Loving God, you continue to call us to be light in our world and to work for justice. Empower us by your Holy Spirit, that others might see Christ at work through us; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

          The servant about whom Isaiah is writing is destined for great things.  “He will bring forth justice to the nations.”  He will establish justice in the earth, “and the coastlands [will] wait for his teaching” (Is. 42:1, 4).  It doesn’t sound like something that any mere mortal could do, and so many have asked who this servant really is.

         There are at least three answers to this question.  One answer, which is given by many biblical scholars, is that the servant is Israel. It is Israel, God’s chosen people, who are to teach and bring forth justice for all nations.  It is Israel who is given as a covenant to the people and a light to the nations.  It is Israel who has been called in righteousness and has been given the spirit of God.  This was the message that was given to God’s people while they were still in exile in Babylon.

         However, as you can tell from the gospel of Matthew, some also see Jesus in this passage.  He is the second answer to the question of the servant’s identity.  In the verses that we heard today from Matthew, the connection is made specifically with Jesus not crying aloud in the streets or making a big public display, as he tells people not to make him known (Mt. 12:16).  There are also connections with the baptism of Jesus, where God’s Spirit does come upon him, and the voice from heaven calls him “my chosen, in whom my soul delights” (Is. 42:1).

         While many in Israel continued to hate the Gentiles because of the oppression that they had endured under other nations, Jesus made it possible for people from all nations to become the people of God.  Jesus becomes a covenant to the people and a light to the nations.  Jesus also opens the eyes of the blind and releases those who have been imprisoned.

         And so, Israel is proclaimed as God’s Servant, and Jesus is proclaimed as God’s Servant.  However, as with most of the prophets, this passage from Isaiah relates not only to the past, but also to the present and the future. During this season of Advent (which means “coming”), we pay attention to the servant’s coming in the past, and the present, and the future.  In fact, when we think about the present, “our church communities are God’s servant” (Spill the Beans, Issue 14).  This is the third answer to the servant’s identity.  After all, we are the body of Christ, and Jesus continues to be present in our world through us and in us and among us.

         As we think about this, consider first of all how God has equipped us for service.  God has put the Holy Spirit upon us.  God has given us breath and spirit and upholds us.  God has called us, taken us by the hand and kept us.  God has given us the Spirit of Jesus and has given us the gifts of the Spirit that empower us in Jesus’ name.  In spite of this, however, most of us have trouble imagining establishing justice in the earth.  In fact, you could almost say that verses 1-4 in today's reading sound like some sort of superman or superwoman.

         However, consider verses 2 and 3 and the servant’s approach to justice.  It doesn’t involve shouting in the streets or a big public display. Rather, it starts very small – with a bruised reed or a dimly burning wick.  Rather than breaking off a bruised reed and throwing it away, the servant nurtures it in order to bring it back to life and health.  Rather than simply snuffing out a dimly burning wick, the servant works with it in such a way that it can burn brightly once again.  One person at a time – one situation at a time – the servant works with what is good (or with the good that is left) in order to bring forth justice.  Doesn’t this sound at least a little bit easier to deal with than bringing justice to the nations or to the earth?

         Of course, bringing justice anywhere is still not easy, but every time we are able to make a difference for just one person, Christ has come through us.  At the same time, sometimes we are the people who are feeling like a bruised reed or a dimly burning wick.  Sometimes we are called to let our light shine when we really don’t feel like it.  Those are the times when it is so important to be aware of God’s Spirit within us, and to be aware of God upholding us.  And sometimes those are the times when Christ comes to us through others.

         To return for just a moment to the people of Israel, they were essentially captives in a foreign land at the time when Isaiah brought this message to them.  For many of them, when they heard Isaiah’s message about justice in the earth, they would have immediately assumed that this meant punishing the nations for the way in which they had treated Israel.  Thus, this whole idea of being a covenant to the people and a light to the nations would have been one of the “new things” that Isaiah was declaring to them (Is. 42:9).  Could it be that God’s Law and God’s justice were really for all nations?

         Then, when Jesus was born, that was really a new thing!  Who would have imagined that God would be born as a human being and would come to share in all that it means to be human, in order that we might share in what it means to be divine?  And the whole idea that the Son of God would actually suffer and die? – That was a new thing, as well.

         During this season where we remember how Christ came at a certain time in history, and how Christ continues to come to us in the present, and how Christ has promised to come again, we do well to remember that God continues to make all things new.  May it continue to be so among us.  Amen.

Advent 3 (NL 1)                                Isaiah 42:1-9

December 16, 2018                        Matthew 12:15-21

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2018 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved