Andrewes: choosing the shame

Thursday, April 2, 2015
    Maundy Thursday
Meditation:
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
    —Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Jesus said to] His disciples in earth, This, this is the Passover that “I have so longed for,” as it were embracing and even welcoming His death. And which is more, “how am I pinched, or straitened,” till I be at it! as if He were in pain, till He were in pain to deliver us. Which joy if ever He shewed, in this He did, that He went to His Passion with Psalms, and with such triumph and solemnity, as He never admitted all His life before. And that this His lowest estate, one would think it, He calleth His exaltation. And when any would think He was most imperfect, He esteemeth His highest perfection. “Here is love.” If not here, where? But here it is, and that in his highest elevation. That the joys of Heaven set on the one side, and this poor joy of saving us on the other, He quit them to choose this. That those pains and shames set before Him, and with them this joy, He chose them rather than forego this.
    ... Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), Ninety-six Sermons, v. II, Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1841, p. 176 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 53:5; Luke 12:50; 13:32; 22:15; Heb. 12:2; 1 John 4:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, as Your joy was us, we rejoice in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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