Isaiah 42:1-9 (NRSV)
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Chapter 42Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. Verse 2He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; Verse 3a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. Verse 4He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
Verse 5Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: Verse 6I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, Verse 7to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. Verse 8I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. Verse 9See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.
Devotion
We enter into Holy Week reading one of the "servant songs" from Isaiah. The servant described in Isaiah 42 is a paradoxical figure. On the one hand, he will "bring forth justice to the nations," a task that would seem to require immense power. On the other hand, "a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench." This servant of the Lord does not meet the world's expectations of a warrior king; he does not fit the notion that "might makes right." Instead, his way of ruling is that of a servant king whose saving power reaches into the deepest dungeons and the darkest prisons, to give light to the blind and to set the prisoners free. This kind of power upends the usual way of things in this world; it confounds tyrants and gives hope to the oppressed. No wonder Christians from earliest times have identified the "servant" in Isaiah with Jesus the Christ, who yesterday entered Jerusalem in glory but will soon bear the cross to Calvary.
Prayer
Give us hearts to love, O God, and hands to serve, as we follow the example of your son, our savior, in whose name we pray. Amen.