March 8: The Second Sunday in Lent
Isaiah prophesied that “it was the will of the Lord to crush him.”
What a strange thing to hear! It was the will of the Father to crush the Son. Richard Niebuhr famously commented over 60 years ago that 20th Century modern Christianity preached that:
A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.
But scripture tells us that it was the will of the Lord to crush him and that his soul made an offering for sin. This is the gospel. Come hear it preached and see the offering in the Supper this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Our God, Our Help in Ages Past
What Wondrous Love Is This
Man of Sorrows! What a Name