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The prophet Isaiah has a very close relationship with
the confession of the Christian faith. The coming of a
Servant to do God’s bidding in history (Isaiah 42:1-4,
6-7) finds its fulfillment in the manifestation and
identification of Jesus the Christ (Matthew 3:13-17).
The
servant
The 6th-century Deutero-Isaiah pictures
God wanting to console Israel whose term has been served
for all her sins. For the prophet and his contemporaries
in exile, God has pledged to establish once more His
people in their homeland. Like a shepherd, He feeds His
flock and gathers the lambs in His arms. The sovereign
justice and glory of God will be manifested in the
person He sent, for whom a highway is being prepared in
the wasteland and every mountain and hill being made
low. Here is the first presentation of the figure of the
Servant. He has been chosen and called in righteousness,
the bringer of justice and the bearer of the spirit.
The identity and the mission of the
Servant in the original context have been variously
interpreted. Did the prophet conceive of his own or
another prophet’s vocation in terms of the mission of
the Servant? Or was it the entire nation of Israel meant
in mission to be the light for the nations and the agent
of liberation for those held captive? Or was it perhaps
the group of the poor ones, the anawim, who were meant
to fulfill the mission for its own people and for the
nations? As later generations sang the servant-songs and
oracles of Deutero-Isaiah, they came to attach their
hope to some future messianic figure through whom God
would bring about His plans.
The
mission
The Servant would personify to the
people the goodness and tenderness of God. In His
wisdom-filled power, God alone can give the people the
gift of justice and deliverance; He alone can “pick out
a bearer of the glad tidings” for Jerusalem. “Here is my
servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am
pleased.” The Servant possesses the spirit of God,
anointed with the power of God, grasped by the hand of
God.
To establish justice on the earth and
bring it to the nations, the Servant is the channel of
divine mercy, in contrast to the figure of the conqueror
who devastated the land. No boisterous, drunken, violent
celebration of might and power; but the compassion and
tenderness that will not break a reed already bruised,
and will not quench a wick already smoldering. He will
be for Israel and the nations, the one who cures the
blind and liberates the captives. He will be the one to
lead out of the dungeon those who live in darkness. He
will be the light of a new life. These images indicate
that the mission of the Servant will not be just the
political restoration of
Israel.
She had fallen short of the ethical, social and moral
standards demanded by the covenant with God. Redemption
must mean reconciliation with the Lord.
The
Christ
Only in the life and mission of Jesus
was this saving mission of the Servant truly and
definitively accomplished for all peoples and for all
times. For St. Matthew and his Christian community, the
servant-song of Isaiah found fulfillment in the ministry
of Jesus, who at His baptism in the Jordan was confirmed
by the heavenly voice: “This is my beloved Son, with
whom I am well pleased.” And upon him the Spirit of God
descended and came like a dove. Jesus saw and heard all
this opening up of the heavens for him in a direct
personal experience of his own identity and mission as
the Anointed One, the Messiah.
As the Servant was to be called and sent
in righteousness, it was “to fulfill all righteousness”
that Jesus approached John the Baptizer to be baptized
by him. It was not in an aggressive and loud assertion
of his unique authority, but in a quiet identification
with John’s demand on the people for moral rebirth,
symbolized by the washing at the Jordan that Jesus
stepped down to the water of the river.
Alálaong bagá: The Servant of Deutero-Isaiah
and the Christ in Matthew are set apart by God and
empowered to bring justice to the people and to the
nations. It is the saving plan of God’s love that is to
be carried out by the one He sends, His chosen one.
According to Matthew, Jesus Christ in the words of the
prophet as the Servant of the Lord is the light of the
world. The light of Christmas comes to a climactic head
at the feasts of Epiphany and of the Baptism of Jesus,
the final celebrations of the Christmas season. Indeed,
the manifestation, the epiphany of the glory of the Son
of God crests at the baptism of Jesus. The significance
of the one born as announced by a star to the wise men
is further unraveled. God is with him, the Spirit rests
on him, the meek and humble Servant who fulfills the
expectation of the nations.
For more of my reflections and works, visit my blogsite:
http://alalaongbaga.multiply.com. |
