The Joshua Victor Theory

 Sermon on   Isaiah 52:13-53:12 for  Good Friday  by Rev. Reed Lessing, the "Singing with the Exiles" series.   “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. Visi in Latvian. It’s the most superlative word in any language.   A-L-L all. Total, complete, entire, everything. ALL. The most superlative word for the most climactic section of the Old Testament, chapters 52-53, called the Fourth Servant Song of Isaiah. The Lord’s Servant, described here, had it all.               Isaiah 52:13, “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” These words “raised” and “lifted up” describe only one other person in Isaiah, who gets that royal treatment. In Isaiah 6:1 the prophet sees the Lord God sittin...

 Sermon from the series "Singing with the Exiles" by Rev. Reed Lessing “One Little Word Can Fell Him!” Isaiah 49:1-6 Lent 6   “ He made my mouth like a sharp sword .” Isaiah 49:2.   Sometimes a single word speaks volumes. A characteristic slang, or a drawl, or accent might give you away, in just one word. If a single word can single out a foreigner or a stranger, can’t a word distinguish the Lord's Servant? In our text, the Servant says, “ He made my mouth like a sharp sword .” A “mouth like a sharp sword” echoes the description of the coming son of David in Isaiah 11 as the one who will “strike the earth with the rod of his mouth.” Unlike Cyrus, who waged war “according to the flesh” this Servant will employ weapons “not of the flesh but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.” This “sword” or “rod” of the Servant’s mouth is not even a literal steel blade or staff, but words. In a power-world of military might and weapons, the words of a prophet m...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Do you see or experience a deep, human longing for peace, and for justice? Whether it’s from the common prayers of 5 th graders for world peace, to the hopes and aspirations of adults and even our national leaders, there certainly seems to be a longing for things to be better, to be different. We praise peace and justice, with our words at least. Whether we live that out or not, is another story. But even if you agree that most Americans, long for certain ideals of peace or justice—we cannot escape the brutal reality that not everyone shares this longing. We’re daily confronted with the ugly and horrendous violence of mankind. Acts of terror on innocent people, bombings, shootings, and all kinds of violence. Not just internationally, either, but in our own nation and in our communities as well. Even though we find it incredibly hard to believe, we face the painful reality that m...