See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. 14 Even as many were amazed at him— so marred were his features, beyond that of mortals his appearance, beyond that of human beings— 15 So shall he startle many nations, kings shall stand speechless; For those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it.
1 Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him. 3 He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain, Like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.
4 Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured. We thought of him as stricken, struck down by God and afflicted, 5 But he was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed. 6 We had all gone astray like sheep, all following our own way; But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all.
7 Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth; Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Seized and condemned, he was taken away. Who would have thought any more of his destiny? For he was cut off from the land of the living, struck for the sins of his people. 9 He was given a grave among the wicked, a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong, nor was deceit found in his mouth.
10 But it was the Lord’s will to crush him with pain. By making his life as a reparation offering, he shall see his offspring, shall lengthen his days, and the Lord’s will shall be accomplished through him. 11 Because of his anguish he shall see the light; because of his knowledge he shall be content; My servant, the just one, shall justify the many, their iniquity he shall bear. 12 Therefore I will give him his portion among the many, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death, was counted among the transgressors, Bore the sins of many, and interceded for the transgressors.
On Good Friday, the Church gives us Isaiah 52:13—53:12 because it helps us see the meaning of Christ’s Passion. The passage does not describe suffering alone. It shows suffering accepted, suffering borne in innocence, and suffering that brings healing to others. That is why it stands so close to the Passion according to John (Jn. 18:1—19:42).
The passage opens with the Lord speaking about his servant: “See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted” (Is. 52:13). The ending is announced before the suffering is described. The servant will be exalted. But the next line turns sharply. Many are amazed at him because his appearance is marred beyond that of ordinary men (v. 14). Then the thought turns again. The one whose appearance shocks people will also startle many nations, and kings will stand speechless before him (v. 15). So the passage begins with both humiliation and exaltation. The servant is not defeated in the end. His suffering is part of the road by which God’s purpose is accomplished. Good Friday has that same shape. In John’s Gospel, Jesus is scourged, mocked, and displayed before the crowd in humiliation (Jn. 19:1–5). Yet John also presents the Cross as the hour in which Jesus completes the work given to him by the Father (Jn. 19:28–30).
The next part begins with two questions about unbelief and revelation: “Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Is. 53:1). The servant does not appear in majesty or outward beauty. He comes in lowliness, without the kind of appearance that would attract admiration or command attention (v. 2). Instead of being welcomed, he is rejected. He is despised, acquainted with suffering, and held in no esteem (v. 3). The point is clear. God’s saving work does not arrive in the form people expect. The servant is not welcomed, admired, or honored. He is dismissed. Good Friday shows the same pattern in Jesus. He is rejected by his own, handed over, mocked, and treated as one to be cast aside (Jn. 18:39–40; 19:6, 14–16). What people do not recognize is that the one they reject is the one through whom God is acting.
Then the passage reaches its center. Isaiah now reveals the true meaning of the servant’s suffering (Is. 53:4–6). At first, the people misread what they see. They think he is being struck by God for his own sins, because in ancient Israel severe suffering was often seen as a sign of personal guilt or divine judgment (v. 4). But that is not the truth. The servant suffers not for his own wrongdoing, but for ours. He is pierced and crushed because of human sin, and through his suffering others receive peace and healing (v. 5). Isaiah then widens the confession. All have gone astray like sheep, yet the Lord places upon the servant the guilt of all (v. 6).
This is the heart of the reading. The servant suffers, but not because of his own guilt. He suffers for others. He bears what belongs to them. He takes upon himself the burden of their sin and its consequences. That is why this passage is heard on Good Friday. The Passion of Jesus is not only an example of patience under suffering. It is the saving self-offering of the innocent one for sinners. John makes Christ’s innocence clear again and again. Pilate says, “I find no guilt in him” (Jn. 18:38; 19:4, 6). Yet Jesus is still handed over to be crucified (Jn. 19:16). Isaiah tells us how to understand that mystery. The innocent one suffers so that others may be healed.
The next section shows how the servant undergoes this suffering. He does not resist or rebel. He accepts it in silence, like a lamb led to slaughter and like a sheep silent before its shearers (Is. 53:7). Then the poem moves through judgment, removal, and death. The servant is seized, condemned, and cut off from the land of the living (v. 8). He is given a grave among the wicked, though he is innocent and no deceit is found in him (v. 9).
Again the innocence of the servant is stressed. He suffers unjustly. He is counted with the wicked though he is not wicked. This too stands close to the Passion. Jesus is arrested though innocent, condemned though innocent, crucified among criminals, and buried after death (Jn. 18:12–14; 19:4–6, 18, 38–42). Isaiah also stresses the servant’s silence and submission. John does not present Jesus as helpless, but as freely obedient to the Father’s will. He does not resist arrest, and he tells Peter to put away the sword (Jn. 18:11). When he stands before Pilate, his restraint shows not weakness but mastery and obedience (Jn. 19:9–11). The servant’s silence is not defeat. It is willing surrender.
The final part explains that the servant’s suffering is not meaningless. Isaiah says that his suffering belongs to God’s saving plan, not because God delights in pain, but because the servant freely offers his life for the sake of others (v. 10). His life becomes a true offering for sin. Yet suffering and death do not have the last word. The servant’s offering will bear lasting fruit. The many whose sins he bears will receive the saving effects of his self-offering: healing and reconciliation with God (vv. 10–11). His mission will not end in defeat, for God’s purpose will be accomplished through him (v. 10). After anguish comes vindication. The servant is called “the just one” and he “shall justify the many” because he bears their iniquity (v. 11). The passage ends by showing that he is vindicated and rewarded precisely because he gave himself up to death, was counted among sinners, bore the sins of many, and interceded for transgressors (v. 12). On Good Friday, the Passion according to John shows this servant in Jesus, who freely goes to death, bears rejection without defeat, and brings God’s saving work to completion on the Cross (Jn. 19:28–30).
So the servant’s suffering is fruitful, not empty. Through it, God brings healing, reconciliation with God, and the fulfillment of his saving will. The Passion therefore cannot be read as a story of mere failure. Isaiah had already shown that pattern: suffering, self-offering, and then vindication.
This reading also guards us from a false idea of salvation. We are not healed because sin is ignored. We are healed because the servant bears what sin has done. We are not made whole because evil is excused. We are made whole because the just one carries the burden that belonged to us (Is. 53:5–6, 11). Good Friday therefore shows both the seriousness of sin and the depth of God’s mercy. The Cross, on which the Son of God was nailed, reveals what sin costs. It also reveals what divine love is willing to do to save us, for only Jesus could bear that burden: he alone is both truly man, able to stand in our place, and truly God, whose self-offering has the power to reconcile humanity to God.
Isaiah 52:13—53:12 is one of the clearest passages in the Old Testament for understanding the Passion of Christ. The servant is innocent, rejected, pierced, silent, cut off, buried, and then vindicated. He bears the sins of others and brings healing to many. On Good Friday, the Church hears this reading because in the suffering and death of Jesus she recognizes the fulfillment of what Isaiah proclaimed long ago. The one rejected by men is the one sent by God. The one who suffers is the one who saves. The one who dies is the one through whom many are brought back into a right relationship with God.
Lord Jesus Christ, on this Good Friday help us to see in your Passion the love by which you bore our sins and gave yourself for our salvation. Keep us from treating your Cross as a distant story. Teach us to look upon you with faith, repentance, gratitude, and trust. By your wounds heal us, and lead us at last into the life you won for us. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. Isaiah 52:13—53:12 and notes.
- José María Casciaro, gen. ed., The Navarre Bible: Major Prophets: The Books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel and Daniel in the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate with a Commentary by Members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre (Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2005), 233–234.
- Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990), 341–342, para. 43.
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu, Richard J. Clifford, Carol J. Dempsey, and others, eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (New York: Paulist Press, 2018), 650–651.
- John J. Collins, Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, and Donald Senior CP, eds., The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition, with a Foreword by Pope Francis (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022), 859.
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