Ezekiel 45:9 & Isaiah 53:4-6

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

This evening’s Bible passages are from Ezekiel and Isaiah:

Thus says the Lord God: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. (Ezek. 45:9)

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
⁶ 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. (Is. 53:4-6)

The cry of “Enough” to “violence and oppression” is a godly cry, voiced by God throughout the long history of humankind. A grieving God calls repeatedly on those in power to “execute justice and righteousness.” “Violence and oppression” are never legitimate means to that end; they are part of a long list of ungodly behaviors that “justice and righteousness” must always oppose and strive to end. 

I say “a grieving God” because Isaiah tells us that God shares human griefs, not just in theory and from a distance, but in person and directly. We are told, in this prophecy of the coming Christ, that “he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Christians are quick to recall that Christ was “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities.” We need to remember, too, that he knows from excruciating personal experience what it is to suffer unjust violence and oppression. He knows human sins all too well; he died for them. But he also knows human griefs and sorrows; he has suffered them.

There is danger, though, in an uncritical echo of God’s “Enough.” It’s all too easy to slip into self-righteousness, thinking that “we” are the righteous and “they” are the ungodly. Isaiah draws no such distinction. Twice he adds “all” to “we” or “us: “All we like sheep have gone astray; … the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The whole of humanity is included in this “we.” “Every one” of us has “turned” to his or her “own way.” It’s good to cry “enough,” but it’s also wise to include ourselves among those to whom we address that cry.

Paying attention to this “we all” and “us all” also helps us understand better the extent to which Christ “was pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities.” We each tend to read Isaiah 53 with a focus on our own individual sins. But, if we limit Christ’s atonement in that way, we’re radically minimizing both his suffering and his love. Think of all the sins committed by human beings in the last twenty-four hours, not only those covered by the media, but also the private, domestic, and unnoticed, routine sins. Now extend the time frame to the past year, century, millennia. Think of racial injustice in the USA alone, from the era of enslavement to the killing of George Floyd. Now extend that to the long history of violence and oppression in the name of religion (including Christianity) or racial and ethnic identity, or envy (all the way back to Cain), or due to nothing more than the human lust to gain and to hold on to power. Christ suffered the just judgment of God against every last one of these sins, including every last act—past, present, and future—of violence and oppression. He bore all our suffering and he died for all our guilt. How can we say that the God who is willing to bear our sin and suffering to such an extent way is a distant God who doesn’t love us?

Sin and suffering, though, are not the end of the story. Isaiah also promises us: “Upon [Christ] was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Christ died to bring peace not only between humanity and God but among human beings. He died not only to heal the wounds of human alienation from God, but also to heal and to bring an end to the wounds inflicted by human beings on other human beings. The healing of humanity’s brokenness is a slow and patient process, but Isaiah promised elsewhere that such a healing and peace would one day truly be accomplished: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, … and a little child shall lead them … They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Is. 11:6-9).

“Enough” is a cry of genuine pain, but it needn’t be a cry of despair. It’s also a cry of divine and human hope. Encouraged by this hope, it’s worth working in whatever way we can for justice, righteousness, and peace.

Your brother in Christ,

Max