Jesus the Suffering Servant

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Last week: Isaiah 44-50, Luke 9:18-12:34
This week: Isaiah 51-57, Luke 12-16

We are now getting into one of the more intensely familiar sections of the book of Isaiah.  As mentioned a couple weeks ago this is where pretty much every chapter will have something familiar to the regular church-goer, especially in a liturgical tradition like ours.  The “Servant Songs” populate a few of these chapters, officially identified in 42:1-4 (two weeks ago), 49:1-6 and 50:4-7 (this past week), and the long one 52:13-53:12 (coming up this week).  Few of the messianic prophecies detail the reality of Jesus as a suffering servant as clearly as this one; it’s easy to read this now as a Christian and look back to how it’s fulfilled in Christ, but for the people of Judea and Galilee at the time this text was not high on their list of expectations regarding the coming Savior.  But of course once the gospel events took place and the apostles started committing their teachings to writing, the connection between Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant” and Christ Jesus was made abundantly clear – particularly in 1 Peter.

Also, I may have forgotten to mention this here (I did put it on my liturgy blog last week), but the Gospel of Luke gave us its middle chapters  last week.  An important turning point in the book is shortly after the Transfiguration – in 9:51 Luke narrates:

When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

This “turning of his face” is just just a symbolic act on Jesus’ part, but also a literary marker: from this point on, we should take extra care to read every story and saying with an eye on the Cross.  Jesus already had predicted his death a couple times before this point, but it is after this point that we should start asking ourselves “what does this parable mean in light of the Cross?” or “how does this event prepare me, the reader, for hearing about the death of Christ?”  Here are a few things coming up in Luke that may find a more clear meaning if you put it next to the Cross:

  • “Do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?” (9:54)
  • “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (9:62)
  • “Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” (10:3)
  • The story of Mary and Martha (10:38-42)
  • “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace; but when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil.” (11:21-22)

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