“You are my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight.” These words from the prophet, Isaiah, are echoed in the words Jesus hears at his Baptism on the banks of the river Jordan: “This is my Own, my Beloved, on whom my favor rests.” Isaiah’s words are taken from the first of his four “Servant Songs,” poems often referred to as “Songs of the Suffering Servant.” All four Gospel authors, as well as Paul, have connected these songs to Jesus. His life and teachings were seen as the fulfillment of all the prophecies in Scripture that envisioned a coming Messiah, and his crucifixion and death drew an even deeper connection for them between Jesus and the “suffering servant” of Isaiah.
This first of the four Servant Songs was written after the Babylonian exile. Prior to the Exile people in Jerusalem were leading a rather materialistic and prosperous life. The external rewards of wealth, status and power focused their energies and attention on themselves and their personal goals, much as they do with us today. The covenantal relationship between Israel and God were far in the background for most people. Their self-absorbed, pleasure-seeking attitudes left them isolated and disconnected from each other. It was tearing the fabric of who they were as a people to shreds. The result was a destructive imbalance that threatened everyone and everything. Families were affected. The local community was affected. Even the world as they knew it was affected.
Prophets always see where things are headed if certain patterns continue. When those patterns are destructive, Prophets help people recognize the damage they’re doing so they can re-evaluate the course society is taking. In this way justice and compassion can regain its precedence in a culture, and a people can reclaim their partnership with the Divine Presence coursing through all lives.
In 7th Century B.C., when the pendulum in Isaiah’s culture had swung toward self-absorption and a destructive greediness in the general population, the result wasn’t pretty. Having refused to listen to the prophets they, instead, opened the way for Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to invade Jerusalem and overturn their lives. He rode into town with his army, destroyed and looted the city, razed the Temple to the ground, and took the king, his court and many prominent leaders back to Babylon. The people were left without homes, without a religious anchor, and without vital leadership. They were disgraced, humbled, and bordering on despair.
The first Servant Song was a balm for this people. Isaiah offered hope by re-instating a vision based on their foundational covenant with God and their over-arching sense of purpose as a holy and chosen people–God’s Servant people, God’s delight. They were to remember their mission, which was: to serve the cause of right; to create among themselves, true justice; and then to extend that way of life, that justice, to the ends of the earth. Even the islands of the Mediterranean were awaiting their teachings, Isaiah told them. He called them to renew their side of the covenant God made with their ancestors. He reminded them of their holy purpose, and urged them to make sure it was not squandered on empty, self-centered material goals when the very Spirit of God depended on them.
Paul took up the mission of this people, his ancestors. In the Acts of the Apostles as well as in his letters to the Romans and Galatians he refers to the fourth poem in the Servant Songs as he claims his mission to the Gentiles and sees it as an extension of Isaiah’s vision: to carry God’s inclusive message to “the islands of the Mediterranean” and beyond. He recognizes that very mission fulfilled in Jesus’ life and in the ‘good news’ Jesus proclaimed. As a result, he is able to state with conviction that there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, but all are one in the Body of Christ. Peter’s words bear this same truth when he says. “I begin to see how true it is that God shows no partiality. Any person of whatever background or identity who does what is right, what is just, is pleasing God.”
All of us here are invited to allow Isaiah’s words to resonate within our own hearts. As God’s Word they are timeless, and they are addressed to all people, all nations, without a shred of partiality. They echo through the ages, through cultures, and in baptismal rituals of initiation around the world. They reappear in particular moments, underscoring their ongoing truth in each life and in every age. “Here you are, my servant, my chosen one whom I uphold, support, encourage and sustain. Here you are—my people—that I have endowed with my Spirit. I have taken you by the hand and formed you…to serve the cause of right. You are my promise of justice; you are a light in this nation’s darkness. My favor rests on you. You are my Own, my Beloved.”
As we face the year ahead, with it’s growing pre-birth darkness, let’s remember these words. Let’s strive to be the presence of hope, the hand of mercy and a beacon of light guiding our world through this canal of promise. Let’s be faithful servants to the truth that God’s Spirit resides within us all. We are sisters and brothers in this magnificent voyage of our planet, its creatures and all of humanity as we enter a new age no less significant than the one ushered in by Jesus at his birth and subsequent baptism. We are on a mission designed by the God of the Cosmos. And God’s favor rests on us as we live in compassionate relationship to each other and to the Whole of God’s world.
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