Bible Passage: Isaiah 53:5
Pastor: Michael Willitz
Sermon Date: April 2, 2021

Bulletin Good Friday

Isaiah 53:5

. . . the punishment that brought us peace was upon him . . . 

Our Shalom

Dear fellow redeemed in Jesus Christ, our Lord,

One day when George was eight, his parents left him alone at home. His mom had some errands to run while his dad was away at a meeting at church. Everything was going just fine for George at home until he decided to chase the dog. They ran from the kitchen out into the living room. The dog was barking, and George was laughing with delight. They wove in and out of the furniture, circling faster and faster each time around. But their chase stopped abruptly when George caught his foot on the couch and slammed against the shelf, knocking down his dad’s special clock. After cringing away from the magnificent smash, George approached to survey what was left. The sight was not pretty, and there was nothing George could do. He couldn’t piece back together the glass that had shattered. He couldn’t arrange into place all the gears that had shifted. What once was beautiful functioning clock was now a broken, disorderly heap. Filled with panic and regret, George looked on at the wreckage that he had absolutely no ability to fix.

I wonder if there was a similar surge of panic and regret when Adam and Eve ate that fruit which God had forbidden them from eating. We know that after they ate it the creation was not the same. We know that after they ate it Adam and Eve were not the same. The creation which had once received God’s grading of “very good” was now broken. It was broken beyond anything that Adam and Eve could fix. That didn’t stop them from trying, though, did it? They were quick to come up with a plan. Maybe a few leaves strung together and draped over their bodies could hide the shame that they felt in the presence of one another. Maybe a few bushes strategically placed between them and God could keep him from knowing what they had done. Their plans were desperate and their plans were hopeless. But they wouldn’t be the last ones to come up with desperate and hopeless plans.

We’ve tried in many ways to keep our world from falling apart, and we’ve tried in many ways to keep our bodies from falling apart. But like the woman in the Gospel who had a problem of chronic bleeding, no matter how much money we spend and no matter how many doctors we visit, the dysfunctional condition around us and in us is not one bit closer to being resolved. That is, until we meet Jesus, and until we receive the cure that only Jesus can give us.

Our text speaks of that cure by using the word “shalom.” In English, we have the word “peace”, but in Hebrew, the word is “shalom.” Shalom is so much more than just the way that Hebrew speakers say “Hello”. And shalom encompasses so much more than what we tend to think of when we hear the word “peace”. Shalom certainly includes the ending of hostility, but that’s just one angle on the diamond of shalom. It also refers to completeness, to soundness, to harmony, and to health. Shalom refers to a state of well-being, where all is as it should be. One commentator defined shalom as “the divinely normal”. Shalom is the very good condition which we were created in. It is the very good condition that we still long for. It is the very good condition that we cannot restore for ourselves. Shalom is only restored for us by the sinless Son of God, and it is only restored for us in his suffering and dying on the cross.

A literal translation of our text would be “the punishment of our shalom was upon him.” If you want to find shalom, it is there for you on the cross. The crucifixion of Jesus is certainly an unsightly fruit, but it brings forth the sweetest nectar. It pours out for us God’s shalom. Only the punishment meted out upon Jesus could bring about the peace, the shalom that we need, because our problem was more than just the decay that we feel in our bodies. And our problem was more than just the brokenness apparent in creation. At its core, our problem is what happened between us and God when we disobeyed his Word and sinned against him. We rebelled against our God. We traded friendship with him for enmity, and we incurred his righteous wrath upon us for this life and for eternity.

But God sent his Son to step into the breach. He sent his Son to take the punishment we deserved upon himself and to restore us into God’s love and favor forever. Jesus carried out what we refer to as the Great Exchange. There are a lot of good exchanges that you experience in your day to day life. One good exchange is plumbing. It brings you clean water and it takes away your wastewater. Another good exchange is what houseplants do. They absorb the carbon dioxide that you exhale, and they release oxygen that you can inhale. There are any number of good exchanges you might find in this world, but there is one truly Great Exchange, and it happened at the cross of Christ. Our punishment was claimed by Jesus. He took the blame for our sins. He let his body be broken and his soul be tormented to take upon himself all the fallout of our warfare against God. And in return, for all this, Jesus gives us peace. He gives us shalom. As he said to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you,” [John 14:27].

He sets all things right for us. He brings us into peace with God. And this peace, this shalom, is not merely a neutral stance with God, as if God was no longer mad with us but not really happy with us either. No, the shalom that Jesus gives us includes the Father’s favor for his Son. Just as our sins were transferred to Jesus, his perfect and God-pleasing record was transferred to us. So the Father is well-pleased with you. The Father is filled with favor for you. The Father counts you as his child through faith in Christ. You remember that when the Savior was born and the angels sang out, they sang, “Peace on earth, and goodwill to mankind,” [14]. The Prince of Peace, had arrived, the Sar Shalom, as Isaiah calls him. The eternal Son of God had flesh and blood to give at the cross, a body to be broken and blood to be spilled for our shalom.

With this shalom, with peace and favor and harmony with God, with a place in God’s family as his beloved child, you can be at true peace no matter what disorder you experience in this broken creation. We might still be waiting to fully feel the shalom that our Savior has secured. We might still fight against the sin within us and we might still feel the effects of sin in this creation. Yet, the foundational problem beneath it all has been fixed. Our debt for sin has been paid. The punishment that loomed over us has fallen on Christ. His righteousness is ours through faith, and in him the resurrection has already begun. We are waiting for his return when all that we see and feel and experience will fully align with the peace that he has won.

But until then when we want to know shalom, we look to the cross. There we see paid in full the price that it took to purchase our peace. From there we receive in Word and in Sacrament the peace which the world cannot give us. All that was once lost in Eden has been restored in Jesus Christ.

What a relief it was for George when his dad came home and forgave him, and it turned out that his dad had actually built that clock and could build another. This creation was broken far beyond anything we can fix, but through the death of Jesus, God calls us a new creation. Jesus’ death has won God’s blessing for us, and Jesus’ death has purchased our peace. You might even want to remember the arms of the Savior stretched out on the cross when God’s servants lift up their arms and speak the blessing over you. On account of Jesus’ sacrifice, the LORD blesses us and keeps us. On account of Jesus’ suffering, the LORD’s face shines upon us, and he is gracious to us. On account of the punishment which Jesus bore for us, the LORD looks upon us with favor, and gives us shalom.

Amen.

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