Tuesday 04 April 2023

Background

Here we are with another passage about the servant empowered by God. In v. 3 the servant appears to be Israel in v. 6 the servant is presented as having a mission to Israel. Again, any specific identity is avoided here, allowing greater freedom in the interpretation of the passage.

In verses 1-6 the servant relates how he came to be identified as God’s servant and how he was given the power to act. Perhaps this indicates that there was resistance and suspicion of the servant against which he had to establish his authority. What remains clear is that the initiative for the mission is with God and God alone.

Then we have a clear statement from God about the nature of the servant’s mission. Firstly it is a mission to return all the exiles of Israel home, which is no mean task given all the far-flung places to which they were exiled. However, as the mission unfolds the servant is given strength equal to the task.

Yet this was not to be the servant’s only mission. God’s agenda was not only concerning ‘the tribes of Jacob’. It was an international mission. The servant was to be a ‘light to the nations’ to the ends of the earth including non-believers. This is one of the most crucial texts showing how, even in the world of the Old Testament, God's concern breaks through ethnic limitations. Jesus, the later servant, continues this theme, calling the Jews out of their self-preoccupation into a vocation to be a ‘light to the nations.’ There is a continuity in God’s worldwide mission which constantly breaks down boundaries of ethnicity, religion, social class or geography.

To Ponder:

• If your church council or other ruling body faces resistance or challenge when proposing a new initiative, what strategies are used to approach the challenge?
• God has always been calling his people to be boundary-crossers and barrier -breakers. Where do we see this at work within our worshipping community? Where else could it be at work?

Prayer

Loving God, it is so easy to fall into a comfortable way of doing things that we resist change. How can we be helped to see ourselves as others see us and become more open to the needs and opportunities of the community around us?