Weekly Bible Study - Isaiah 42:1-7

12 January 14
The Baptism of the Lord

The Baptism of Jesus is a glorious occasion. Crowds witness unexpectedly the manifestation of God.

It is a moment of powerful awareness of the divine. In the midst of these bleak winter days the sacred liturgy gives us joyous reminders of God’s made manifest in the world. But there is also an overshadowing, an ominous feeling that suffering, too, is present as part of the divine mystery. We see this theme unfold in today’s reading from Second Isaiah (chapters 40-55), chapters that include one of four oracles that speak of a "Suffering Servant."

Scripture scholars continue to ponder the identity of the Suffering Servant. Was the author of this part of Isaiah, probably a sixth century disciple of the eighth century prophet named Isaiah, speaking about his own spiritual suffering (or that of his mentor)?  The Book of Isaiah describes the anguish of the prophets as they considered the great abyss between God’s holiness and humanity’s sinfulness.  Or was Second Isaiah speaking about the suffering of Judah, God's "chosen" people? Surrounded by powerful enemies, the spiritual center, Jerusalem, was destroyed and its people cast into the darkness of exile. Or was he speaking of some future time encompassing every age of a suffering humanity? We hear daily the cries of the oppressed scattered throughout our broken world.

The mission of the Suffering Servant points to the identity of Jesus, the one with whom God is "well pleased." Here is the one who comes for the weak and despairing (perhaps symbolized by the “bruised reed" and the "smoldering wick.”). He will come for the “coastlands,” for Jews and Gentiles alike, for us and future generations. He will come gently, not as one who dominates. His mission will bring sight to the blind, freedom to the captive and light to those in darkness. He will bring comfort and hope to a broken people. He will come for us, and he will suffer as one of us.

The Suffering Servant will please God in the fulfillment of the divine will.  And in him we will find our hope and our salvation.

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.