“The Servant of the Lord… …The Servant of Us All.” Sermon on Isaiah 52:12–53:13 for Good Friday (Tenebrae), April 3, 2015

I. “The Servant of the Lord”

1. When James and John tried to claim positions of honor for themselves in Jesus’ kingdom, Jesus told them, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45). Just as the disciples’ quest for greatness seemed to be always on their minds, being a humble servant was always on Jesus’ mind. Again, Thursday night, during the meal, the disciples began to argue about which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24), and Jesus not only taught them the same lesson as before, but he took on the work of a servant. He picked up a bowl of water and a towel and proceeded to wash his disciples’ feet (John 13:2ff). He acted the part of the servant to show them humble service. Even when Jesus was at his most glorious he was serving, wasn’t he? When he was providing wine for the wedding at Cana, feeding thousands, healing lepers, raising the young man of Nain and giving him back to his mother, he was serving.
2. And this was foretold long before. In Isaiah 42, the prophet wrote, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight.” Many of the Jews were expecting a royal Messiah, a king—the Son of David. But there are more prophecies foretelling him to be a servant—a suffering servant. Psalm 22, written 1,000 years before Good Friday, gives us Jesus’ anguished cry, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” and also a description of his suffering, “They have pierced my hands and my feet.”
3. Isaiah began this chapter about the Messiah with the voice of God saying, “See, my servant will act wisely. He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” In all his work, he was his Father’s servant first of all. St. John lists three times in his Gospel where Jesus said, “I have come to do the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38-39). Once he even said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me” (John 4:34). “My Fatheris always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (John 5:17). “I have come in my Father’s name” (John 5:43)—that means, to do his Father’s work, not his own. In Gethsemane he prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” (Matthew 26:42). No matter what he was doing, he was always about his Father’s business (Luke 2:49). Serving his Father and doing his Father’s will was the first thing on his mind.

II. “The Servant of Us All.”

1. And what was the Father’s will for him? To be the Word made flesh and to make his dwelling among us (John 1:14), to make his Father’s will known to us (John 15:15), to come into this world and to be given for the world, so that all who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16), to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45). And how did he give himself? In humility and suffering.
2. Humble service is one thing. Giving up your life—with suffering, torture and pain is quite another. God taking on human form is humiliation all by itself—but then he chose to go forward, even when it meant suffering. Isaiah describes this suffering—in each paragraph he goes deeper and deeper into the suffering of Christ. “His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance… one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.”
3. Why? What was the purpose of the pain? Almost 30 years after Jesus’ suffering and death St. Paul wrote, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8). He died for us. He did it to demonstrate his love for us. He did it with a much higher purpose than simply being an example of selflessness. Over 700 years before it happened, Isaiah clearly showed that the Messiah’s suffering would be for atonement. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. … he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned—everyone—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. …. He was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.”
4. Look at this world and you see all humanity like sheep gone astray, everyone turning to his own way. Parents with no regard for their children. Children with no regard for their parents. People with no regard for their government. High officials with no regard for those they are elected to serve. People exploiting the addictions and weaknesses of others for their own profit. People feeding their addictions to their own harm. That’s just the externals we can see. There is also the darkest depths of our own hearts. Silent anger that smolders away. Jealousy of the success of others. Empty pride in our own accomplishments—yes, maybe you can do great and amazing thing—but it doesn’t necessarily make you better than anyone else. The pride in your heart and the despising of a neighbor earns God’s condemnation for you just the same. Our whole world needs redemption. You and I need redemption. Something that will bring us back to our God. We need atonement—someone to wipe our slate clean. We need power—power to raise us up so that we may truly live. We have Jesus. The Servant of the Lord. The Servant of us all.

Conclusion: “For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven… became fully human… for us he suffered under Pontius Pilate. He suffered death and was buried.” Any thought that you are too bad for him or that you don’t deserve what Jesus has to give is purely wrong! It’s wrong because Jesus already took the badness on himself. He makes you worthy. You have been sprinkled with his blood—that means that you are considered as God’s own child. Jesus got what you and I deserve—blame, pain, abandonment and death. You and I receive what Jesus alone deserved—the title—“child of God.” From the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior we also receive power—power to die to sin and to rise to new life daily with him (Romans 6:4); power to love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34-35); power to imitate God as dearly loved children (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Amen.

Isaiah 52:13–53:12 (ESV)

¹³ Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. ¹⁴ As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— ¹⁵ so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.

¹ Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ² For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. ³ He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. ⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? ⁹ And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. ¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. ¹² Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Pastor Stratman’s sermons can be read online at http://www.saintstephen.org/ and are also available on his blog where you can subscribe for e-mail updates. Go to: https://pastorstratman.wordpress.com/