December 2 2007 Lectionary Reading: Isaiah 53

Theme: The lowliness and glory of the Servant of the Lord

Some of the writers and thinkers of the Early Church are of great interest. One Christian writer who is often remembered at this time of the year is Justin, who because he was executed for his Christian faith in later life, is remembered as Justin the Martyr. We really know little of his early life, he was born in or around 100 AD in Neapolis, a town about 20 miles north of Jerusalem. As a young man, Justin was passionately interested in philosophy, he had read all the great and difficult philosophical books, searching, he tells us, for truth, real truth about God. One day, he tells us, he was walking along the seashore, lost in his thoughts, when he met an old man. They sat down on the beach, and as they talked together, Justin told the old man what was on his mind, about his searching, looking for God. The old man told him that what Justin was looking for would be shown to him, that what he was looking for the prophets of old had spoken of. And what they said was true. Over the next days Justin tells us, he read and re-read the prophets – Isaiah, and Daniel and the others and then he says: “Straightway a flame was kindled in my soul and a love of the prophets, and a love of Christ possessed me; and whilst revolving the words in my mind, I found this teaching alone to be safe and profitable.” Justin had come to know Jesus Christ.

The next time we come across Justin, around 130 or 140 AD, he is living in Ephesus, 900 miles from his home. Ephesus was a bustling city, with all kinds of trades and industries, with a population made up of many different nationalities, worshipping all kinds of gods. He is a long way from home…. in a foreign city. But when we meet him now, we discover that in his writings, two passages from the Bible occur again and again. Isaiah 53, and Daniel 7, the passages we read this morning. Both passages speak of the Servant of the Lord: Isaiah 53 about the lowliness of the Servant, Daniel 7 about the glory of the Servant. Justin, we can see, has been transfixed by these passages, seized by their words, by Isaiah 53 and Daniel 7, his thinking about Jesus Christ has been transformed.

In what way ? well, Justin speaks in unforgettable, passionate words about the lowliness of Jesus, and the glory of Jesus Christ. Justin thinks in the deepest ways, about the lowliness of Jesus, and the glory of Jesus. For the strengthening of the often struggling, often weak congregation there in Ephesus, and for the comfort of the Christian Church in the whole region, Justin declares the wonderful message of the lowliness of Jesus, and the glory of Jesus, and what that lowliness and that glory mean for Christian people, what that lowliness and that glory mean for us.

What do they mean ?

Well, the wonderful message of the lowliness of Jesus, and the glory of Jesus has special significance for us in Advent. Just as we might pause on a hillside to look back over the way we have travelled, and look forward to the journey still to come, today we look back in wonder and love to the lowly, loving life, of Jesus, His cross and resurrection, and look forward in wonder and hope to His coming again.

What of the lowliness of Jesus ? Well, just as Justin declares, this is the great, deep, unique theme of Isaiah 53. What Isaiah 53 speaks of is the unique, mysterious, wonderful Servant of the Lord – who will come in lowliness, who will obey the will of the Lord perfectly. The Servant, declares the prophet, will be One who is despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, who will bear the sins of many, and who will speak to God on the sinners behalf.

This is precisely Jesus Himself. To look at Jesus, to know Him, to know His life, is to see Him described in Isaiah 53. The words concerning the mysterious and wonderful Servant in Isaiah 53 refer directly to Jesus. They describe Jesus exactly, His lowliness, His life and His cross.

Look at John’s gospel for example. What does John’s gospel show us ?

John’s gospel shows us Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. This is what He chooses – to wash the feet of the disciples in lowliness. The One who is Lord, the Son, has taken upon Himself loving lowliness and serves others. He takes upon Himself the lowliest task, the work left for the lowest servant in the house. And as we gaze upon Jesus in the Upper Room, washing the feet of the disciples in lowliness, we see what the living God is like. God Himself has come in love upon the earth, to pour out His life for us in His Son, Jesus.

And this is what Jesus calls us to. The loving service of one another.

This is the pattern, the deep ground, of the life of the Church.

Loving service of others, neighbours, friends, family, those who are in need.

Loving service is the way of Jesus, and the way of life for us.

Rooted in Christ, we become servants in loving care for others.

Just as deep, life giving roots bring blossom on the tree

so our life in Christ, our roots in Jesus,

blossom and flourish in loving service, loving servanthood.

As Paul says in Philippians 2, Paul says, think on Jesus Christ

Of His own loving free will the Lord gave up all He had in heaven, in the Father’s presence, and became a servant,

This is the pattern of life in Jesus for us……….

loving service of others, in His name…………

We can hardly fail to see how frail, how weak

the lowly way of Jesus seems.

We can hardly fail to see how frail, how weak

the lowly way of Jesus Christ looks when compared to the great powers of the world. Economic power, military power, cultural power, or increasingly, the power of indifference.

How weak – the lowly way of Jesus seems:

But the New Testament points us again and again to Jesus Himself

who shows unfailing trust in the Father for all things

selfless, loving trust, absolute trust in the Father……..

in all things, and above all things……….

in the face of all……..worldly powers.

And the ringing gospel declaration of the New Testament is that

though He was put to death on a cross, God has raised Him.

and the lowly way of love and forgiveness, of Jesus, turns out to be stronger than death itself. As Paul proclaims in 2 Corinthians 13.4…

even though, he says, He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power

we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him…..

So, the reality is

that we are more than conquerors

through him who loved us.

in Jesus Christ our Risen Lord is all our strength and power.

We come then to the glory of Jesus. The other great theme of Justin - the glory of Jesus. Where did the Church in Ephesus, that bustling city, with all kinds of trades and industries, with its great population and its many gods, where did the often struggling, often weak congregation there in Ephesus, where di the Church look for its life and strength. That is just as important a question now !

Where does the often struggling, often weak Church in this land look for its life and its strength now ?

Well, Justin declares where strength lies.

He called the Church to look to to the risen ascended Jesus………

and know that all power, all authority is given to Jesus……

This message is already there in the prophecy of Daniel 7. 13-14, so dear to Justin’s heart. Where we read that the Son of Man: approached the throne of the living God and was given authority and all worshipped Him. And this message echoes and re-echoes all through the New Testament. Peter says in the earliest sermon in Acts: 2.33 – this Jesus, whom you crucified, God has made both Lord and Christ………..

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians says: The Father raised Jesus from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority, power and dominion… and placed all things under His feet

in Philippians: God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name………that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow

And it is in that authority that Jesus sends us out into the world:

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me…….. go,

So, we find our life, our strength in looking to the risen ascended Jesus………for all authority, all authority belongs to Jesus Christ the risen ascended Lord………

Despite the opposition of the world,

its hostility,

its violence……..

despite its indifference,

there is a greater reality,

which is this: that God has exalted Jesus Christ to the highest place and has given Him the name that is above every name………

Often, the life of the Church, and of course, the path of our own lives,

can be difficult to follow, we may become wearied,

but as the old hymn says: we have an anchor,

in Jesus - Who says to us: All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me……..

And His promise is secure:

we will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky,

with power and great glory

In this Advent Season: May we look back in wonder and love to the lowly, loving life, of Jesus, His cross and resurrection,

and look forward in wonder and hope to His coming again.

and in His lowliness, and His glory find our life and our strength.

AMEN