Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for today’s meditation is Isaiah 52:13-53:12

"See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted." Isaiah 52:13.

Kol in Hebrew. Pas in Greek. Omnis in Latin. Alles in German. Todos in Spanish. All-ya’ll in Southern. It’s the most exceptional word in any language. A-L-L all.

Total, complete, entire everything, whole hog, the whole shebang, the whole enchilada the whole ball of wax.

ALL. The most exceptional word for the most exceptional section in the Old Testament, the Fourth Servant Song of Isaiah. He had it all.

Isaiah 52:13, "See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted." The Hebrew verbs translated "raised" and "lifted up" are used to describe only one other person in Isaiah and that’s the King the prophet sees in Isaiah 6:1: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne high and lifted up."

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This Lord receives the cry of the seraphim in Isaiah 6:3, "Holy, holy, holy." In 6:5 Isaiah calls him, "the King, General Yahweh." The Servant and Yahweh are one and the same; a mystery not fully articulated until Jesus says in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one." This Servant had it all.

He would need it because the fourth Servant song, composed by Isaiah of Jerusalem in the eighth century, was originally intended for sixth century exiles who were singing another song. Psalm 137, "How can we sing the songs of Zion while in a foreign land?"

This depressing, deadly dirge was in the same key as Israel’s previous songs. Sinatra songs like, "I did it my way." Billy Joel songs like, "I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my life." Exiled, in bondage, stuck.

A few years ago a scientist did an experiment where he made cocaine available to monkeys. They would pull a lever and the feeding tray would give them a hit of cocaine. Soon the monkeys got addicted to the coke; these were happy monkeys! But then the scientist began to hold the next fix. How many consecutive times do you think the average monkey would pull that lever to get the next fix? 12,800 times. Over and over and over and over again. "Gotta have it gotta have it!"

In like manner, our sin addicts us too. Gossip, anger, worry, laziness, excuses, and selfishness. Exiled, in bondage, stuck. Over and over and over and over again. "Gotta have it gotta have it!"

The result? We are far away from the Father in a foreign land, we sing our depressing, deadly dirge, "How can we sing the songs of Zion while in a foreign land?"

To such captives Isaiah sings a different song, "See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted." He had it all. Colossians 2:9, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form." Hebrews 1:3, "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being." Mary exclaims, "I have seen the Lord." Peter gasps, "We were eyewitnesses of his majesty." Climactically Thomas cries out, "My Lord and my God!"

Jesus isn’t an assistant to the Father. He isn’t the vice-president of the cosmos, a sort-of Joe Biden of the universe. Jesus isn’t a junior partner to the Father. No. He is a full-fledged member of the godhead,

equal with the Father in every way, from eternity past. "Being of one substance with the Father." This Servant had it all.

This Servant gave it all. Jesus didn’t appear on the landscape of this planet as an emperor, statesmen, or investment banker. The all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present second person of the Trinity is described in these words of Isaiah 53:2, "He grew up before him like a tender shoot." A tender shoot, vulnerable from the time of his birth. Bethlehem, swaddling clothes, Herod's wrath, and then the escape to Egypt.

"He was despised and rejected by men." "He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" "By the prince of demons he is driving out demons." "He ... said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at him." And then the final nail in the coffin, "They shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’"

"Stricken, smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed, punished ... led like a Iamb to the slaughter ... cut off from the land of the living ... assigned a grave with the wicked." That's why Isaiah 52:14 says, "Many were appalled at him, his appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man." This Servant gave it his all. Every last drop.

This Servant delivers it all. Isaiah 53: 11, "By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many." The Servant delivers what captives need most, forgiveness. Forgiveness lies at the heart of Isaiah's own experience. Isaiah 6:6-7, "Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’"

From the altar called Calvary our God touches us with blood-bought forgiveness. The absolution declares it. The font seals it. The table celebrates it. Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us ALL things?" Philippians 4:19, "And my God will meet ALL your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." All, total, complete, everything, the whole enchilada, the whole ball of wax. He had it. He gave it. He delivers it; because it’s part of the plan.

Isaiah 53:10 is marked off by the all Inclusive words – "It was Yahweh's will." Calvary isn’t just a moving tragedy. It wasn’t a stopgap measure. Nor was it the Father’s unexpected knee-jerk response to a world plummeting towards destruction.

"It was Yahweh's will." The cross was drawn into the original blueprint, written into the first script. Golgotha is the decisive plan of the Father before the creation of the world.

What does it mean? It means Jesus intentionally planted the tree from which his cross would be carved. It means he voluntarily placed Judas into the womb of a woman. It means he was the one who set in motion the political machinery that sent Pilate to Judea. And it means he didn't have to do it, but he did it all ... FOR YOU ... FOR ME!

Our depressing, deadly dirge that knows only bondage, captivity, addiction "How can we sing the songs of Zion while in a foreign land?" is trumped in Isaiah's song that imparts liberation, forgiveness, freedom, and life abundant! When the words of the fourth Servant song enter our ears and strike our hearts we can’t help but respond with the words of one more song, written not by Isaiah but by Isaac Watts. "Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a tribute far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life ... my all."

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.