- Ever get a song stuck in your
head that you just can't get rid of? You know, one
of those advertising jingles, or a pop song, or even a
hymn tune…
-
- Andy and I were talking about
that classic cartoon where the guy finds the singing
frog, and every time he takes him out of the box, the
frog breaks into: Hello, my baby, hello my honey, hello
my rag time gal… Now there's a head-sticker if there
ever was one…
-
- But that's not the song that
stuck in my head this week. The song that stuck was the
Fourth Servant Song from the Book of Isaiah.
-
- Whoa, you say, now there's a song
only a preacher could get stuck on…but that not
true. You all know this song:
-
- Surely he has borne
our infirmities
- and carried our
diseases;
- yet we accounted him
stricken,
- struck down by God,
and afflicted.
- But he was wounded for
our transgressions,
- crushed for our
iniquities;
- upon him was the
punishment that made us whole,
- and by his bruises we
are healed.
-
- OK, that's not the version you
are familiar with. You know it in the King James
version:
- Surely he hath
borne our griefs,
- and carried our
sorrows:
- yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God,
- and
afflicted.
- But he was wounded for
our transgressions,
- he was bruised for our
iniquities:
- the chastisement of
our peace was upon him;
- and with his stripes
we are healed.
-
- And it's even set to music in our
heads…by Handel…in Messiah.
-
- Even tenors have this
caught up in their minds…not that that's a very
spacious or active environment (but that's another
story).
-
- The fourth Servant Song in
Isaiah…the Suffering Servant…has stuck my mind
since I first saw that it was the assigned reading for
today.
-
- And you know something? This song
has stuck not only in my mind, but in the mind of the
people of God, ever since Isaiah first sang it for Israel
in exile, 500 years before Jesus. It has struck and
reverberated in the life of the people of Israel, and in
the life of Christians down through the
centuries. We just can't get this song out of our
mind!
-
- Why is that? What did Isaiah say
that was so special, so new?
-
- He was, as I said, writing for
Israel in Exile in Babylon. And the question that
plagued the Israelites was this one: How the heck did we
get here? We are God's chosen people, the people of
the covenant. We have a good and just God, a loving
creative God. And he rescued from Egypt and set us in our
own land, to be free, to be holy, to be special to
God.
-
- And here we are, back in exile,
captive again, slaves again. What happened? And how are
we going to get back?
-
- What happened is what the
prophets said would happen! If we violate our covenant,
if we break our promises, go off doing whatever we wish
whenever we wish it, everything will go down the
tube…and it did, with a mighty flush!
-
- Israel broke the covenant,
shattered it. They didn't listen to the will of God, but
only to their own will…and it was a disaster, as
often happens when we get all our wishes.
-
- Now how can they get back? What
sacrifice can they make? What vows can they speak? What
songs can they sing?
-
- And Isaiah answers, in an
extraordinary new word:
-
- Surely he has borne
our infirmities
- and carried our
diseases;
- he was wounded for our
transgressions,
- crushed for our
iniquities;
- upon him was the
punishment that made us whole,
- and by his bruises we
are healed.
-
- Forget the sheep, forget the
sacrifices, forget the songs… it's the Servant! It's
the Servant of God, who will take upon himself God's
righteousness, and through his actions many (maybe all!)
will be made righteous, right with God, in a good and
healthful relationship with God!
-
- What we cannot do, Isaiah said,
by God's will, the Servant will do. Through the Servant,
the will of the Lord, the healing, saving will of God,
with bear fruit and prosper!
-
- But who is this Servant? Who
does Isaiah have in mind? Here is something of a
mystery. Over the centuries, the identity of the Servant,
the suffering servant who saves, has been the source of
controversy.
-
- Some say Isaiah had himself in
mind. The prophets had suffered much for their
faithfulness over the years. But he doesn't say
that… he always speaks of the servant in the third
person…The servant did this… the servant does
that…
-
- Did he have some other
person in mind, some faithful servant, who's trust
and service to God was unimpeachable? Who might that
be? One of the other prophets, perhaps…
Jeremiah, Elijah, all who suffered… or even
Moses…
-
- Or is there a new servant?
Isaiah has already been bold enough to declare Cyrus,
king of the Persians, to be God's messiah, the
anointed one, delivering Israel from bondage! But
Cyrus was not a Jew, not even a believer in Israel's God,
certainly no knowing servant of God. Besides he
was hardly a sufferer… he was a king.
-
- Does Isaiah have in mind some yet
unknown, yet to be revealed faithful Servant of
God? A future servant of God? Or perhaps even
an ideal Israelite… who might never finally
actually appear in the flesh, but is a model for us
all.
-
- Or, as the later rabbis did, did
he understand the Servant to be Israel itself, the
nation taken as a whole? And that salvation will
come when Israel as whole becomes obedient to God, and
that the salvation that comes is not just for
Israel, but indeed for the nations! "The kings of
the earth shall come," he says…
-
- The fact is, we don't know
who Isaiah had in mind, or even if he had
anyone in particular in mind. Except to say this:
This is what it will take to bring us back to God…
the faithful one willing to suffer, willing even to die;
a servant or servants of God to do God's
will.
-
- Of course, we Christians have
heard this song, and immediately Jesus comes to
mind.
-
- When we Christians heard this
song, who came to mind immediately but Jesus?
-
- Luke had this song running
through his head when he portrayed Jesus as the innocent
martyr, going willingly to his death. What did the
soldier say at the foot of the cross? Surely this man was
innocent. And on the way bringing healing and hope
and life, even on the cross itself… to the thief:
Today, you will be with me in
paradise.
-
- It was this song the writer of
the Epistle to the Hebrews recalls, when the writer
wrote:
-
- Although he was a Son,
he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having
been made perfect, he became the source of eternal
salvation for all who obey
him…
-
- And I think it was this song
Jesus himself had in mind when he instructed his
disciples, as he instructs us.
-
- They came to him, as we too
always do, with a load a wishes running though their
heads: Do this for me, do that! But they all
come down to this: When the glory comes, give us good
seats, front row, center, or at least next to
you!
-
- And Jesus says, "God wishes
something else. He wishes you to be servants, faithful,
loyal, even suffering if you must, for the sake of
the kingdom! If you want to really be first,
be prepared to be last!
-
- It seems to me it is not
inherently obvious that if you want to be first, you
should be servant. A lot of servants and slaves do
nothing but serve and slave all their lives for the lords
and masters of this world. In fact, none of
this makes any sense unless it is the will of God
to do things this way And that is exactly what
Isaiah had proclaimed so long ago: It is the will, indeed
the delight of the Lord, to save God's people
through a life of obedient service.
-
- The song was running through
Jesus' mind too.These old lording-it-over-people
patterns, while they might still be popular, just aren't
going to work anymore…not in the end. God wishes for
a new way of doing things…a new model for service, a
new model for the people of God: not conquest but
compassion; not sovereignty, but service; not raw power,
but rare love!
-
- There is a new model for our
service: "The Son of Man came not to be served but to
serve, and to give his life a ransom for
many."
-
- This song must have run through
Jesus' mind… perhaps all the way to the
cross. And it's the new song in an old
world!
-
- Let this song run through
your minds. Let it run and through your lives and through
your service. Then your wishes will be God's
wishes… and wishing for the right thing, the true
thing, you will truly know joy and peace.
-
- Amen.
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