Smitten by God

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth….” Isaiah 53:6-7

August 26-27, 2022

Did Jesus suffer because He did something wrong? If the truth be known, was the Servant of God really a sinner like the rest of us? In the Peanuts cartoon it is Lucy who champions the view that Jesus’ misfortune was His fault. The following encounter of Linus with a sliver in his finger and Lucy’s reasoning about it illustrates it. Lucy, seeing something is wrong with Linus, says, ‘What’s the matter with you?’ Linus replies, ‘I have a sliver in my finger.’ Lucy, ‘Ah, Ha! That means you’re being punished for something.’ Lucy, ‘What have you done wrong lately?’ Linus, ‘I haven’t done ANYTHING wrong!’ Lucy’s response is, ‘You have a SLIVER, haven’t you? That’s a MISFORTUNE, isn’t it? You’re being punished with misfortune because you’ve been BAD.’ By this time Linus’ tongue is out of his mouth and beads of perspiration are falling from his face. Charley Brown enters the discussion at this point with, ‘Now, wait a minute…Does…’ Lucy interrupts him with, ‘What do you know about it, Charley Brown? This is a SIGN! This is a direct sign of punishment! Linus has done something very wrong, and now he has to suffer misfortune!’ Lucy continues her sermon, ‘I KNOW ALL ABOUT THESE THINGS! I KNOW THAT A ….’ Now Linus interrupts with , ‘It’s OUT! It just popped right out!’ Lucy obviously unhappy, and looking like a thundercloud, turns to walk away, but hears Linus say, ‘Thus endeth the theological lesson for today!’

This was the viewpoint of Israel toward her Messiah, and thus He was rejected. In what has been called the John 3:16 of the Old Testament (verse 6), we have the gospel ‘in a nutshell.’ Here we have it in the breadth of human sin matched by the universal scope of Christ’s atonement. Jesus suffered injustice as He submitted to the Father’s will. Are we not touched by the gentleness and silence of the sufferer. Voluntarily and patiently He took God’s wrath for us. Jesus’ death was not what He deserved, but what we deserved. H