A sermon on Isaiah 42:1-9 & Matthew 3:13-17 by the Revd Dr Geoff Leslie
A video recording of the whole liturgy, including this sermon, is available here.

Slogans have referents – ‘Go ahead, make my day’. May the force be with you. Play it again, Sam. What’s in a name? A rose by any other name. There was movement at the station. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.

Poets and preachers, writers and moviemakers could pick up a bit of a phrase like this and expect the audience to see a reference to the movie or play or context it comes from.

The biographers of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John use this technique frequently, mashing together lines from the Hebrew Bible to put Jesus’ story into a way of thinking. We used to say they were direct prophecies that Jesus miraculously fulfilled and for some of them that is true. But sometimes the writers are referencing an ancient text to help us see Jesus in the light of that story.

Matthew especially loves to throw in a text, sometimes a surprising one, and it only makes sense if we see he wants it to shape the way we think about Jesus.

Matthew 2:15 After the story of Herod’s murderous pursuit of Jesus and the family fleeing to Egypt. Matthew says they stayed there until Herod died and then came home, “What the Lord had spoken thru the prophet Hosea came true: I have called my son out of Egypt”.  And bing! We are taken back to Israel suffering in Egypt in the foundational history of the nation before being led out by Moses with signs and wonders to enter into covenant, walk through the wilderness and arrive at the Promised land.  So, Jesus comes out of Egypt — he will pass through the waters and then pass through temptations in the wilderness before proclaiming his Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God.  It’s not so much, This fulfills that literal prophecy, as Jesus’ life is a moment in history that is reminiscent, evocative, important. Jesus is engaged in a community-shaping, hope-building, God-directed project. Pay attention! It won’t be identical to Moses, but it will accomplish something equally significant. IT is full of echoes, of flashbacks, of tropes and themes that remind the reader of God’s activity in the past and provoke us to see Jesus in that light.

And so we come to the baptism story.  It’s a unique event – no OT precedent. The person God is about to use as his agent in the new project comes and gets baptised. How are we to think about this? The voice from heaven drops a couple of cliches that make it unmistakeable.

You are my son, my beloved with whom I am well-pleased.

You are my Son.

How many blokes have longed for a moment when their father would show that kind of pride, that kind of promise of protection and authorisation. When their dad would put his arm around their shoulders and say, this is my son. It has all that power here – authorisation, affirmation, family connection, divine approval, identity, 

But the astute reader hears that it is a quote from Psalm 2.

Psalm 2 is a boisterous coronation psalm.

When Jesus hears the words, You are my Son… the whole Messiah/kingdom/divine regency scenario comes reverberating like an echo. Psalm 2  ‘I have installed my king in Ziion….God said to me, You are my Son today I have begotten you…Ask of me and I will give you the nations as your inheritance.’ This portrayal of the king of Israel has long been a dream of the day when the Messiah comes in power and glory and might.  Is that what Jesus is going to do?

But wait! The next part of the quote from heaven picks up an entirely different text:

The second part of the announcement from Heaven coms out of Isaiah 42 and it has a completely different feel:

Here is my servant, whom I strengthen, my beloved in whom I am well-pleased. I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations. 

This sounds a bit like the Messianic psalm but instead of a strong tough king, this is a gentle servant:

He will not cry out or raise his voice, he will not shout in the streets, he will not break a damaged reed, or snuff out a smouldering wick. He will faithfully bring about justice. He will not be discouraged or crushed until he has set up justice on the earth.

And this expresses exactly the enigma of Jesus.  A king who is gentle. A god-ordained ruler who acts in a surprising loving way. A servant-king, a justice-bringer who is not a bully.

There are 4 beautiful Servant Songs in Isaiah. Isaiah is talking about the time when Israel – who have been in exile in Babylon – will be set free. They will come home and rebuild their land and the city of Jerusalem.  [42:1-9; 49:1-7; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12] 

It is not immediately clear who the Servant is that Isaiah is talking about. Do you remember even the Ethiopian Eunuch was reading Isaiah and asked, who is the prophet talking about?

• Jesus – say the Christians
• Israel – say the Jews, and Israel is indeed named in some of the songs
• Cyrus – say historians, and he is also named
• Perhaps the returning exiles of Israel, being called to bring healing for those who never went to exile

But what does God even want to choose people for?  Why doesn’t God work with the whole word at once? It all goes back to Abraham. God chose one person in the world through whom God wishes all the nations of the earth to be blessed.  Israel walks in that promise till this day. We are God’s chosen race, they say, with a mission from God. And the church sees itself as a chosen people who have been added to the Abraham calling. And probably Islam does as well.

The reasons for choosing the servant are spelt out in these passages: 

• Isa 42:6 to do what is right
• my promise to the people, ie God’s promise to the rest of the world that he loves them
• My light to the nations.
• You will give sight to the blind, bring prisoners out of prisons, and bring those who live in darkness out of dungeons.
• 43:12 You are my witnesses that I am God, declares the Lord
• 49:3 You are my servant Israel. I will display my glory through you.

This is why God calls people. The life of God flows through the called ones to the rest of the nations.  The point is not for the blessing of the chosen people.  They are a means to a greater end. Blessing and healing the world. Tikkun olam. There are many lists of the sorts of things chosen people are to accomplish. They model an obedient life, they work to lift up the fallen, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, free the captives. They tell the Good News about God’s love for all people and invite them to repent and believe.

But there is a problem frequently encountered in the Bible: the chosen ones are not doing their job and they fall in a hole: 

Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!
Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? 
He sees many things, but does not observe them; 
his ears are open, but he does not hear. 
The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, 
to magnify his law and make it glorious. 
But this is a people plundered and looted; 
they are all of them trapped in holes 
and hidden in prisons. (Isa 42:18-22)

What happens when the Servant God has sent fails? When the light is dull, the guides are blind, the holy ones are corrupt, the lawgivers become lawbreakers?

Then God sends a servant, a chosen one with the special task of restoring the original servant  In Isa 49, 

49:5 Before I was born, the Lord appointed me; he made me his servant to bring back his people, to bring back the scattered people of Israel. 

• The prophets worked on reforming Israel
• Cyrus sent the exiles home to rebuild Israel
• John the Baptist spent his whole life getting Israel ready for the Messiah
• Jesus reformed and regathered Israel in the form of a new group of 12 with a new Law
• We badly need to reform the church today

This could also be your calling. Why is the church so feeble in our country? Who can God use to bring back the scattered people of God and help our nation reconnect with the God who loves them?

The church needs rebuilding, it needs strengthening, it needs revival, it needs growing and teaching and using its God-given gifts.  This could be my calling. It could be yours, in some way or other.

And then comes this most significant text: verse 6

The Lord said to me, “I have a greater task for you, my servant.  Not only will you restore to greatness the people of Israel who have survived, but I will also make you a light to the nations— so that all the world may be saved.”

God isn’t happy with a good strong, happy, warm and cosy church. He wants the church to be a blessing to its community. This is the original purpose God ever called people. To use them for mission, to work through them to bring love, grace, hope and the Holy Spirit to the nations, so that all the world may be saved.

Two roles:  1. Restore the church;  2. On behalf of the church, bless the community

The first role is often mistaken for the whole purpose of God in this age. It is not; it is preparing the people of God for their purpose: to bring the life and love of God to the community.

Number 1. Is sharpening the axe so it can do its job of chopping the firewood. It is the training session so the footy team can go and play the match. It is the fuelling station so the church has enough fuel to drive the distance.

If we mistake number 1. For the whole purpose of our lives – church growth, church life, prayer meetings, teaching, worship, we are like a team that trains but never plays, we are like a car that fuels up then drives round and round in the petrol station but never drives away!

When we were baptised, I like to think it was God commissioning us to play our part somehow in one or both of these two roles that God has for servants. God put an arm around our shoulders and said:

Behold my child whom I love, my servant with whom I am well-pleased.
I have chosen you from before you were born to restore my people and to bring my blessing to your world.