2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Paul could not possibly be speaking to the church.  Isn't church where people go to argue about theological and political issues?  Isn't it that place where the pastors and staff always want more money, and the members feel guilty and resentful for not giving enough.  Yes, I know what a church sounds like.  It is the sound of complaining because something in the service is different.  It is the sound of people talking about other people's shortcomings.  Then there are those self righteous and pompous windbags who talk the Jesus talk, but their walk is a little wobbly (hmmm, not me!).

I know that Paul could not have been writing to the church in Corinth, because he speaks of agreeing with one another.  Members never agree with one another, nor do they live in peace.  They share the peace because the pastors tell them to, but within an hour they are yelling in traffic or yelling at the kids or getting mad at the waiter for screwing up the order.  And what is this "holy kiss" stuff.  Sounds fruity to me.  Hugs and kisses and all that are fine, but what I mostly see at church are people rushing to and fro, meeting impossible schedules, or struggling with their children, or sitting next to each other in the pews and trying to avoid physical contact.  No holy kisses for me, thank you!

Do I know any saints?  I certainly don't feel like a saint.  Saints have wings on their backs and haloes on their heads.  Saints never swear, never think lustful thoughts, never get mad, never lie, never criticize, never doubt....they can't possibly be human.  They can't possibly be in the church I know.

Or so Satan would have us believe.  We live in an age in which no one can speak of good and evil without being condemned for their own hypocrisy.  No human being can withstand the microscopic examination to which we subject those in authority, or those who try to live by faith.  Nor can any church withstand the critical analysis performed by its members, whether well-meaning or malicious.  Only the power of God can hold it together.

Within these walls we nevertheless find saints.  In spite of the ugliness of these earthen vessels, we somehow manage to serve God's purpose.  We minister to one another in spite of our petty judgments.  We pray for one another, in spite of our quarrels and debates.  Somewhere in this body of flawed human beings we find love, and every time I take communion, I know that Christ binds us all together in a sacrament beyond understanding and beyond criticism.  If you are angry with the one who stands before you offering the bread or the wine, then what can you do except submit to the divine grace of God which for a split second obliterates all conflict and binds soul to soul in what can only be a "holy kiss".  It is more than magic.  It is as real as the water in the font.  For a moment, as we eat the body and drink the blood of our Savior, the evil one crawls back into his hole and hides from the light of Christ.

Tear these critical words to shreds.  They are the lies which Satan uses to try to steal our joy in Christ.  And dear brothers and sisters, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.



I did not understand the purpose of suffering until I first read this prophecy from Isaiah.  I feel the power and know the fear of the Lord when I read that it was His will to crush Jesus with pain.

We must conform our lives to the life of our risen Lord.  We will be crushed, if not by pain, then by death itself, and then we will rise again.  Why?  Because only through death, and many times through pain, can we rid ourselves of the sin of this world.  We must be born again.

I have begged God to take away the doubts which often plague me.  I have pleaded that my mind would become clear and my faith become firm.  I never know when I will be smitten by the darkness of fear or skepticism, or when memories of those who have hurt me or whom I have hurt overwhelm me.  Yet these words from Isaiah take away the doubts and somehow justify the pain in life.  If God wills His own Son to be crushed with pain, then pain must in some way be the doorway to eternal life.  Pain and death, joy and life, they cannot be separated.  We cannot live without dying and because Jesus died we cannot die without living.  Faith and doubt cannot be separated, just as sin and righteousness coexist in our muddled lives.  The crucible may be clouded with dross, but beneath the crust God has refined us into purest gold.  We can only catch a glimpse of that which God intends us to be.

Only through the living Spirit of God could Isaiah have uttered these words of mystery and hope beyond death.  No possible reconstruction of the myth could have resulted in such amazing congruence between these words and the crucifixion of our Lord.  Without the death and resurrection of Christ, these ancient words of Isaiah read like the ravings of a madman.  Who indeed has believed what we have heard?  Who could ever believe that a good and righteous God would destroy His only Son, would humiliate Him, would abandon Him for a time, would send Him to Hell, and then, with love and power which bring tears, would raise Him, so that we might also be raised.

God, if we must suffer, then let our suffering be to your glory, as all of our actions and words should also be to your glory.  We cannot understand it unless we see it through the words of your prophet.  Thank you for giving us this revelation so long ago.  Take our suffering and refine us to be like Christ, and give us the courage and faith to persevere.