April 7, 2023

“Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)

At our Men’s Bible Study on Wednesday, we read the account in John of Jesus’ torture and execution on the cross. When we finished the passage, a silence descended on us. 25 men sat in that silence, many of us with tears in our eyes. Nothing more needed to be said.

“Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Good Friday – BCP)