Isaiah 53:8

Midweek 6

Theme: Is there no justice?

⁸By oppression and without justice (judgment) He was taken away; Who would have considered his descendents? (And as for His generation, who considered). For He was cut off out of the land of the living, For the transgression of my people he was stricken.

“It isn’t fair!” How many times we have heard that! We have probably said it numerous times. “Is there no justice in the world?” We hear stories of criminals who are obviously guilty get off on a technicality or go free just to hurt someone else. Then we turn the page in the paper and read about someone who committed a minor offense that got a major sentence. So often the innocent suffer because of the apathy of society. What about the millions of innocent unborn babies who have been aborted, like silent lambs to the slaughter.

In large cities victims of crime scream for help only to be ignored by those who don’t want to get involved, while just a few weeks ago a man in Wisconsin raced to the rescue of what he thought was a girl being raped only to be faced with charges that could land him in jail for several years.

In the business world those who bend the rules and step on those beneath them often wind up on top. Nice guys do end up last.

Why doesn’t God do something? Why doesn’t God carry out justice? Rabbi Harold Kushner in his book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, asserts that God doesn’t have the power to do anything. Others say He is not good. Some go so far as to assert that God must not even exist.

If we are honest, we have to admit that sometimes we are part of the injustice of our world. We may be the ones who go unpunished when we speed down the highway or cheat on our taxes. We turn a deaf ear to others who call for help. We may be the ones who step on others in our rush to the top of the heap.

If God were to completely eliminate injustice, we would have to go too. But the fact is, God wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. That is why he waits to execute his justice. He is merely giving more people the opportunity to hear his word and come to faith. So now God tolerates man’s injustice so that more people turn from their sins and come to faith in Christ. But Judgment Day will come and injustice will be no more. Each person will either be in heaven or in hell.

Yet God has not just sat silently by as the world has suffered injustice since the day Cain killed Abel and seemingly got away with it. God has in fact done something. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ to suffer the world’s greatest injustice. And paradoxically God is the God who through that injustice, justified the ungodly.

Jesus Christ never rebelled nor deviated from his Father’s plan. He committed no violence nor did any deceit ever come from his mouth. Jesus humbled himself as the silent Lamb of God led to the slaughter. He was spotless, without any sin or blemish of any kind.

Yes, “he was taken away by oppression and without justice.” As Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, and angry mob came with swords and clubs to arrest him. He had never used force to coerce anyone to follow him. But now he was bound and forced to go with the rabble. Jesus could have wiped them all out with a word, but he prohibited Peter from using his sword. Jesus surrendered without a fight to fulfill this prophecy of Isaiah.

Our Lord was deprived of justice. He was denied his right to due process. His trials were hurried and makeshift. According to Jewish law they were illegal. For example, it was illegal to have a trial at night. It was illegal to have a trial the evening before a Sabbath or Festival day. It was illegal to have a trial in a private home instead of a court. Moreover, the witnessed contradicted each other, and the verdict was arrived at prematurely without the due process established in Jewish law.

In addition, both Pilate and Herod acquitted Jesus, pronounced him innocent, at least 5 times.

The sham trials of Jesus were a miscarriage of justice. Yet the greatest miscarriage of justice was that an innocent man voluntarily suffered for the sin of all mankind. He was stricken because of our transgressions. He suffered the due penalty of law for all the injustice we have ever done. He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brings us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. The Lord laid on him the sin of us all. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for our sake, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

In this way God carried out his own form of justice: the justification of all humanity. Because he was obedient to the law and suffered the punishment for our transgressions, God has declared us righteous. God has declared the verdict for the world: not guilty! The wages of sin is death, but in God’s grace, it was Jesus Christ who endured that death in our place. He was cut off from the land of the living so that we might have everlasting life in his name. His condemnation is our pardon; his judgment is our acquittal.

“He was taken away by oppression and without justice.” At the time of Christ’s death, perhaps no one imagined he would have any future followers. His enemies thought that he would be quickly forgotten. They thought his disciples would disband. Who would want to risk suffering the same fate as Jesus?

But Christ rose from the dead. His disciples rejoiced and spread the word. Pentecost came and in just one day, 3000 were baptized into Christ and received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The church has grown astoundingly ever since, all around the world, in all nations and peoples. Today Christ has millions of descendents who are born again by water and the spirit in baptism, and give new life in the sacraments.

So now when we are faced with injustice, we do not despair. God has done something about it. We take refuge in the equity of God’s justice that condemned the innocent Christ for all our sins that we might be justified—declared righteous—and be his descendents, heirs of eternal life. What gracious justice!

Amen.