Holy Week · Good Friday · Year C
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
The Suffering and Glory of the Servant
April 14, 2028
Overview & Insights
“He was pierced for our transgressions… and with his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
Like 48:20–21, the end of the previous section, 50:4–52:12, both suggested closure and questioned it. The comment about the impossibility of shalom which followed 48:20–21 led into the new twist to the servant motif in chapter 49. The point is less explicit at the end of 50:4–52:12, but the implication is again that not all the prophet’s agenda has been handled. Everything is in place for the restoration of the community to Jerusalem and for the restoration of the city itself—but what of the community’s morale and faith, its commitment and hope, and what of its servant calling that is now long-unmentioned? Once again there is a new twist to the servant motif, and once again its implications are worked out for the city (ch. 54) and the people (ch. 55).
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Commentary
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Working Preacher
A commentary on the fourth Servant Song, the man of suffering who bore our griefs.
Isaiah 53 Enduring Word · David Guzik
A verse-by-verse evangelical commentary on the suffering servant wounded for our transgressions.
Classic commentaries on Isaiah 53 BibleHub
Aggregated classic commentaries on the great Servant Song verse by verse.
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Enduring Word · David Guzik
An accessible verse-by-verse commentary, widely used across evangelical churches.
Isaiah 53 Commentary preceptaustin.org
Precept Austin works through the four stanzas of the Suffering Servant song in detail.
Background & Word Study
The Church Fathers
Questions preachers ask
Why is Isaiah 53 the Good Friday reading?
The Suffering Servant, despised and rejected, bears the sin of many and is led like a lamb to the slaughter, the clearest Old Testament portrait of the cross.
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