It is Lenten time. I have been thinking about a set of passages at the heart of the Lenten season – the “Servant Songs,” in the wonderful book of Isaiah.
You will recognize these songs, I am sure (Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12). Every year at Lenten time (if you belong to a church that notices things like these), you will read them. The songs introduce us to the deep and solemn melody of Lent: the story of the “man of suffering” who “has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases” – the one who was “wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities” (53:3,4,5). “All we like sheep have gone astray,” we sing, “and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (v.6). The songs point us to the Messiah: Jesus Christ, born of Mary, who was crucified, died and was buried, and rose again. We should picture Calvary. We should picture the Empty Tomb and the Coming Again in Glory.
The New Testament is full of this melody. You can hear its tones in Paul, especially. “The message of this salvation has been sent,” he preached. “They asked Pilate to have him killed… [they] laid him in a tomb… God raised him from the dead… we bring you the good news… through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you…” (Acts 13:26,28,29,30,32,38).
I have noticed in the Servant Songs an additional layer, too: they carry a kind of descant. The songs tell the story of the One who Died For Us: this is their fundamental melody. Yet from time to time we find ourselves in the music, as well. Sometimes the songs refer plainly to the Savior (e.g., 53:6). Sometimes they refer to a committed remnant of God’s people (e.g., 49:5). Sometimes they seem to refer to the entire people of God (e.g., 49:3). The Servant’s service, as it turns out, includes the Servant’s servants. If you have come to believe in the Servant yourself, the Servant’s service includes you.
We see this working out in Acts 13. At the beginning of the chapter Paul and Barnabas are commissioned to ministry: the sisters and brothers “laid their hands on them and sent them off” (v.3). They preach their way through Cyprus (vv.4-12). Then they are off to Pamphylia (v.13) and Pisidia (v.14). All along they way, they are honing their message – applying the good news to government officials (v.7), meddlesome sorcerers (v.8), officials in the synagogue (v.15), the people of Israel, and “others [viz., Gentiles] who fear God” (v.16). Sometimes things go very well indeed (e.g., v.12); sometimes not so well (e.g., v.45). By the end of the chapter, Paul and Barnabas have concluded that the Lord had led them onward and outward – beyond the familiar (and stubbornly closed) circle of Israel to the wide world at large.
It was the Servant’s service that moved them. They describe their calling by reference to a Servant Song – the song recorded in Isaiah 49. “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth'” (Acts 13:47; cf. Isaiah 49:6).
But notice the pronouns.
In the Song of the Suffering Servant, Paul and Barnabas find a mandate, too. “The Lord has commanded us,” they report (Acts 13:47). The Lord made the Servant “a light to the Gentiles” – but Paul and Barnabas are swept into the cause. They feel themselves commanded to the Gentiles – so that they, themselves, “may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” The service of the Servant, it turns out, becomes our service to the nations, too.
Pronouns like these should not surprise us. Jesus was sent; we are sent – and in the very same way. “As the Father has sent me,” Jesus told his followers, “so I send you” (John 20:21; cf. 17:18). Now “the love of Christ urges us on” (2 Corinthians 5:14). Now Paul could say we “work together with him” (6:1). Peter could say that the Savior’s sufferings (he quotes the Servant Songs!) have become an example for us, “so that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21; cf. Isaiah 53). So the Song of the Servant is our melody, too: when we believe in Jesus, he writes us into his song. He makes us a part of his mission in the world.
I hope that you will read the Servant Songs this Lenten time, too. Let me advise you to listen carefully for the descant. When you hear “for the sake of the nations” and “the ends of the earth…” – that part belongs to you.