January 14 | Bible in a Year: Genesis 33-35; Matthew 10:1-20

Absorbing the Evil

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Isaiah 53:4

READ Isaiah 53:1–6

The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, caused by an earthquake, released massive amounts of toxins and forced more than 150,000 residents to evacuate. One local said, “It is as if an invisible snow had fallen on Fukushima and continued to fall, covering the area.” High radiation showed up in crops, meat and “hot spots” miles and miles away from the plant. To combat the poisons, locals began planting sunflowers, flora known to absorb radiation. They planted more than two hundred thousand seeds, and millions of sunflowers now bloom in Fukushima.

The sunflower, operating through God’s design, acts similarly in some small way to Jesus’ own cosmic act aimed at healing the entire world. Christ “took up our pain” into His own body and “bore our suffering” (Isaiah 53:4). He absorbed into His very being all the evil, violence and toxins of our world—all the ways we humans destroy ourselves. He absorbed all our wrongs. On the cross, Jesus “was pierced”—not for His wrongdoing but rather for “our transgressions” (v. 5). And since He died for our sins, we can be made whole. It’s “by his wounds [that] we are healed” ( v. 5).

Christ doesn’t merely forgive us from afar, He takes on Himself all our toxic evil. Jesus absorbs it all. And then He spiritually heals us.

By Winn Collier

What evil has Jesus forgiven for you? How does His absorbing evil alter how you understand His forgiveness?

Dear God, You’ve defended me, protected me and come alongside me. Help me to act on behalf of others.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

Isaiah 53 is part of a “servant song” that includes Isaiah 52:13–53:12 and focuses primarily on the Servant’s suffering, which would be fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus. The Old Testament provides several foreshadowings of that suffering, and each brings its own perspective. In the Passover (Exodus 12), we see the cross from the Father’s perspective as Christ becomes our Passover Lamb. In Psalm 22 , we see the cross from the perspective of Jesus Himself as David describes Christ’s suffering experience. Isaiah 53, however, describes the cross from the perspective of humanity. It tells us what they saw, what they failed to see, and what they desperately needed to see—the depth and passion of God’s rescuing love.