In this passage we read of one who has been given a word of hope ‘to sustain the weary people’ who are dispirited. But we find that they have spurned and insulted him, and rejected his word.

The passage is set for Palm/Passion Sunday each year. It is the third of a group of four passages from Isaiah, which have been called the ‘Servant Songs’. Each of them is spoken by or about a suffering servant whose plight is tied closely to that of the people. The songs are part of the second book of Isaiah, Isaiah 40-55, which sounds the note of hope to a people who have languished in exile in Babylonia for over 40 years.  These songs have traditionally been appropriated in Christian theology as referring to Christ in his suffering. The first three (Isa. 42:1-9; 49:1-7; and 50:4-9a) are read as the Old Testament passages for Monday to Wednesday of Holy Week. The series culminates in the reading of the fourth and longest of the songs (Isa. 52:13–53:12) on Good Friday.

Who this servant to whom Second Isaiah refers is not known. Some commentators see the suffering servant as referring to the people of Israel collectively (cf. Isa 49:3), but other texts suggest the servant has a mission to Israel itself (cf. 49:5). In terms of identifying the servant as an individual, some suggest the prophet himself or another person whose suffering was in some sense seen as redemptive for his people.

In this passage we hear the voice of the servant, as we do in Isa. 49:1-7. In v. 4 he speaks of having the gift of ‘the tongue of a teacher’ or, more correctly, of ‘those who are taught’. The servant exhibits the facility to listen and, in turn, be taught by God. The teaching role of the servant is also mentioned in Isa 42:4. In all this the servant fulfils a role already played out by the earlier Isaiah who saw and listened to God (Isa. 6:1-8) and who was sent to a people who refused to do so (6:9-13). The goal of the servant’s teaching in Isa 50:4 is ‘to sustain the weary with a word,’ as part of his message to the exiles. The speaker describes God as ‘wakening his ear,’ to receive God’s word, which is in turn passed on to the people. It is not the servant’s word which, in the end, is entrusted to him; it is God’s. Compare Isa 40:8 and 55:10-11 on the eternal nature and effectiveness of the word of God.

In Isa. 50:5-6, the servant describes being obedient to what God had for him to say; he accepted the prophetic word and the attendant burden of the people’s contrastingly disobedient response. In a sense, the servant turns the other cheek, giving his back ‘to those who struck’ him, his ‘cheeks to those who pulled out the beard,’ and not hiding his ‘face from insult and spitting.’ The resonance for Christian listeners in the context of Holy Week will be compelling, with striking parallels in the long reading set for Passion Sunday, especially in Mark 15.

In Isa. 50:7-9, the tone shifts to one of strength bordering on belligerence. The servant speaks with great trust and confidence both in God’s presence and protection, but also in his own vindication by God. Despite the response of the people, he will not in the end be put to shame.  Using the language of the courts, he asserts that God, the ultimate judge, will find for him in the end. Therefore, he says, ‘I have set my face like flint,’ hardening himself to the criticism and persecution of the people. He will continue to give the message entrusted to him, regardless of the lack of reception from God’s people. He clings tenaciously here to his calling, preaching the message entrusted to him whether in or out of season. We can compare this to the initial call of the prophet Isaiah in the first book of Isaiah (Isaiah 1-39) mentioned above (Isaiah 6).

The language becomes more combative as the servant goes on. It is couched in the form of bold rhetorical questions that dare his accusers to come forward: ‘Who will contend with me?  Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.’ His boldness is predicated on the assumption of God’s very near presence. In taking on the servant, his adversaries would necessarily be challenging God himself as well, for the servant understands himself to be profoundly God’s servant. Part of the irony of the message is that in the end, Isa. 52:13-53:12, the servant will not be vindicated as he seems to expect. That vindication will only come through more suffering and death.

In v. 9 he makes this connection clear: ‘It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty?’ In this, he is questioning the authority of any earthly ruler, people, or jurisdiction.  God’s servant will be judged by God alone; God will vindicate him for his faithfulness. By contrast, all earthly authority is ultimately fleeting: ‘All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.’

For the Christian preacher, there are also fruitful connections that can be made between the Isaiah reading and the epistle reading for the day, the hymn to Christ’s humility in Philippians 2:5-11. In that reading, like this one, there is a suffering servant who was obedient in giving himself for others, but who will in the end be given a glorious vindication.

To include the Isaiah reading in a sermon for today is to underscore the deep soundings of the Hebrew Bible that enrich our understanding of the One who came triumphant and acclaimed, but also despised and rejected. His mixed reception by the very ones to whom he offered a word of hope finds a depth of pathos in the ancient echo of all who were sent as God’s prophets, killed by the very hands God sought to embrace. It is a message that beckons us on into Holy Week, to walk the via dolorosa with the one who would offer a word to the weary, if only we have ears to hear.

Psalm 118 (Palm Sunday) or Psalm 31 (Passion Sunday)

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