Experience Jesus and know God
Commentary
In this age of computers and the Internet, there is so much information "out there" to access. Knowledge is literally at our fingertips. So much so, that some dare to speak of the disappearance of the public library as we have come to know it. Knowledge, however, is not to be confused with wisdom. There is a big difference. Knowledge has to do with facts and figures and even how they are related to other facts and figures. Knowledge has to do with identifiable pieces of information that can be located, remembered, accessed, and manipulated. Knowledge is a good and necessary thing; but, knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom has to do with discerning what to do with the knowledge. Wisdom has to do with making prudent judgments regarding the value and place of any given piece of knowledge. It is not difficult to find many knowledgeable people in the world today. With the advent of the computer and Internet, more and more people are able to gather knowledge without straying too far from the comfort of their own home. What is difficult to find today are people of wisdom, who can weigh the balance of things in the world today and not come up lacking too much.
The Bible tells us that wisdom is primarily about God and God's activities/ways in the world. One is wise when one can discern and even articulate the presence of God in human affairs. Moreover, the Bible tells us that wisdom, this insight concerning God, is actually a gift from God in the first place. Ultimately, this wisdom regarding God is revealed by God himself in Jesus Christ. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, "But we preach Christ crucified ... the wisdom of God." The gospel is not some esoteric knowledge that can be gleaned and passed down by storytelling, reading, and memorization. The gospel is the personal encounter with Jesus, crucified and risen, Lord of Life and Savior from sin and death.
In the events of Holy Week, we have the opportunity to encounter the Lord Jesus as he comes striding into our lives through his Word. Wisdom will lay hold of him, not with the fury of those who sought to arrest and crucify him, but with the passion of those who found that in following him they had discovered "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Words are powerful and can shape reality. Carefully chosen and timely shared, words add a depth to experience that the painter's brush and the sculptor's chisel envy.
Isaiah has choice words for the people of God, given at a time when they needed to hear God's great plans for them. That is the role of a prophet. "The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him that is weary" (50:4). The weariness comes from seventy years in exile. The judgment of God has been clear. In metaphors of divorce and creditors (Isaiah 50:1), Isaiah describes how God has dealt with Israel. She has been put away from God, symbolized by separating the people from the land given to Abraham and his descendants. Sin drives distance between the creature and the Creator. Not only is paradise lost, but also the promised land. The Lover and the beloved can no longer share the same sky. There is a darkness that covers the land, like sackcloth covers the head of those who mourn. In the Hebrew poetic tradition of saying the same thing twice, this time with the image of creditors settling a debt, Isaiah describes the plight of the people being sold to cover what they owe to the Lord. There are consequences to disobedience.
This having been said, the people duly reminded, Isaiah says that his purpose is primarily pastoral. His words are intended to sustain the weary, not drive them deeper into a hole in the ground. In words which are beyond the boundaries of this particular pericope, Isaiah will go on to articulate the hope that Israel can have. The suffering servant will embody it and the people will live it out in the time ahead as God restores his people to the covenant (marriage) and forgives their debt. "Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?" God asks of the people as a hint of what is yet to come.
The words with which Isaiah speaks are not his own, in the sense that he made up the message that he thought the people needed to hear. He spoke words that were given by God. Isaiah admits to being taught. Unlike Israel's rebellion when the Lord sought to teach her his ways (for example, at Mount Sinai), Isaiah exemplifies how to respond appropriately to the Lord: "I was not rebellious" (50:5).
This is the first and most important response to make when God calls his people to do his bidding. Obedience! Even if there are negative consequences to that response, which there apparently were for Isaiah! He describes how he was whipped, tormented, and spit upon. This certainly is no way for one of God's messengers to be treated, but it is reality none the less. Isaiah's comfort is that God will indeed help him -- and in such a way that not only is he strengthened to face his adversary, but also equipped to "sustain with a word him that is weary" (50:1).
In what appears to be autobiographical references, it is rather stunning to notice the similarities between Isaiah's personal experience and the experience of Jesus. Jesus' mistreatment at the hands of the Romans (Luke 22:63-65) is tailor-made from Isaiah. Despite knowing that this would be his fate if he held to the Father's purposes for him, Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), much like Isaiah "set [his] face like a flint" (50:7) to endure his hardships, both confident in the final vindication from God. Isaiah will go on in chapter 53 to express rather graphically what the "suffering servant," who is God's elect, will be like. For now, Isaiah himself exemplifies some of the suffering that is inevitable for the person who will be awakened and taught by the Lord.
Philippians 2:5-11
In appreciation for the Philippian congregation (viz. the discordant Corinthian congregation about which we have been hearing so much in past weeks), Paul encourages their life together "by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord" (Philippians 2:2). He describes essential Christian characters of humility and service and then launches into a parenthetical thought that has become a platform from which to understand Christological aspects of the mystery of the Trinity.
There are two key verbs Paul uses that describe the activity of Christ in heaven and on earth. They are kenaw (to make empty) and tapeinaw (to make low, humble). In heaven, Christ emptied himself of divine privilege. He set aside whatever claims were rightfully his for the sake of his beloved. This was an act of self-giving and self-denying. He gave himself fully to the beloved out of an unparalleled love. This was a unilateral movement within the very heart of God, unsolicited and unmerited by humanity. In this self-giving, he denied himself the advantage of divinity in terms of splendor and power. He emptied himself of this advantage to identify truly with the beloved. Søren Kierkegaard's profound analogy in Philosophical Fragments about a king who loved a maiden illustrates this well for the imagination of faith.
On earth, Christ humbled himself. This was demonstrated most pointedly in his obedience unto death. Not just any death! There was no observable nobility in his suffering and death at the hands of a Roman prefect. No glory as in battle, defending the mother land or the poor against the ravages of a despot. No honor after living a long and productive life, with crowds adulating him and waiting on his last words of wisdom by which to live. His was a death on a cross -- crucifixion, the most painful and humbling demise, surrounded by thieves and murderers and a jeering mob.
The most significant noun in this passage, doulov (slave), is the word that connects heaven and earth in Jesus. He is a slave, a servant -- not having the advantage of rank (emptying) but having the status of those poor old pensioners and potato diggers (humbling), who were often the subjects of nineteenth century impressionist artists. As the architect of servanthood, Jesus models the life in which Christians "do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3). The servant really has nothing with which to commend himself or herself to someone other than the service being provided. The service that Jesus provides us is his battle with sin and death on our behalf. When the service is actually "unto death" (2:8), then the aspect of self-sacrifice adds a vital dynamic to the nature of the doulov, who is Jesus. Isaiah 53 describes all this under the image of the suffering servant, whom Jesus embodies with striking fulfillment of detail.
In return for his self-giving, self-denying, and self-sacrificing, he is "highly exalted" (2:9). The words of Mary's Magnificat come to mind, where God exalts those of low degree (Luke 1:52). Jesus' name reigns supreme, every knee bowing to him for what he has accomplished in the way in which he accomplished it, every tongue confessing that he is indeed Lord. The Father is glorified through him. The angels, humanity, and the dead (and demons?) will all have to acknowledge the truth that has been made known through Jesus.
In this "kenosis hymn," Christmas and Holy Week come together. The incarnation and the passion are one in the same story of God's great love for the world. Through this Christ-event, God has revealed himself in a most particular way at a specific time in the course of human history. As we experience Jesus, we discover the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. The mystery of the Trinity touches our lives with a revealing light.
Luke 22:14--23:56 (or Luke 23:1-49)
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a story is worth a thousand truths. In the passion narrative, we have pictured before us the truth of God's extensive love -- self-initiating and self-fulfilling -- for all the world. It is a love to be experienced; it is a love worth knowing. It is a love to be lived in for a thousand lifetimes.
The passion narrative for this day begins with the Passover meal, which is rooted in animal sacrifice and which climaxes in human sacrifice. This may prick our sensitivities; too bad! This is the way it is. Israel gained its freedom from Egyptian bondage with the death of a lamb in a Hebrew house and the death of the firstborn child in an Egyptian house. Blood was poured out, so that new life may emerge.
When Jesus announces at the meal that he will "not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes" (22:18), he is in effect saying that everything from now on is to be understood as the coming of the kingdom. He transforms the meal into the symbol and sacrament of his passion, which will soon reach its climactic moment on the coming weekend. The disciples do not fully realize it yet, but the kingdom is about to be revealed before their very eyes on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning!
Because of their lack of understanding, they quarrel among themselves about greatness. Jesus intervenes with instruction on servant leadership. He then authorizes their apostolic authority over the new Israel, the church. He even gives Peter an encouraging word with which to deal with his forthcoming denial; Jesus hands to Peter the responsibility to "strengthen your brethren" (22:32) when all these passion events have come to pass.
In an exchange reminiscent of his comment about tying a millstone around the neck of anyone who causes another to sin (Mark 9:42), Jesus warns about the changing times in which it will become more difficult for the disciples to survive: "You're going to need money and luggage and probably a sword to get by now; the going is only going to get tougher!" Of course, Jesus is not advocating literally that the disciples begin to accumulate material goods for themselves and arm themselves for what is about to happen. When two swords are presented to Jesus, he in effect says, "I've said enough. I didn't mean it that way. Listen to what I am meaning, not what I am saying."
In Gethsemane Jesus simply prays once for only the Father's will to be done, in contrast to Mark's and Matthew's accounts which include three exchanges. He is willing to set aside his own needs and desires, again emptying himself from all claim to privilege or special consideration. He is obedient to the Father's command, like Isaiah was in times before. At the moment of betrayal, when it seems appropriate for one of the disciples to take Jesus literally about the issue of swords, Jesus excoriates the disciples and heals the lopped off ear, illustrating what he meant to be saying moments before. Perhaps doubly armed with two swords meant to be doubly prepared and strengthened to deal with the adversity that would surely befall those who followed him. Isaiah had a sense of this and he held his course. "I turned not backward" (Isaiah 50:5).
Jesus himself would now enter into the long, dark night of denial, abuse, and mocking. The failure of religious and political leadership would become evident, as those in power and "in the know" lacked the wisdom to perceive the very coming of the kingdom of God before their eyes. Exhausted now, Jesus would be led out to crucifixion with not enough strength to carry his own cross (the custom of the day); a stranger was pulled from the crowd to do that for him. On the way to Calvary, Jesus provides a pastoral word to the women who were weeping due to his suffering; he forewarns them of the suffering they will be facing and that they should prepare themselves.
From the cross in the agony of dying, Jesus yet speaks words that cut through the tragedy of the day to reveal the triumph of what was really happening. He offers forgiveness to those who were executing him. He then offers a merciful word of hope to the penitent thief. How ironic, that from among his own disciples, Peter namely, he received a statement of denial, while from a nameless convicted thief he received acknowledgment as to who he was.
Luke's account of the death of Jesus accents his surrender into the hands of God. He speaks one word earthward -- expressing his servant leadership by welcoming the thief into the kingdom. He speaks the other word heavenward -- committing himself obediently to the will of God. He had let the Father's hands mold him in life; he will let the Father's hands have him in death. Paul's characterization of Jesus in Philippians is accurate, reflecting these emptying and humbling aspects of Jesus' passion, which so persuasively convince us of a God who is not only with us, but also for us with power actually to deliver us from evil in his own wonderful way.
Application
It would not be hard to make the case that the world is weary with sin and beaten down with the burdens of life. The incidence of teen suicide is perhaps the most striking corroborative witness. Pastors and parishioners have the joy and responsibility to "sustain ... with a word [the] weary" (Isaiah 50:4). The word is not a humanly contrived one, like "Don't worry, be happy!" or "Buck up!" or "It's not as bad as it could be." The word is one that is given to us from God himself. In a name, the word is Jesus. He was acquainted with the smiters and the spitters. From the depths of human suffering, where we often feel alone, he shows us how to handle any situation by entrusting ourselves into the hands of God. There can be confidence in any circumstance, "for the Lord God helps me" (Isaiah 50:7).
Regarding the issue of sin specifically, we hear a resounding word from God that addresses our guilt. A new covenant is announced, given in the shedding of blood by which the judgment of God passes over us and sets us free. Jesus' blood poured out for us cleanses us from our sin and allows us to stand before God as forgiven. This is so, because he was the spotless lamb (Exodus 12:5) whose blood was shed to set us free from the consequences of sin (death, Romans 6:23). He was truly innocent despite the charges raised against him, so that he could declare us innocent in spite of the true charges that are raised against us.
Jesus has given us a new paradigm by which to live out our lives in faithful response to his life for us. As God was revealed in terms of self-giving, self-denying, self-sacrificing, so too are we to model our lives in these ways worthy of this gospel. Discipleship is measured by emptying and humbling, as each Christian in turn becomes a doulov of God. This is a more dynamic way in which to conceive not only of God (viz. the omnis of God: omniscient, omni-present, omnipotent), but also of the nature of the Christian life. It certainly helps us to redefine what is honorable and authoritative for the world today. Our experience with Jesus helps us not only to know God, but also ourselves and who God is calling us to be.
Until Easter comes -- and it is surely coming -- we are left under the power of darkness in this pericope. Three times Peter denied his Lord under the power of fear. Three times the crowd cried for Barabbas rather than Jesus under the power of misguided passion. Three times the authorities (Jewish religious, Jewish political, Roman political) succumbed to the ignorance of human knowledge rather than yielding to spiritual wisdom from above. Yet, the Temple curtain was torn in two: Is God breaking out of the confines of what we have come to expect? Yet, a pagan centurion affirms the innocence of Jesus: What new certainties will be discerned after this? Yet, the crowds show signs of repentance and the followers of Jesus obey the commandment: How will God respond to all that is happening on this dark, bad Friday?
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 50:4-9a
This passage, which properly extends through verse 11, forms the third of the four passages in the prophecies of Second Isaiah (chs. 40-55) that are known as the Servant Songs. (The other three are 42:1-4; 49:1-6; and 52:13--53:12). As such they are addressed to the Israelite exiles in Babylonia sometime between 550 and 538 B.C. Multiple scholarly articles and books have been written concerning the identity of the servant, who is always spoken of as an individual. Given the Lord's frequent reference in Second Isaiah to Israel as his "servant" (singular), however (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1; 44:21; 49:3 et al.), the conclusion of many scholars is that the Servant Songs portray an ideal Israel, Israel as God calls her to be, Israel as God will make her to be in his plan for the world. The prophet sets forth in these Servant Songs the role of service and suffering to which the Lord calls his people for the sake of humanity. And the fact that in the New Testament, these Songs are applied to Jesus, who takes over the role of Israel, confirms such an interpretation of the Songs.
That this particular passage portrays the role of an obedient servant of God means not only that this is the role to which Israel is called, but also that it is the role to which the prophet Second Isaiah himself is called. As such, the Song illumines important aspects of the prophetic profession.
First, the Song is revelatory of the prophet's source of inspiration. We modern day interpreters of the Bible often get the idea that the prophets were men and women just like us, but that they had extraordinary conscience and discernment into situations of their own time. They were especially bothered by the injustices and idolatry of their people, goes the thought. Therefore, they became social reformers to recall their people to faithful lives. Or some persons believe that the prophets were astute observers of the national and international scenes, reading "the signs of the times" and offering religious remedies for Israel's political blunders. In all cases, is the thought, the prophets brought forth their words out of their own observations and convictions.
This passage in Isaiah 50 contradicts such understandings of the prophetic role. Second Isaiah tells us here that none of his words originated with him. Rather, they were all given him from outside of himself, from God, just as Jeremiah and Ezekiel tell us the same (cf. Jeremiah 15:16; Ezekiel 2:9 -- 3:3). Second Isaiah says that he is merely a pupil who repeats what his instructor God has spoken to him. Every morning the Lord opens Second Isaiah's ears to hear the Word of the Lord, and that word, then, is what the prophet speaks. Prophetic words, therefore, have not human origin, but divine revelation, and the faithful servant of God is one who speaks God's words and not his own -- a lesson for all who communicate the Christian faith to others and a lesson that makes the biblical revelation absolutely indispensable for truth.
Because the faithful servant of God is but a pupil taught by his Master Lord, he or she speaks with an authority not given to human opinions or self-constructed positions -- as the persons around Jesus remarked of his teaching (Mark 1:22). But of course the Word of God often challenges, calls into question, or contradicts the ways and words of human beings (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9), and that often brings with it suffering for the bearer of the Word. It brought suffering and finally a cross to our Lord Jesus, and it brought suffering to his followers after him and to all of his prophets before him. Our passage tells us that despite the soaring joy that we hear in the words of Second Isaiah, he also experienced much suffering in his ministry. He was beaten, as the Apostle Paul was beaten (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:23-24), he bore scorn and humiliation, as did our Lord (Mark 15:16-20). He had his beard pulled and his face wet with spit. And yet he bore such persecution steadfastly in the knowledge that he would emerge from his tribulations justified and vindicated in all he said and did, just as our Lord steadfastly went to the cross in the certainty that God would vindicate him.
Whence came that certainty? What caused our prophet to set his "face like a flint" and to pursue his prophetic calling, no matter what it cost him, so that his words are now preserved for us across 25 centuries to comfort and to save us? What prompted the Apostle Paul to traverse the Mediterranean world, despite dangers on land and sea from both the Jews and the Gentiles in every place, so that now you and I can read his letters full of the revelation of the living God? What determined our Lord Jesus also to set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) though he knew very well the suffering and death that lay ahead of him, so that now every one of us can have forgiveness and a new life in his name? What causes human beings to be faithful servants of their Lord, no matter what it costs them? It does not seem like an especially attractive calling, does it? Especially in this comfortable society of ours where money, status, self-esteem, and good sex seem the most important goals to strive after. Servanthood -- faithful servanthood -- is not at the top of our agenda.
Could it be, good Christians, that all else fades in importance when we know a vital and intimate relationship with our God? Could it be that in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ we find a love so unconditional, a mercy so forgiving, a wisdom so profound, a sustenance so comforting, a joy so overwhelming, a peace so satisfying, a future so certain, that we are willing to suffer anything and to work without ceasing to live daily with such a God? Could it be that God is enjoyable, friends -- a delight -- the Source of all true satisfaction and happiness? The servant, who came before us, called Martin Luther thought so. And so he penned the words of triumph that we sing: "Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill; God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever." The Apostle Paul thought that way: "I count everything as loss," he wrote the Corinthians, "because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). Our great church father, Augustine, joined in the thought: "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless 'til they rest in Thee." And certainly, as we enter this Passion Week, our Lord Jesus, going steadfastly to the cross, shows us by his example that the only life worth living -- and dying for -- is that of a life of servanthood -- faithful servanthood -- to our heavenly Father.
We have always talked in our Christian faith of being servants to the Lord, servants as our prophet, Second Isaiah, was a servant, and as he called his people Israel to be a servant. I have the sneaking suspicion that on this Sunday that is the call from Second Isaiah to us too.
The Bible tells us that wisdom is primarily about God and God's activities/ways in the world. One is wise when one can discern and even articulate the presence of God in human affairs. Moreover, the Bible tells us that wisdom, this insight concerning God, is actually a gift from God in the first place. Ultimately, this wisdom regarding God is revealed by God himself in Jesus Christ. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, "But we preach Christ crucified ... the wisdom of God." The gospel is not some esoteric knowledge that can be gleaned and passed down by storytelling, reading, and memorization. The gospel is the personal encounter with Jesus, crucified and risen, Lord of Life and Savior from sin and death.
In the events of Holy Week, we have the opportunity to encounter the Lord Jesus as he comes striding into our lives through his Word. Wisdom will lay hold of him, not with the fury of those who sought to arrest and crucify him, but with the passion of those who found that in following him they had discovered "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Words are powerful and can shape reality. Carefully chosen and timely shared, words add a depth to experience that the painter's brush and the sculptor's chisel envy.
Isaiah has choice words for the people of God, given at a time when they needed to hear God's great plans for them. That is the role of a prophet. "The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him that is weary" (50:4). The weariness comes from seventy years in exile. The judgment of God has been clear. In metaphors of divorce and creditors (Isaiah 50:1), Isaiah describes how God has dealt with Israel. She has been put away from God, symbolized by separating the people from the land given to Abraham and his descendants. Sin drives distance between the creature and the Creator. Not only is paradise lost, but also the promised land. The Lover and the beloved can no longer share the same sky. There is a darkness that covers the land, like sackcloth covers the head of those who mourn. In the Hebrew poetic tradition of saying the same thing twice, this time with the image of creditors settling a debt, Isaiah describes the plight of the people being sold to cover what they owe to the Lord. There are consequences to disobedience.
This having been said, the people duly reminded, Isaiah says that his purpose is primarily pastoral. His words are intended to sustain the weary, not drive them deeper into a hole in the ground. In words which are beyond the boundaries of this particular pericope, Isaiah will go on to articulate the hope that Israel can have. The suffering servant will embody it and the people will live it out in the time ahead as God restores his people to the covenant (marriage) and forgives their debt. "Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?" God asks of the people as a hint of what is yet to come.
The words with which Isaiah speaks are not his own, in the sense that he made up the message that he thought the people needed to hear. He spoke words that were given by God. Isaiah admits to being taught. Unlike Israel's rebellion when the Lord sought to teach her his ways (for example, at Mount Sinai), Isaiah exemplifies how to respond appropriately to the Lord: "I was not rebellious" (50:5).
This is the first and most important response to make when God calls his people to do his bidding. Obedience! Even if there are negative consequences to that response, which there apparently were for Isaiah! He describes how he was whipped, tormented, and spit upon. This certainly is no way for one of God's messengers to be treated, but it is reality none the less. Isaiah's comfort is that God will indeed help him -- and in such a way that not only is he strengthened to face his adversary, but also equipped to "sustain with a word him that is weary" (50:1).
In what appears to be autobiographical references, it is rather stunning to notice the similarities between Isaiah's personal experience and the experience of Jesus. Jesus' mistreatment at the hands of the Romans (Luke 22:63-65) is tailor-made from Isaiah. Despite knowing that this would be his fate if he held to the Father's purposes for him, Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), much like Isaiah "set [his] face like a flint" (50:7) to endure his hardships, both confident in the final vindication from God. Isaiah will go on in chapter 53 to express rather graphically what the "suffering servant," who is God's elect, will be like. For now, Isaiah himself exemplifies some of the suffering that is inevitable for the person who will be awakened and taught by the Lord.
Philippians 2:5-11
In appreciation for the Philippian congregation (viz. the discordant Corinthian congregation about which we have been hearing so much in past weeks), Paul encourages their life together "by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord" (Philippians 2:2). He describes essential Christian characters of humility and service and then launches into a parenthetical thought that has become a platform from which to understand Christological aspects of the mystery of the Trinity.
There are two key verbs Paul uses that describe the activity of Christ in heaven and on earth. They are kenaw (to make empty) and tapeinaw (to make low, humble). In heaven, Christ emptied himself of divine privilege. He set aside whatever claims were rightfully his for the sake of his beloved. This was an act of self-giving and self-denying. He gave himself fully to the beloved out of an unparalleled love. This was a unilateral movement within the very heart of God, unsolicited and unmerited by humanity. In this self-giving, he denied himself the advantage of divinity in terms of splendor and power. He emptied himself of this advantage to identify truly with the beloved. Søren Kierkegaard's profound analogy in Philosophical Fragments about a king who loved a maiden illustrates this well for the imagination of faith.
On earth, Christ humbled himself. This was demonstrated most pointedly in his obedience unto death. Not just any death! There was no observable nobility in his suffering and death at the hands of a Roman prefect. No glory as in battle, defending the mother land or the poor against the ravages of a despot. No honor after living a long and productive life, with crowds adulating him and waiting on his last words of wisdom by which to live. His was a death on a cross -- crucifixion, the most painful and humbling demise, surrounded by thieves and murderers and a jeering mob.
The most significant noun in this passage, doulov (slave), is the word that connects heaven and earth in Jesus. He is a slave, a servant -- not having the advantage of rank (emptying) but having the status of those poor old pensioners and potato diggers (humbling), who were often the subjects of nineteenth century impressionist artists. As the architect of servanthood, Jesus models the life in which Christians "do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3). The servant really has nothing with which to commend himself or herself to someone other than the service being provided. The service that Jesus provides us is his battle with sin and death on our behalf. When the service is actually "unto death" (2:8), then the aspect of self-sacrifice adds a vital dynamic to the nature of the doulov, who is Jesus. Isaiah 53 describes all this under the image of the suffering servant, whom Jesus embodies with striking fulfillment of detail.
In return for his self-giving, self-denying, and self-sacrificing, he is "highly exalted" (2:9). The words of Mary's Magnificat come to mind, where God exalts those of low degree (Luke 1:52). Jesus' name reigns supreme, every knee bowing to him for what he has accomplished in the way in which he accomplished it, every tongue confessing that he is indeed Lord. The Father is glorified through him. The angels, humanity, and the dead (and demons?) will all have to acknowledge the truth that has been made known through Jesus.
In this "kenosis hymn," Christmas and Holy Week come together. The incarnation and the passion are one in the same story of God's great love for the world. Through this Christ-event, God has revealed himself in a most particular way at a specific time in the course of human history. As we experience Jesus, we discover the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. The mystery of the Trinity touches our lives with a revealing light.
Luke 22:14--23:56 (or Luke 23:1-49)
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a story is worth a thousand truths. In the passion narrative, we have pictured before us the truth of God's extensive love -- self-initiating and self-fulfilling -- for all the world. It is a love to be experienced; it is a love worth knowing. It is a love to be lived in for a thousand lifetimes.
The passion narrative for this day begins with the Passover meal, which is rooted in animal sacrifice and which climaxes in human sacrifice. This may prick our sensitivities; too bad! This is the way it is. Israel gained its freedom from Egyptian bondage with the death of a lamb in a Hebrew house and the death of the firstborn child in an Egyptian house. Blood was poured out, so that new life may emerge.
When Jesus announces at the meal that he will "not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes" (22:18), he is in effect saying that everything from now on is to be understood as the coming of the kingdom. He transforms the meal into the symbol and sacrament of his passion, which will soon reach its climactic moment on the coming weekend. The disciples do not fully realize it yet, but the kingdom is about to be revealed before their very eyes on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning!
Because of their lack of understanding, they quarrel among themselves about greatness. Jesus intervenes with instruction on servant leadership. He then authorizes their apostolic authority over the new Israel, the church. He even gives Peter an encouraging word with which to deal with his forthcoming denial; Jesus hands to Peter the responsibility to "strengthen your brethren" (22:32) when all these passion events have come to pass.
In an exchange reminiscent of his comment about tying a millstone around the neck of anyone who causes another to sin (Mark 9:42), Jesus warns about the changing times in which it will become more difficult for the disciples to survive: "You're going to need money and luggage and probably a sword to get by now; the going is only going to get tougher!" Of course, Jesus is not advocating literally that the disciples begin to accumulate material goods for themselves and arm themselves for what is about to happen. When two swords are presented to Jesus, he in effect says, "I've said enough. I didn't mean it that way. Listen to what I am meaning, not what I am saying."
In Gethsemane Jesus simply prays once for only the Father's will to be done, in contrast to Mark's and Matthew's accounts which include three exchanges. He is willing to set aside his own needs and desires, again emptying himself from all claim to privilege or special consideration. He is obedient to the Father's command, like Isaiah was in times before. At the moment of betrayal, when it seems appropriate for one of the disciples to take Jesus literally about the issue of swords, Jesus excoriates the disciples and heals the lopped off ear, illustrating what he meant to be saying moments before. Perhaps doubly armed with two swords meant to be doubly prepared and strengthened to deal with the adversity that would surely befall those who followed him. Isaiah had a sense of this and he held his course. "I turned not backward" (Isaiah 50:5).
Jesus himself would now enter into the long, dark night of denial, abuse, and mocking. The failure of religious and political leadership would become evident, as those in power and "in the know" lacked the wisdom to perceive the very coming of the kingdom of God before their eyes. Exhausted now, Jesus would be led out to crucifixion with not enough strength to carry his own cross (the custom of the day); a stranger was pulled from the crowd to do that for him. On the way to Calvary, Jesus provides a pastoral word to the women who were weeping due to his suffering; he forewarns them of the suffering they will be facing and that they should prepare themselves.
From the cross in the agony of dying, Jesus yet speaks words that cut through the tragedy of the day to reveal the triumph of what was really happening. He offers forgiveness to those who were executing him. He then offers a merciful word of hope to the penitent thief. How ironic, that from among his own disciples, Peter namely, he received a statement of denial, while from a nameless convicted thief he received acknowledgment as to who he was.
Luke's account of the death of Jesus accents his surrender into the hands of God. He speaks one word earthward -- expressing his servant leadership by welcoming the thief into the kingdom. He speaks the other word heavenward -- committing himself obediently to the will of God. He had let the Father's hands mold him in life; he will let the Father's hands have him in death. Paul's characterization of Jesus in Philippians is accurate, reflecting these emptying and humbling aspects of Jesus' passion, which so persuasively convince us of a God who is not only with us, but also for us with power actually to deliver us from evil in his own wonderful way.
Application
It would not be hard to make the case that the world is weary with sin and beaten down with the burdens of life. The incidence of teen suicide is perhaps the most striking corroborative witness. Pastors and parishioners have the joy and responsibility to "sustain ... with a word [the] weary" (Isaiah 50:4). The word is not a humanly contrived one, like "Don't worry, be happy!" or "Buck up!" or "It's not as bad as it could be." The word is one that is given to us from God himself. In a name, the word is Jesus. He was acquainted with the smiters and the spitters. From the depths of human suffering, where we often feel alone, he shows us how to handle any situation by entrusting ourselves into the hands of God. There can be confidence in any circumstance, "for the Lord God helps me" (Isaiah 50:7).
Regarding the issue of sin specifically, we hear a resounding word from God that addresses our guilt. A new covenant is announced, given in the shedding of blood by which the judgment of God passes over us and sets us free. Jesus' blood poured out for us cleanses us from our sin and allows us to stand before God as forgiven. This is so, because he was the spotless lamb (Exodus 12:5) whose blood was shed to set us free from the consequences of sin (death, Romans 6:23). He was truly innocent despite the charges raised against him, so that he could declare us innocent in spite of the true charges that are raised against us.
Jesus has given us a new paradigm by which to live out our lives in faithful response to his life for us. As God was revealed in terms of self-giving, self-denying, self-sacrificing, so too are we to model our lives in these ways worthy of this gospel. Discipleship is measured by emptying and humbling, as each Christian in turn becomes a doulov of God. This is a more dynamic way in which to conceive not only of God (viz. the omnis of God: omniscient, omni-present, omnipotent), but also of the nature of the Christian life. It certainly helps us to redefine what is honorable and authoritative for the world today. Our experience with Jesus helps us not only to know God, but also ourselves and who God is calling us to be.
Until Easter comes -- and it is surely coming -- we are left under the power of darkness in this pericope. Three times Peter denied his Lord under the power of fear. Three times the crowd cried for Barabbas rather than Jesus under the power of misguided passion. Three times the authorities (Jewish religious, Jewish political, Roman political) succumbed to the ignorance of human knowledge rather than yielding to spiritual wisdom from above. Yet, the Temple curtain was torn in two: Is God breaking out of the confines of what we have come to expect? Yet, a pagan centurion affirms the innocence of Jesus: What new certainties will be discerned after this? Yet, the crowds show signs of repentance and the followers of Jesus obey the commandment: How will God respond to all that is happening on this dark, bad Friday?
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 50:4-9a
This passage, which properly extends through verse 11, forms the third of the four passages in the prophecies of Second Isaiah (chs. 40-55) that are known as the Servant Songs. (The other three are 42:1-4; 49:1-6; and 52:13--53:12). As such they are addressed to the Israelite exiles in Babylonia sometime between 550 and 538 B.C. Multiple scholarly articles and books have been written concerning the identity of the servant, who is always spoken of as an individual. Given the Lord's frequent reference in Second Isaiah to Israel as his "servant" (singular), however (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1; 44:21; 49:3 et al.), the conclusion of many scholars is that the Servant Songs portray an ideal Israel, Israel as God calls her to be, Israel as God will make her to be in his plan for the world. The prophet sets forth in these Servant Songs the role of service and suffering to which the Lord calls his people for the sake of humanity. And the fact that in the New Testament, these Songs are applied to Jesus, who takes over the role of Israel, confirms such an interpretation of the Songs.
That this particular passage portrays the role of an obedient servant of God means not only that this is the role to which Israel is called, but also that it is the role to which the prophet Second Isaiah himself is called. As such, the Song illumines important aspects of the prophetic profession.
First, the Song is revelatory of the prophet's source of inspiration. We modern day interpreters of the Bible often get the idea that the prophets were men and women just like us, but that they had extraordinary conscience and discernment into situations of their own time. They were especially bothered by the injustices and idolatry of their people, goes the thought. Therefore, they became social reformers to recall their people to faithful lives. Or some persons believe that the prophets were astute observers of the national and international scenes, reading "the signs of the times" and offering religious remedies for Israel's political blunders. In all cases, is the thought, the prophets brought forth their words out of their own observations and convictions.
This passage in Isaiah 50 contradicts such understandings of the prophetic role. Second Isaiah tells us here that none of his words originated with him. Rather, they were all given him from outside of himself, from God, just as Jeremiah and Ezekiel tell us the same (cf. Jeremiah 15:16; Ezekiel 2:9 -- 3:3). Second Isaiah says that he is merely a pupil who repeats what his instructor God has spoken to him. Every morning the Lord opens Second Isaiah's ears to hear the Word of the Lord, and that word, then, is what the prophet speaks. Prophetic words, therefore, have not human origin, but divine revelation, and the faithful servant of God is one who speaks God's words and not his own -- a lesson for all who communicate the Christian faith to others and a lesson that makes the biblical revelation absolutely indispensable for truth.
Because the faithful servant of God is but a pupil taught by his Master Lord, he or she speaks with an authority not given to human opinions or self-constructed positions -- as the persons around Jesus remarked of his teaching (Mark 1:22). But of course the Word of God often challenges, calls into question, or contradicts the ways and words of human beings (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9), and that often brings with it suffering for the bearer of the Word. It brought suffering and finally a cross to our Lord Jesus, and it brought suffering to his followers after him and to all of his prophets before him. Our passage tells us that despite the soaring joy that we hear in the words of Second Isaiah, he also experienced much suffering in his ministry. He was beaten, as the Apostle Paul was beaten (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:23-24), he bore scorn and humiliation, as did our Lord (Mark 15:16-20). He had his beard pulled and his face wet with spit. And yet he bore such persecution steadfastly in the knowledge that he would emerge from his tribulations justified and vindicated in all he said and did, just as our Lord steadfastly went to the cross in the certainty that God would vindicate him.
Whence came that certainty? What caused our prophet to set his "face like a flint" and to pursue his prophetic calling, no matter what it cost him, so that his words are now preserved for us across 25 centuries to comfort and to save us? What prompted the Apostle Paul to traverse the Mediterranean world, despite dangers on land and sea from both the Jews and the Gentiles in every place, so that now you and I can read his letters full of the revelation of the living God? What determined our Lord Jesus also to set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) though he knew very well the suffering and death that lay ahead of him, so that now every one of us can have forgiveness and a new life in his name? What causes human beings to be faithful servants of their Lord, no matter what it costs them? It does not seem like an especially attractive calling, does it? Especially in this comfortable society of ours where money, status, self-esteem, and good sex seem the most important goals to strive after. Servanthood -- faithful servanthood -- is not at the top of our agenda.
Could it be, good Christians, that all else fades in importance when we know a vital and intimate relationship with our God? Could it be that in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ we find a love so unconditional, a mercy so forgiving, a wisdom so profound, a sustenance so comforting, a joy so overwhelming, a peace so satisfying, a future so certain, that we are willing to suffer anything and to work without ceasing to live daily with such a God? Could it be that God is enjoyable, friends -- a delight -- the Source of all true satisfaction and happiness? The servant, who came before us, called Martin Luther thought so. And so he penned the words of triumph that we sing: "Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill; God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever." The Apostle Paul thought that way: "I count everything as loss," he wrote the Corinthians, "because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). Our great church father, Augustine, joined in the thought: "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless 'til they rest in Thee." And certainly, as we enter this Passion Week, our Lord Jesus, going steadfastly to the cross, shows us by his example that the only life worth living -- and dying for -- is that of a life of servanthood -- faithful servanthood -- to our heavenly Father.
We have always talked in our Christian faith of being servants to the Lord, servants as our prophet, Second Isaiah, was a servant, and as he called his people Israel to be a servant. I have the sneaking suspicion that on this Sunday that is the call from Second Isaiah to us too.
