The prophet Isaiah can touch your soul, but only if you slow down enough to wonder at his words.
Isaiah 49:1, “Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar.” Listen, O coastland of Gaza, place of most terrible human suffering. Listen, O coastland of the Black Sea, Ukraine, place where atrocities rain down in rocket attacks. Are there any coastlands where people are not suffering? Are there any people afar, any people near you, near me, who are suffering because of the injustice of self-willed, power-seeking people? Suffering because of impersonal bureaucracies and governments? Isaiah calls the church to pay attention to the suffering and to One who suffers. Listen to whom?
“The Lord called me from the womb, form the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away, And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified” (vv. 2-3). Who is this servant of the Lord? In Isaiah’s time, it was God’s people Israel. They were suffering, on the losing side of great struggles for power. In our time, it is still God’s people, the people of Jesus Christ. We experience and lament so much that is wrong, evil. Isaiah says there is a Sufferer amidst us now. Now Jesus Christ, ruling now at the right hand of God, calls out. “Listen to me, O coastlands,” He says to the world. “Give attention you peoples from afar.”
Lent is about the passion of Christ, yes indeed, but more mysterious and holy is the Suffering Servant Himself.
“Of long ago: yet living still, / Who died for us on Calv’ry’s hill;
Who triumphed over cross and grave, / His healing hands stretch forth to save.
“His sov’reign purpose still remains / Who rose in pow’r, and lives and reigns;
Till ev’ry tongue confess His praise, / The healing Christ of all our days.”
(Timothy Dudley-Smith, Lutheran Service Book, 551:4-5)
That is more than I can comprehend. I can only turn from the world’s noise and listen to Jesus in silence.
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