Daily Archives: April 12, 2017

In today’s scripture we hear the third of Isaiah’s four servant songs (Isaiah 50 4-9).  We also pray Psalm 69.  And in today’s gospel (Matthew 26:14-25) we are brought back to the evening of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest.   These scripture readings are clearly linked.  The suffering servant who Isaiah describes realizes the anguish and despair described by the Psalmist – the same anguish and despair that Jesus realizes in his passion.

We could look at these readings a variety of ways.

Clearly the Old Testament passages foreshadow Christ, our suffering servant, who was “insulted, blasphemed and outcast” and who “set his face like flint” in the face of agony and humiliation.

Another way of looking at these passages is that Jesus, as a faithful Jew, grew up with this scripture.  It is likely that these scripture passages (among many others) helped prepare Jesus for what lay in front of him and maybe even helped comfort Him during His passion.

A third way to consider these passages, and maybe the most important, is what they mean to us – what inner dispositions, attitudes and, behaviors God is calling us to live out.  Amidst their trials, Isaiah’s suffering servant, the Psalmist, and Jesus maintain an unflinching trust and confidence in God – a God who “upholds what is just” and “revives hearts” that are spurned.  As disciples of Jesus, we are called to be like Jesus – to surrender ourselves in loving trust to God, not only in good times but even more so in times of trouble.  Like Jesus, we can turn to God’s word in scripture for the strength to make it through.

In this holy week we continue our walk to the cross with Jesus, our suffering servant, knowing that the resurrected Jesus walks with us every day of our lives.