle when Jesus removed this kind of skin condition.  One of Jesus' disciples was known as "Simon the Leper" (Matt 26:6; Mark 14:3), and it has been speculated that Jesus healed Simon of his condition.  

That speculation is believable in light of other things that we read in the Gospels.  Mark 1:40 says that a man with a skin condition approached Jesus and implored him, "If you will, you can make me clean."  This man exhibited a commendable faith in Jesus, and Jesus responded by touching the man and taking away his condition (vv 41-42).  

The ESV says that Jesus was "moved with pity" in this situation.  Some early manuscripts, though, say that Jesus was "moved with anger" (see the NRSV footnote).  Textual scholars believe that this may have been the original wording, since it is not likely that a scribe would have wanted to attribute anger to Jesus.

Matthew Thiessen suggests that the most likely answer is to be found in the man's qualifying clause "if you will."  How could the man, with all his faith, not realize that Jesus had come for the purpose of overcoming all the forces of death?  He wanted the man to know this, and he wants us to continue to know and proclaim it.

Seder 83: Psalm 42-43---Longing for God in a Time of Trouble

 Scholars believe that Psalms 42 and 43 were originally one unit, since the refrain of Ps 42:5,11 is repeated in Ps 43:5.  This psalm was divided in two long ago, though, as early as the Septuagint.

Psalm 42 is the first psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter, and the first of the psalms of the sons of Korah.  It is an individual lament, with the psalmist cut off from worship at the Temple and harassed by enemies.  In a spiritual struggle, he mourns his current situation and reminds himself to hope in a faithful God.

He asks in the psalm's refrain,  "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him."

The Gospel writers picture Jesus in a similar position shortly before his arrest, as he thought about what lay ahead:  

Matt 26:38:  "My soul is very sorrowful and troubled, even to death."

Mark 14:34:  "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death."

John 12:27:  "Now is my soul troubled." 

This is another example in which early Christians saw the situation of the psalmist prefiguring that of the Messiah.