Pentecost 17B

Return, O my soul, to your rest,
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
The Lord has delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
Psalm 116:7-8

Isaiah 50:4-10

4 The Lord God has given me a trained tongue,
that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens, wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I did not turn backward.
6 I gave my back to those who struck me
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.

7 The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
8 he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?

Let us stand in court together.
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.
9 It is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
All of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.

10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the voice of his servant,
who walks in darkness
and has no light,
yet trusts in the name of the Lord
and relies upon his God?

Today's Gospel

• Mark 8:27-38

In Mark's gospel, Jesus' journey to Jerusalem and to the cross is particularly incessant and relentless. Today's gospel reading in heavily Roman-dominated Caesarea Philippi includes Jesus' "But who do you say that I am?" challenge, followed by Petter identifying Jesus as the Christ (27-29); Jesus' first of three passion predictions in Mark's gospel (8:31); Jesus' charge to his followers to take up the cross in order to lose their life and to save it (34-35).


The Suffering Servant

The Church long has identified the four Suffering Servant passages in Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55) with Jesus of Nazareth:

• Isaiah 42:1-4
• Isaiah 49:1-6
• Isaiah 50:4-10
• Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12

Isaiah 53:8 records the servant's death in evocatively poetic words the librettist to Handel's Messiah used: "He was cut off out of the land of the living."


Today's First Reading

As we continue in Ordinary Time and Sundays after Pentecost, the first reading for today is the third servant song. It also is one of the scriptures for Sunday of the Passion (the Sixth Sunday in Lent), and for Wednesday in Holy Week during all three lectionary years.

Third Isaiah most likely was recorded toward the end of the exile in Babylon. The iconic Cyrus of Persia had overpowered Babylonian domination and begun to established his own long-lasting empire. Although the church identifies Jesus of Nazareth as this suffering servant, for Second Isaiah, God's servant is God's people Israel—some times a collective servant; at other times an individual.

Scholars have noticed striking consonance of today's scripture with Lamentations, particularly 3:21-24, which well may have influenced Isaiah's poetry.

But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
God's mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."

This no longer is the endless recycling of the same thing; this is resurrection hope!


Where We Live

The Lord God has given me a trained tongue, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Isaiah 50:4

The ability to provide words of comfort is a gift of God, not something we generate on our own. Whether we speak more formally in a sermon or leading a class, if we write poetry or sit at the kitchen table with a friend, God will give us what we need to say. Different translations say tongue of a disciple, tongue of a teacher, instructed to know, the right words, tongue of the wise, words of wisdom. For myself, I worry a lot more about what to say in a one-on-one situation than if I'm preaching or teaching, but sit back; breathe. Wait! Don't be in a hurry. God will provide for the moment.

The gospel writers saw Jesus of Nazareth in the suffering servant. Jesus calls us to the kind of servant leadership he shows us. But how – or does? – this scripture connect with today's gospel with Jesus' charge to deny ourselves (what does that mean?) take up a cross, and follow him?