The servant king
Commentary
Perhaps we lose the punch of the imagery of "servant" in the Bible when we in our day view on cable television a movie like Remains of the Day. Watching the ever meticulous and loyal Anthony Hopkins prepare a table for dinner in a British palatial estate enables us to see what the ideal servant should do, how he should dress and act and talk, and how he should close his ears to whatever conversation takes place between host and guest.
Yet the image of servant we glean from our three lessons is a far cry from such elegance and splendor. Following the progression of thought from the first lesson through the second and into the gospel will lead us to think of "slave" rather than "servant," and then to marvel that in the midst of such brutality to a slave we can see the hand of God working for the good of all humanity.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
This third of the Servant Songs of Second Isaiah is like the second at 49:1-6 in its first person reporting. The servant is the speaker, whereas in the first and fourth songs (42:1-4; 52:13--53:12) the speaker is the Lord. In the second song the servant spoke of his calling while still in the womb to be the Lord's servant, and the servant's response that though he has been laboring in vain, his fate is entrusted to the Lord.
Our song begins with the servant's acknowledgement that the Lord has equipped him with "the tongue of a teacher that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word." The Hebrew reads literally "the tongue of those who are taught," but in either case we seem to have evidence that the servant has been brought up in the wisdom tradition and has the skill to use words to comfort the weary. Such a skill would undoubtedly have been in demand during the exile in Babylon where the people were distraught and without hope (see our discussion last week of Ezekiel 37:11).
The servant goes on to indicate that his daily task is to listen as though he were a pupil, and the Lord made such ongoing learning possible because "the Lord has opened my ear." Apparently what he learned was non-violence, for he was "not rebellious," he turned his back to those who struck him, and turned his cheeks to those who pulled out his beard. Such pulling out of hair, along with beating and cursing, was an act of violence Nehemiah prided himself in as he attempted to purify the post-exilic community of Israel (Nehemiah 13:25). The submission of our servant to such brutality here is possibly the background for Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount regarding turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:39). This willing acceptance of suffering will pave the way for the fourth servant song in chapters 52-53.
What enables the servant to bear such violence is his conviction that "the Lord God helps me." This confidence assures him that he will "not be put to shame." In the wisdom of Psalm 119 that assurance is based on the psalmist/teacher's steadfast keeping of the Lord's commandments (v. 6). Here such confidence is not in keeping the laws but in the Lord's presence to help. In that sense the expression, "I shall not be put to shame," is more akin to the repeated petition in Psalm 25 (vv. 2, 3, and 20) in the sense that trust in the Lord as one's refuge in the midst of danger prevents shame.
Furthermore, the servant's rhetorical question, "Who will contend with me?" when "it is the Lord God who helps me" sounds as though he is reciting Psalm 118:6-7a: "With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me? The Lord is on my side to help me."
The third song of the servant provides us an example of the power of faithful confidence in the Lord which can strengthen a person of peace even though violence surrounds the believer. While this passage is not a prediction of Jesus' passion, it certainly expresses the kind of trust with which Jesus faced his sufferings and his tormentors.
Philippians 2:5-11
Our pericope is essentially an early hymn which the apostle Paul inserted into his letter in order to illustrate the kind of humility he sought among the Christian community. In the verses immediately prior to our assigned lesson, Paul asked the Philippians to make his joy complete by being "of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." The mind that Paul had in mind was nothing less than the mind of Christ Jesus. Then follows the hymn.
The hymn consists of two stanzas. The first, verses 6-8, describes Jesus' willing humiliation. He was not desirous of exploiting his equality with God as though to come into the world with a grand power play. Instead, he emptied himself (kenosis) of his prestigious position in order to take "the form of a slave, being born in human likeness." Imagine the transition from heavenly glory to that of slavery! The words "born in human likeness" in connection with "slave" are startling when we compare them with the message of Genesis 1. There God created human beings "in the image of God, according to his likeness." Now, however, the one who was in the form of God was "born in the likeness of humans." Paul himself does not make a great deal out of the incarnation as John's Gospel does. Paul usually sticks to the crucifixion and resurrection themes. But the hymn he is quoting here serves his purposes perfectly: here is humility par excellence. In this human form Jesus humbled himself by coming "not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). Finally, in this human form he even "became obedient to the point of death," and Paul probably adds to the hymn "even death on a cross."
Stanza two moves from the humiliation to exaltation. Indeed it is precisely his humiliation that leads to the exaltation: "therefore" is the beginning of the stanza. This exaltation means that God has given him the name above all other names, and that name will be cited in the final verse: Lord. It is the name by which the God of Israel was known in the Old Testament, the name now transferred to Jesus.
At the name of Jesus every being in the three-storied universe shall bow down: heaven, earth, under the earth. Interestingly, the action throughout the two stanzas conveyed that same universal scope. The heavenly realm was where Jesus began "in the form of God." His birth as a human being brought him down to earth. His death took him into the netherworld, the place of the dead. Having visited all three realms, Jesus is confessed as Lord in all three. Before him people bow the knee, just as the Lord God called upon all the ends of the earth to turn to him and be saved: "To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isaiah 45:22-23). Now all that adoration goes to Jesus, every tongue confessing "that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
The ultimate surprise of the whole hymn is that the entire humiliation and exaltation of Jesus and the resultant confession about his lordship is to the glory of God. Perhaps the words are sufficient to warn us against thinking that the ultimate purpose of his death, resurrection, and exaltation is our salvation. Au contraire. It seems as though our salvation is not the end but the means to the end, and that end is the universal glorification of God.
Matthew 26:14--27:66
The long lesson contains many gems that dry out for comment, to say nothing of meditation and wonder. Perhaps we can capture some of the power of the passage by focusing our attention on the following questions: What did others say about him? Which scriptures are cited to explain the events? How did Jesus respond to it all?
What did others say about him? Before Caiaphas the high priest two witnesses came forward and testified that Jesus bragged, "I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days" (26:61). The same charge was repeated at the foot of the cross (27:40). In Matthew's Gospel Jesus did not even come close to making that statement. At 24:2 Jesus talked about the destruction of the Temple when the disciples were impressed with all the huge embossed Herodian stones from which the Temple was constructed. Jesus' words are taken to be prophetic because the Temple was indeed destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70, an act that occurred prior to the writing of this Gospel. At John 2:19, after cleansing the Temple, Jesus challenged the Jews to destroy the Temple and he would build it up in three days. Now even though John tells the readers Jesus was speaking of his body, it is clear that Jesus said nothing about his destroying the building. Clearly the testimony about what Jesus said is false. Jesus is clearly innocent of the charge.
It is precisely the innocence of Jesus to which the author returns when he puts into the mouth of Pilate's wife the instruction to her husband, "Have nothing to do with that innocent man...." Pilate himself, realizing the trumped-up charges against Jesus, symbolically washed his hands before the crowd as he said, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves" (27:24). And finally, to return to the centurion's confession, his words indicate that Jesus possessed the identity for which he was being mocked, and that he was therefore innocent of the charges.
That Matthew follows Mark in reporting the confession of the centurion carries a particular meaning in this Gospel. Although Jesus is firmly part of the Davidic family tree, it is Matthew alone who reports the visit of the wise men of the east who come to adore the infant Jesus (2:1ff.). They represent the Gentile world and expand the audience that recognized the identity of the Christ. Likewise the Roman centurion is part of the Gentile world. His confession at the foot of the cross sounds like the realization of the praise and thanksgiving with which the lament of Psalm 22 concludes: "All the families of the nations shall worship before him."
Which Scriptures are cited to explain the events? The primary passage from the Old Testament is, of course, Psalm 22. Perhaps it was because Jesus uttered the first line of this lament from the cross that the early church picked up more of its pieces to narrate the crucifixion. The mocking, the wagging of heads, the circle of evildoers, the piercing of hands and feet, the dividing of garments, casting lots for the clothing, and the praise of the nations -- all these pieces are contributions of the psalm. As for the offering of vinegar to drink, that expression derives from another lament, Psalm 69:21. Strikingly these two laments -- and almost all others -- end with the announcement of deliverance and the offering of thanksgiving and praise to the God who responded to the cries of abandonment. Any reader of the crucifixion account -- filled as it is with lament expressions -- knows how it will end.
At 26:31 Jesus himself quotes Zechariah 13:7: "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." The quotation is extremely significant because it indicates in no uncertain terms that the death of Jesus is not attributed to the Jews or to the Romans but to God; the speaker of the passage in Zechariah. The second half of the verse becomes a prophetic statement on Jesus' part because it promises the scattering of the disciples when the chips are down. To support the claim that God is behind the crucifixion, Jesus cites twice upon his arrest in Gethsemane that "the scriptures (of the prophets) might be fulfilled" (26:54, 56); he does not indicate, however, which scriptures he has in mind.
At 27:9-10 the Gospel writer cites scripture from "Jeremiah" in order to demonstrate that the use of the thirty pieces of silver to buy the potter's field was foretold in prophecy. Actually the author uses a sleight of hand here. "Thirty pieces of silver" comes from the wages paid to the prophet Zechariah, a sum the prophet cast into the temple treasury (Zechariah 11:12-13). Indeed, Jeremiah buys a "field" -- not in Jerusalem but in Anathoth and not for thirty pieces of silver but for seventeen (Jeremiah 32:6-15). And the only "potter" in Jeremiah's book is the one who owns a wheel and a house but no field (Jeremiah 18:2-3). No matter the accuracy, Matthew apparently felt the need to tie all the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus to Old Testament prophecy. Perhaps his Gospel is not nearly as anti-Semitic as is often supposed, for the prophecies focus on the promises of God as the cause of the death of Jesus.
How did Jesus respond to it all? First, Jesus seemed bent on one expression: "You have said so." He uses the saying three times, and it is indeed somewhat ambiguous. The third time he uses the saying is when Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" (27:11). Does his response mean, "You said it, brother!"? Or does it mean, "You said so; I didn't"? Neither Pilate nor we know what Jesus meant. The second time Jesus utters the expression occurs after the question by Caiaphas, "Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God" (26:63). Again neither Caiaphas nor we know what he meant, but Jesus does immediately proceed to talk about himself as the Son of Man who will be seated at the right hand of Power and come on the clouds of heaven. Perhaps the key to the last two instances is the first one. When Jesus announces at the Last Supper that one of the disciples will betray him, Judas asks, "Is it I, Master?" Jesus' response, "You have said so," means "Yes." Whether or not Matthew has reported this expression with the obvious meaning first so that the reader will know how to interpret the second and third instances is not perfectly clear. However, the reader clearly has an advantage over Caiaphas and Pilate because they knew nothing of the response to Judas.
Apart from these two Greek words translated "You said so," the reader is struck by Jesus' silence. When in the presence of Pilate the chief priests and the elders accused Jesus, "he did not answer" (27:12). When Pilate asked him about the testimony against him, Jesus "gave him no answer" (27:14). Perhaps this simple device of silence is Matthew's way of reminding his readers of the response of the Suffering Servant of Second Isaiah: "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he did not open his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).
The recollection of that song from the prophet would then help the readers to repeat in their minds the rest of the song. Soon they come to the end with the news that "Yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (53:12).
Finally, Jesus' reaction to the entire event is summed up by the thrice-repeated expression in prayer: "Thy will be done" (26:39, 42, 44). The words are not terms of resignation but a recognition that the imminent agony on the cross is the means by which God will achieve the purpose of accomplishing the kingdom that Jesus had preached. His words uttered in the face of his own death are the ones he taught his disciples to pray immediately after they say, "Thy kingdom come" (6:10). Again, Jesus does not attribute his coming death to the Romans or to the Jews. His death is due to God's will, and it is the means by which God's kingdom will dawn upon humankind.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 50:4-9a
As we approach the story of our Lord's suffering during what we call this Holy Week, and especially as we draw near to the remembrance of his crucifixion on Friday, we search the scriptures for clues to the interpretation of his passion -- for guides to understand the deepest meaning of all that Jesus goes through. And surely, few passages in the Old Testament help us more to understand than do the four Servant Songs that are found in what we call the Second Isaiah book.
Most scholars now agree that Isaiah is to be divided into three distinct books, all of which share common motifs and theology, but which were assembled in three different periods in Israel's life: Isaiah chapters 1-39 from about 740 B.C.; Isaiah 40-55 from 550-538 B.C. and addressed to Israel exiled in Babylonia; and Isaiah 56-66 from various times after 538 B.C. to Israelites returned to Jerusalem. Our text for the morning forms the third Servant Song in Second Isaiah, the others being Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-6; and the famous Suffering Servant Song in Isaiah 52:13--53:12, which we will treat in two weeks.
Probably the Servant in this song is to be identified with an idealized Israel of the future (cf. Isaiah 41:8-9; 42:19; 43:10; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20) -- Israel as she is meant to be, Israel as Second Isaiah calls her to be. As that Servant, Israel is called by her God in 50:4-11 to suffer for the sake of all nations -- a call particularly clear in 52:13--53:12 and in the passion of our Lord. But surely, this passage in 50:4-9a also reflects the nature of the office of all true prophets and the nature of Second Isaiah's prophetic ministry itself.
The prophet tells us the source of all true prophecy in the Old Testament. It comes from God. The prophet is like a pupil before a schoolmaster God, and God alone gives him the words he is to speak. Every morning God wakens the prophet's ear and delivers to him the words he is to proclaim (v. 4). Apart from that communication from God, the prophet has nothing to say. Only false prophets give their own opinions or pontificate on the course of events out of their own minds (cf. Jeremiah 23:18-32; Ezekiel 13:6-7). They are like those preachers who preach out of their own thoughts and not out of the Word of God given in the scriptures.
This intimate teaching given by God to his servants shows us that we really cannot understand the prophetic writings except in a similar intimate relation with our God, namely, in day-by-day prayer and meditation with him. True prophecy rises out of the closest fellowship with the Lord, and we can understand it also only in that context.
Our text tells us, however, that the prophet-servant of the Lord is attacked and abused because of the message that he delivers (vv. 5-6). He is whipped, taunted by having his beard pulled out, spit upon, and scorned by his contemporaries. In short, he becomes a laughing-stock, as did the prophet Jeremiah also (Jeremiah 20:1-3). The populace neither believes nor heeds his message. And the servant knows that will be his fate! Yet, he does not shrink from his task, given him by God (v. 5). He sets his face "like a flint" (cf. the Greek of Luke 9:51) to proclaim God's Word and to suffer the consequences.
Whence comes the servant's confidence in the face of calumny? It comes from God, who "helps" him (v. 7). He will finally be shamed in his society only if his prophecy proves untrue. But in his intimate relation to God, he knows that he "shall not be put to shame" (v. 7). God will prove his Word true; God will, by his actions toward Israel, fulfill the words that the prophet-servant speaks. The servant will be shown to be right -- vindicated (v. 8). And of course that demonstration is why we have particular prophecies in the Old Testament -- because they proved true in history and were fulfilled and brought to pass and therefore shown to be the true words of God.
In such confidence, the prophet-servant issues a challenge to his abusers. "Who will contend with me?" he asks (v. 8). That is, who will go to court with me? Let him state his case. Because God, who helps the prophet, will prove him innocent of falsehood, while those who have opposed the prophet will meet their end.
That the portrayal given us in this passage accurately describes what happens to our Lord in the last week of his life cannot be doubted -- although this is not a prediction in the Old Testament of the Christ. Rather, it is a description of the true prophet and servant's role, and Jesus Christ takes upon himself and fulfills the final shape of that role during the week of his passion. Our Lord speaks and does only what he hears from God (cf. John 8:28). He willingly accepts the suffering that comes with that ministry. "Not my will, but thine be done" (Mark 14:36 KJV). He is subjected to scorn and whipping and spitting, like the servant before him (Mark 15:15-20). And finally he is killed for his faithfulness to his God. But God does not desert his servants, not even in death, and so there will come Easter morn when all that Jesus Christ has said and done will be vindicated and proved true. His way will be shown to be the way that leads to eternal life. His will will be shown to be the true will of God.
If we can bring our text down to a personal level for a moment, is this not a message for all of us servants of God, also? It is not easy to be a follower of Jesus Christ in our age and society. There are some in our world who are suffering torture and death for that faithfulness. But even in our country, we may be laughed at, shunned, denied opportunities because of our faith. And we may have to suffer to hold a marriage together, or eschew some material comforts, or stand up to criticism and scorn for our way of life (cf. 1 Peter 4:1-6). After all, our Lord proclaimed that those of us who would be his disciples are required to take up a cross and die to our own wills and desires.
But if this Servant Song and the passion of our Lord teach us nothing else, they witness to the fact that God's way, taught us in the scriptures, is true -- that it is the way that leads to life and to joy eternal. God never deserts his servants. And he will vindicate his own. As Paul writes, "If God is for us, who is against us?" (Romans 8:31). Nothing and no one can defeat us. And in the end, we shall be even more than conquerors through him who loves us (Romans 8:37).
Yet the image of servant we glean from our three lessons is a far cry from such elegance and splendor. Following the progression of thought from the first lesson through the second and into the gospel will lead us to think of "slave" rather than "servant," and then to marvel that in the midst of such brutality to a slave we can see the hand of God working for the good of all humanity.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
This third of the Servant Songs of Second Isaiah is like the second at 49:1-6 in its first person reporting. The servant is the speaker, whereas in the first and fourth songs (42:1-4; 52:13--53:12) the speaker is the Lord. In the second song the servant spoke of his calling while still in the womb to be the Lord's servant, and the servant's response that though he has been laboring in vain, his fate is entrusted to the Lord.
Our song begins with the servant's acknowledgement that the Lord has equipped him with "the tongue of a teacher that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word." The Hebrew reads literally "the tongue of those who are taught," but in either case we seem to have evidence that the servant has been brought up in the wisdom tradition and has the skill to use words to comfort the weary. Such a skill would undoubtedly have been in demand during the exile in Babylon where the people were distraught and without hope (see our discussion last week of Ezekiel 37:11).
The servant goes on to indicate that his daily task is to listen as though he were a pupil, and the Lord made such ongoing learning possible because "the Lord has opened my ear." Apparently what he learned was non-violence, for he was "not rebellious," he turned his back to those who struck him, and turned his cheeks to those who pulled out his beard. Such pulling out of hair, along with beating and cursing, was an act of violence Nehemiah prided himself in as he attempted to purify the post-exilic community of Israel (Nehemiah 13:25). The submission of our servant to such brutality here is possibly the background for Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount regarding turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:39). This willing acceptance of suffering will pave the way for the fourth servant song in chapters 52-53.
What enables the servant to bear such violence is his conviction that "the Lord God helps me." This confidence assures him that he will "not be put to shame." In the wisdom of Psalm 119 that assurance is based on the psalmist/teacher's steadfast keeping of the Lord's commandments (v. 6). Here such confidence is not in keeping the laws but in the Lord's presence to help. In that sense the expression, "I shall not be put to shame," is more akin to the repeated petition in Psalm 25 (vv. 2, 3, and 20) in the sense that trust in the Lord as one's refuge in the midst of danger prevents shame.
Furthermore, the servant's rhetorical question, "Who will contend with me?" when "it is the Lord God who helps me" sounds as though he is reciting Psalm 118:6-7a: "With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me? The Lord is on my side to help me."
The third song of the servant provides us an example of the power of faithful confidence in the Lord which can strengthen a person of peace even though violence surrounds the believer. While this passage is not a prediction of Jesus' passion, it certainly expresses the kind of trust with which Jesus faced his sufferings and his tormentors.
Philippians 2:5-11
Our pericope is essentially an early hymn which the apostle Paul inserted into his letter in order to illustrate the kind of humility he sought among the Christian community. In the verses immediately prior to our assigned lesson, Paul asked the Philippians to make his joy complete by being "of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." The mind that Paul had in mind was nothing less than the mind of Christ Jesus. Then follows the hymn.
The hymn consists of two stanzas. The first, verses 6-8, describes Jesus' willing humiliation. He was not desirous of exploiting his equality with God as though to come into the world with a grand power play. Instead, he emptied himself (kenosis) of his prestigious position in order to take "the form of a slave, being born in human likeness." Imagine the transition from heavenly glory to that of slavery! The words "born in human likeness" in connection with "slave" are startling when we compare them with the message of Genesis 1. There God created human beings "in the image of God, according to his likeness." Now, however, the one who was in the form of God was "born in the likeness of humans." Paul himself does not make a great deal out of the incarnation as John's Gospel does. Paul usually sticks to the crucifixion and resurrection themes. But the hymn he is quoting here serves his purposes perfectly: here is humility par excellence. In this human form Jesus humbled himself by coming "not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). Finally, in this human form he even "became obedient to the point of death," and Paul probably adds to the hymn "even death on a cross."
Stanza two moves from the humiliation to exaltation. Indeed it is precisely his humiliation that leads to the exaltation: "therefore" is the beginning of the stanza. This exaltation means that God has given him the name above all other names, and that name will be cited in the final verse: Lord. It is the name by which the God of Israel was known in the Old Testament, the name now transferred to Jesus.
At the name of Jesus every being in the three-storied universe shall bow down: heaven, earth, under the earth. Interestingly, the action throughout the two stanzas conveyed that same universal scope. The heavenly realm was where Jesus began "in the form of God." His birth as a human being brought him down to earth. His death took him into the netherworld, the place of the dead. Having visited all three realms, Jesus is confessed as Lord in all three. Before him people bow the knee, just as the Lord God called upon all the ends of the earth to turn to him and be saved: "To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isaiah 45:22-23). Now all that adoration goes to Jesus, every tongue confessing "that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
The ultimate surprise of the whole hymn is that the entire humiliation and exaltation of Jesus and the resultant confession about his lordship is to the glory of God. Perhaps the words are sufficient to warn us against thinking that the ultimate purpose of his death, resurrection, and exaltation is our salvation. Au contraire. It seems as though our salvation is not the end but the means to the end, and that end is the universal glorification of God.
Matthew 26:14--27:66
The long lesson contains many gems that dry out for comment, to say nothing of meditation and wonder. Perhaps we can capture some of the power of the passage by focusing our attention on the following questions: What did others say about him? Which scriptures are cited to explain the events? How did Jesus respond to it all?
What did others say about him? Before Caiaphas the high priest two witnesses came forward and testified that Jesus bragged, "I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days" (26:61). The same charge was repeated at the foot of the cross (27:40). In Matthew's Gospel Jesus did not even come close to making that statement. At 24:2 Jesus talked about the destruction of the Temple when the disciples were impressed with all the huge embossed Herodian stones from which the Temple was constructed. Jesus' words are taken to be prophetic because the Temple was indeed destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70, an act that occurred prior to the writing of this Gospel. At John 2:19, after cleansing the Temple, Jesus challenged the Jews to destroy the Temple and he would build it up in three days. Now even though John tells the readers Jesus was speaking of his body, it is clear that Jesus said nothing about his destroying the building. Clearly the testimony about what Jesus said is false. Jesus is clearly innocent of the charge.
It is precisely the innocence of Jesus to which the author returns when he puts into the mouth of Pilate's wife the instruction to her husband, "Have nothing to do with that innocent man...." Pilate himself, realizing the trumped-up charges against Jesus, symbolically washed his hands before the crowd as he said, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves" (27:24). And finally, to return to the centurion's confession, his words indicate that Jesus possessed the identity for which he was being mocked, and that he was therefore innocent of the charges.
That Matthew follows Mark in reporting the confession of the centurion carries a particular meaning in this Gospel. Although Jesus is firmly part of the Davidic family tree, it is Matthew alone who reports the visit of the wise men of the east who come to adore the infant Jesus (2:1ff.). They represent the Gentile world and expand the audience that recognized the identity of the Christ. Likewise the Roman centurion is part of the Gentile world. His confession at the foot of the cross sounds like the realization of the praise and thanksgiving with which the lament of Psalm 22 concludes: "All the families of the nations shall worship before him."
Which Scriptures are cited to explain the events? The primary passage from the Old Testament is, of course, Psalm 22. Perhaps it was because Jesus uttered the first line of this lament from the cross that the early church picked up more of its pieces to narrate the crucifixion. The mocking, the wagging of heads, the circle of evildoers, the piercing of hands and feet, the dividing of garments, casting lots for the clothing, and the praise of the nations -- all these pieces are contributions of the psalm. As for the offering of vinegar to drink, that expression derives from another lament, Psalm 69:21. Strikingly these two laments -- and almost all others -- end with the announcement of deliverance and the offering of thanksgiving and praise to the God who responded to the cries of abandonment. Any reader of the crucifixion account -- filled as it is with lament expressions -- knows how it will end.
At 26:31 Jesus himself quotes Zechariah 13:7: "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." The quotation is extremely significant because it indicates in no uncertain terms that the death of Jesus is not attributed to the Jews or to the Romans but to God; the speaker of the passage in Zechariah. The second half of the verse becomes a prophetic statement on Jesus' part because it promises the scattering of the disciples when the chips are down. To support the claim that God is behind the crucifixion, Jesus cites twice upon his arrest in Gethsemane that "the scriptures (of the prophets) might be fulfilled" (26:54, 56); he does not indicate, however, which scriptures he has in mind.
At 27:9-10 the Gospel writer cites scripture from "Jeremiah" in order to demonstrate that the use of the thirty pieces of silver to buy the potter's field was foretold in prophecy. Actually the author uses a sleight of hand here. "Thirty pieces of silver" comes from the wages paid to the prophet Zechariah, a sum the prophet cast into the temple treasury (Zechariah 11:12-13). Indeed, Jeremiah buys a "field" -- not in Jerusalem but in Anathoth and not for thirty pieces of silver but for seventeen (Jeremiah 32:6-15). And the only "potter" in Jeremiah's book is the one who owns a wheel and a house but no field (Jeremiah 18:2-3). No matter the accuracy, Matthew apparently felt the need to tie all the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus to Old Testament prophecy. Perhaps his Gospel is not nearly as anti-Semitic as is often supposed, for the prophecies focus on the promises of God as the cause of the death of Jesus.
How did Jesus respond to it all? First, Jesus seemed bent on one expression: "You have said so." He uses the saying three times, and it is indeed somewhat ambiguous. The third time he uses the saying is when Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" (27:11). Does his response mean, "You said it, brother!"? Or does it mean, "You said so; I didn't"? Neither Pilate nor we know what Jesus meant. The second time Jesus utters the expression occurs after the question by Caiaphas, "Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God" (26:63). Again neither Caiaphas nor we know what he meant, but Jesus does immediately proceed to talk about himself as the Son of Man who will be seated at the right hand of Power and come on the clouds of heaven. Perhaps the key to the last two instances is the first one. When Jesus announces at the Last Supper that one of the disciples will betray him, Judas asks, "Is it I, Master?" Jesus' response, "You have said so," means "Yes." Whether or not Matthew has reported this expression with the obvious meaning first so that the reader will know how to interpret the second and third instances is not perfectly clear. However, the reader clearly has an advantage over Caiaphas and Pilate because they knew nothing of the response to Judas.
Apart from these two Greek words translated "You said so," the reader is struck by Jesus' silence. When in the presence of Pilate the chief priests and the elders accused Jesus, "he did not answer" (27:12). When Pilate asked him about the testimony against him, Jesus "gave him no answer" (27:14). Perhaps this simple device of silence is Matthew's way of reminding his readers of the response of the Suffering Servant of Second Isaiah: "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he did not open his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).
The recollection of that song from the prophet would then help the readers to repeat in their minds the rest of the song. Soon they come to the end with the news that "Yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (53:12).
Finally, Jesus' reaction to the entire event is summed up by the thrice-repeated expression in prayer: "Thy will be done" (26:39, 42, 44). The words are not terms of resignation but a recognition that the imminent agony on the cross is the means by which God will achieve the purpose of accomplishing the kingdom that Jesus had preached. His words uttered in the face of his own death are the ones he taught his disciples to pray immediately after they say, "Thy kingdom come" (6:10). Again, Jesus does not attribute his coming death to the Romans or to the Jews. His death is due to God's will, and it is the means by which God's kingdom will dawn upon humankind.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 50:4-9a
As we approach the story of our Lord's suffering during what we call this Holy Week, and especially as we draw near to the remembrance of his crucifixion on Friday, we search the scriptures for clues to the interpretation of his passion -- for guides to understand the deepest meaning of all that Jesus goes through. And surely, few passages in the Old Testament help us more to understand than do the four Servant Songs that are found in what we call the Second Isaiah book.
Most scholars now agree that Isaiah is to be divided into three distinct books, all of which share common motifs and theology, but which were assembled in three different periods in Israel's life: Isaiah chapters 1-39 from about 740 B.C.; Isaiah 40-55 from 550-538 B.C. and addressed to Israel exiled in Babylonia; and Isaiah 56-66 from various times after 538 B.C. to Israelites returned to Jerusalem. Our text for the morning forms the third Servant Song in Second Isaiah, the others being Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-6; and the famous Suffering Servant Song in Isaiah 52:13--53:12, which we will treat in two weeks.
Probably the Servant in this song is to be identified with an idealized Israel of the future (cf. Isaiah 41:8-9; 42:19; 43:10; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20) -- Israel as she is meant to be, Israel as Second Isaiah calls her to be. As that Servant, Israel is called by her God in 50:4-11 to suffer for the sake of all nations -- a call particularly clear in 52:13--53:12 and in the passion of our Lord. But surely, this passage in 50:4-9a also reflects the nature of the office of all true prophets and the nature of Second Isaiah's prophetic ministry itself.
The prophet tells us the source of all true prophecy in the Old Testament. It comes from God. The prophet is like a pupil before a schoolmaster God, and God alone gives him the words he is to speak. Every morning God wakens the prophet's ear and delivers to him the words he is to proclaim (v. 4). Apart from that communication from God, the prophet has nothing to say. Only false prophets give their own opinions or pontificate on the course of events out of their own minds (cf. Jeremiah 23:18-32; Ezekiel 13:6-7). They are like those preachers who preach out of their own thoughts and not out of the Word of God given in the scriptures.
This intimate teaching given by God to his servants shows us that we really cannot understand the prophetic writings except in a similar intimate relation with our God, namely, in day-by-day prayer and meditation with him. True prophecy rises out of the closest fellowship with the Lord, and we can understand it also only in that context.
Our text tells us, however, that the prophet-servant of the Lord is attacked and abused because of the message that he delivers (vv. 5-6). He is whipped, taunted by having his beard pulled out, spit upon, and scorned by his contemporaries. In short, he becomes a laughing-stock, as did the prophet Jeremiah also (Jeremiah 20:1-3). The populace neither believes nor heeds his message. And the servant knows that will be his fate! Yet, he does not shrink from his task, given him by God (v. 5). He sets his face "like a flint" (cf. the Greek of Luke 9:51) to proclaim God's Word and to suffer the consequences.
Whence comes the servant's confidence in the face of calumny? It comes from God, who "helps" him (v. 7). He will finally be shamed in his society only if his prophecy proves untrue. But in his intimate relation to God, he knows that he "shall not be put to shame" (v. 7). God will prove his Word true; God will, by his actions toward Israel, fulfill the words that the prophet-servant speaks. The servant will be shown to be right -- vindicated (v. 8). And of course that demonstration is why we have particular prophecies in the Old Testament -- because they proved true in history and were fulfilled and brought to pass and therefore shown to be the true words of God.
In such confidence, the prophet-servant issues a challenge to his abusers. "Who will contend with me?" he asks (v. 8). That is, who will go to court with me? Let him state his case. Because God, who helps the prophet, will prove him innocent of falsehood, while those who have opposed the prophet will meet their end.
That the portrayal given us in this passage accurately describes what happens to our Lord in the last week of his life cannot be doubted -- although this is not a prediction in the Old Testament of the Christ. Rather, it is a description of the true prophet and servant's role, and Jesus Christ takes upon himself and fulfills the final shape of that role during the week of his passion. Our Lord speaks and does only what he hears from God (cf. John 8:28). He willingly accepts the suffering that comes with that ministry. "Not my will, but thine be done" (Mark 14:36 KJV). He is subjected to scorn and whipping and spitting, like the servant before him (Mark 15:15-20). And finally he is killed for his faithfulness to his God. But God does not desert his servants, not even in death, and so there will come Easter morn when all that Jesus Christ has said and done will be vindicated and proved true. His way will be shown to be the way that leads to eternal life. His will will be shown to be the true will of God.
If we can bring our text down to a personal level for a moment, is this not a message for all of us servants of God, also? It is not easy to be a follower of Jesus Christ in our age and society. There are some in our world who are suffering torture and death for that faithfulness. But even in our country, we may be laughed at, shunned, denied opportunities because of our faith. And we may have to suffer to hold a marriage together, or eschew some material comforts, or stand up to criticism and scorn for our way of life (cf. 1 Peter 4:1-6). After all, our Lord proclaimed that those of us who would be his disciples are required to take up a cross and die to our own wills and desires.
But if this Servant Song and the passion of our Lord teach us nothing else, they witness to the fact that God's way, taught us in the scriptures, is true -- that it is the way that leads to life and to joy eternal. God never deserts his servants. And he will vindicate his own. As Paul writes, "If God is for us, who is against us?" (Romans 8:31). Nothing and no one can defeat us. And in the end, we shall be even more than conquerors through him who loves us (Romans 8:37).
