Pierced

A Good Friday Reflection

Above is a picture of a scroll. In 1947, this scroll was discovered in a cave near the Dead Sea. Scholars tell us it was originally produced sometime around 100 BCE. On its parchment is the entire book of Isaiah.

In one part of the scroll, Isaiah writes a poem and predicts: one is coming who will be pierced and put to death. By his death, he will bear upon himself the weight of all of humanity’s transgressions. After this, the scroll says, “he will see the light of life and be satisfied.”

This weekend, Christians weep and rejoice, because more than 100 years after this scroll was written—and several hundred after Isaiah first wrote his poem—these promises were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. He was pierced by nails and put to death on a Roman cross. A few days later, he saw the light of life and was satisfied; Jesus rose from the dead.

This is not wishful thinking, nor a pleasant delusion, nor something we Christians must believe on blind faith. Rather, we are convinced: these are events that happened in the real world, for which there is real historical evidence, and because of which the world is forever a different place.