Isaiah
Chapter 53
Who could believe what we have heard, and to whom has the Lord revealed his feat?
Like a root out of the dry ground, like a sapling, he grew up before us, with nothing attractive in his appearance, no beauty, no majesty.
He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows familiar with grief, a man from whom people hide their faces, spurned and considered of no account.
Yet ours were the sorrows he bore, ours were the sufferings he endured, although we considered him as one punished by God, stricken, and brought low.
Destroyed because of our sins, he was crushed for our wickedness. Through his punishment, we are made whole; by his wounds, we are healed.
Like sheep we had all gone astray, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon him all our guilt.
He was harshly treated, but unresisting and silent, he humbly submitted. Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearer he did not open his mouth.
He was taken away to detention and judgment— what an unthinkable fate! He was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for his people’s sin.
They made his tomb with the wicked, they put him in the graveyard of the oppressors, though he had done no violence nor spoken in deceit.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with grief. When he makes himself an offering for sin, he will have a long life and see his descendants. Through him, the will of the Lord is done.
For the anguish he suffered, he will see the light and obtain perfect knowledge. My just servant will justify the multitude; he will bear and take away their guilt.
Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong. For he surrendered himself to death and was even counted among the wicked, bearing the sins of the multitude and interceding for sinners.
Commentaries
Fourth Servant Song: His Passion and Glory.
The last song of the servant was regarded by the early Christian community—the Church—as the most significant prophecy of Jesus’ death and exaltation (cf. Acts 8:32-35). At the start of the poem, God introduces his servant, whom he has called for a mission intended for Israel and the nations (42:4; 49:5-6). The Lord also ends the oracle by describing him as the innocent/righteous one who offers himself for the people (11). The “we” in the poem symbolizes Israel, which is redeemed through the suffering of this innocent servant who takes upon himself the punishment that would have fallen on the people (4-5). This is what most surprises the prophet: the pattern of Deuteronomistic history suggests that suffering results from sin (Jn 9:2). Moreover, and this is unprecedented in the Old Testament, the servant’s suffering is redemptive, meaning it justifies the rebellious people (5). This idea is emphasized by comparing the servant to the lamb that is to be sacrificed (cf. Lv 9:3; 14:13, 21, 24; Jn 1:29, 36; 19:33). Between the exaltation of the servant declared by the Lord at the beginning and end of the poem, different stages of his life are shown, from his birth and hidden life (2), suffering (3-7), condemnation and death (8), burial (9), and exaltation (10-11; cf. Phil 2:6-11). The servant’s surrender, wounded/pierced by the sins of the people, leads to their conversion and attitude change (cf. Zec 12:10).