The Good Friday's Scripture Readings

In the first reading of today's liturgy, Isaiah 52: 13-53:12, Isaiah prophesizes about Jesus, the Messiah, saying that He was:

• "Spurned"  and "avoided by people"--people hid their faces from Jesus because he looked so awful
• "Held in no esteem"
• "Had no stately bearing to make us look at him"
• "Had no appearance that would attract us to Him"

Yet, Isaiah reminds us in this same passage that Jesus:

• "Bore our infirmities"
• "Was crushed for our sins"
• Was chastised "to make us whole"
• "Pierced for our offenses"
• Scourged "for our healing"
• Bore "the guilt of us all"
• "Justified" us
• "Won pardon for us our offenses"
• "Took our sins away"

And, according to the prophet Isaiah, Jesus:

• "Was silent"
• "Opened not his mouth"
• "Submitted"
• "Gave His life as an offering for sin"
• "Surrendered himself to death"
• "Accomplished the will of God"--our salvation
• Showed us the depth of God's love for each one of us individually

 And what did we do:

• "Cut him off from the land of the living"
• "Assigned him a grave among the wicked" and "a burial place with evildoers"

In today's second reading, Hebrews 4: 14-16; 5: 7-9, St. Paul says to us:   "[L]et us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help" because "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin."