The Suffering Servant

Homily for Tuesday of Holy Week

There are four “Servant Songs” of Isaiah that describe the service, suffering, and exaltation of the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah. All four songs show the Messiah to be God’s meek and gentle Servant. He is a royal figure, representing Israel in its ideal form; He is the high priest, atoning for the sins of the world. Isaiah predicts that this Servant of the Lord would deliver the world from the prison of sin. In the royal terminology of the ancient Near East, a servant was a “trusted envoy,” a “confidential representative,” or “one who is chosen.”

Isaiah initially identifies God’s servant as Israel, who serves as God’s witness and as a light to the Gentiles. Yet Israel could not fulfill this mission: Israel was deaf, blind, and in need of God’s forgiveness. Israel failed again and again. By contrast, God’s Servant, the Messiah, faithfully completes all the work He is given to do. The Servant of the Lord is God’s faithful and true witness to humanity.

In Acts 3:13 Peter calls Jesus the “servant” of God. That verse says, in part, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus.” Peter’s description of Jesus as a “servant” is accurate for at least four reasons:
1) Jesus always did the will of the Father (John 4:34; 6:38).
2) Jesus never sought to please Himself but always to please the Father (John 5:30).
3) Jesus finished the work that God had sent Him to do (John 17:4).
4) Jesus came to glorify the Father (John 13:31; 17:4).

Additionally, Peter’s reference to Jesus as the “servant of God” would have brought to the minds of his Jewish hearers the passages in Isaiah that describe the Messiah as the “Servant of the Lord.”

This second of the four Servant Songs, which we proclaim today, speaks of the Messiah’s work in the world and His success. The Servant’s statement that “before I was born the Lord called me” (verse 1) uses language similar to the call of the prophet Jeremiah. The reference in Isaiah to the mouth of the Servant of the LORD being “like a sharpened sword” is a prophetic image that crops up several times in the New Testament.

The second Servant Song tells us that the Messiah displays God’s splendor, restores God’s people, and is honored in God’s eyes. Significantly, the Messiah feels a great loss: “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all”, yet He receives worldwide acclaim in the end.

Our meditation and reflection on the Passion of our Crucified Savior is enhanced by these four songs, all of which are proclaimed at the Eucharist on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week. As the Eucharist is the memorial of the sacrifice of Jesus, these songs are powerful reminders of what Jesus has done for us.