Catechesis Notes for the Week — “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand” (Isaiah 53:10). “It was God the Father’s gracious will for our salvation that His Son should be crushed for our iniquities and that His soul should be offered up in atonement for our sin. In Jesus’ baptism and in His transfiguration the Father spoke of His delight in His Son who was obedient unto death and who willingly offered Himself in love for the sin of the world. ‘This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased’ (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). The Father made Jesus an offering for sin. Jesus’ ‘seed’ are all those who have come to faith in Him through the preaching of the Gospel. Through the Word of the Gospel Jesus becomes the spiritual father of every believer in Christ, as the prophet Isaiah earlier named Him the ‘Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’ (Isaiah 9:6).” Excerpted from Lutheran Catechesis: Catechist Edition, p. 106bCP230402