Holy Week & The Way Out
1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”
5 And now the Lord says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength—
6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
7 This is what the Lord says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
-Isaiah 49:1-7
As Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time, he knew that Israel needed a new exodus. We also know from the Gospel authors, that he also had Isaiah’s servant songs on the mind. Isaiah looked forward to a day when Israel, and all the nations, would see the salvation of God in the form of his “servant.” Isaiah 49 turns up the volume on the identity of this servant and what he will do.
But first, about that title, “servant.” This is what Moses was called. It’s also the role of Israel when God brings them out of Egypt. For Isaiah, the exodus (lit. “the way out”) is on the mind as he looks ahead to a new exodus, a way out for Israel and all nations. This servant will be a new Moses who will unite and teach his people. But even more so than Moses, nobody will see him coming. Neither the kings of the nations nor the powers of darkness have any idea what’s heading for them. “Before I was born, YHWH called me…he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver…” (Is.49:1-2).
Jesus goes into the week of his suffering and death as God’s arm: to strike the powers of evil and deliver a new people. He does this strategically on the night of Passover, the very night when Moses said that Israel would witness their yeshua or “salvation”, the key word for what God did that night through the blood on the doorposts and walking through the waters of death in the Red Sea (Ex.14:13). This word, yeshua, is the same as Jesus’ name. Isaiah prophesies that YHWH will make his servant “a light for the nations, that my yeshua may reach the ends of the earth” Is. 49:6. In other words, like the light of creation, God’s servant, his yeshua, will reach every corner of the cosmos.
This week, I invite you all to have a cosmic vision for the new exodus Jesus began on Holy Week. In his death and resurrection, Jesus walked the path to lead us out of the devil’s tyranny (think of him as the cosmic Pharaoh) and into new life. And no, this new life is not something that we only witness when we die. Before we were called Christians, we were called “followers of the way.” Because in this life, we were given a way out, a path paved by our suffering servant king.
No kingdom or power can escape the consequences of what happened during the hour of the Son of Man–when he displayed his power on the cross. In this new kingdom that God is advancing, the mighty are humbled, and the servant becomes the king (Is.49:7). This is good news. Let’s pray and thank God for the wonders his servant displayed on the cross.
Father, thank you for hearing the cry of your people and sending your Son to bring salvation to the nations. Jesus, thank you for providing a way out in your life, death, and resurrection. Spirit, give us perseverance as we walk the way of Christ so that we may be made new.
Amen