In the movie ‘Guess who’s coming to dinner’ the guest who arrives was quite different to what they had expected. In these passages we see that it was like that with Jesus. The Jews were expecting someone who would be a mighty military ruler to conquer the occupying Romans. Instead, Jesus came as a suffering servant who would deliver them from the bondage of their sins.

The Jewish Scriptures had told them that anyone hung on a tree would be cursed. They didn’t understand that Jesus would be on the tree for us … he bore our curse on the cross so that we could be set free. The prophet Isaiah saw a long time before it happened that ‘He was pierced through for our transgressions’ and also ‘by His scourging we are healed’. This healing comes to us as a free gift though faith.