The Gospel of Isaiah: Ch. 50:5-9, The Third Servant Song (Part 2)
The Gospel of Isaiah: Ch. 50:5-9, The Third Servant Song (Part 2).
WANTED: An imaginative scribe who can write exquisite poetry. A faithful, articulate believer in Yahweh who can switch from one extreme to another at the Lord’s command… from a sublime vision of God’s glory, to a ridiculous demonstration of shameful nakedness; from confronting the people over their sinfulness, to comforting people with hopefulness; from being an outspoken messenger one minute, to a living object lesson the next; from having one foot in the immediate surroundings one minute, to one foot in the future messianic realm the next. Must be adaptable, thick-skinned, and extraordinarily brave. Person who answers, “Here I am. Send me!” will be especially considered. (from The Jerusalem Post, 740 BC).
“Adonai-Yahweh has opened My ear, and I did not resist; I did not rebel or turn backward.
I offered My back to those who flogged Me and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard.
I never hid My face from demeaning insults or from those who spit on Me.
Adonai-Yahweh empowers Me, and that is why no insult can wound or confound Me.
For that reason, I set my face like a flint rock with holy determination,
for I know I will not be ashamed or disgraced.
The One who gives Me justice is near, the One who makes Me righteous is close to Me.
Who would challenge Me now? Who would be My opponent? Let him stand before Me!
It is Adonai-Yahweh who strengthens Me and is on My side. Who would condemn Me?
My accusers will all fade away, like worn-out clothes and moth-eaten garments. ” (50:5-9).
“Then Jesus led His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. He told them, ‘Sit here while I pray awhile.’ He took Peter, James and John with Him. An intense feeling of great horror plunged His soul into deep sorrow and agony. And He said to them, ‘My heart is overwhelmed with anguish and crushed with grief. It feels as though I’m dying. Stay here and keep watch with me…” (Mark 14:32-34, TPT).
Dreading the Thought. It’s easy for to see what was causing Jesus such deep agony. He knew what was coming, He understood what He would soon have to experience… betrayal; arrest; severe beatings with fists and clubs; near-fatal whippings; heaps of scorn, mockery and shame; rejection by the religious authorities; considered less worthy than a murderer and terrorist; the torture of huge nails driven through hands and feet; nakedness in the sight of all when He is lifted up on the Cross; being taunted while He is dying; struggling for His last breath in tremendous pain; mourning a brief but profound disruption of the intimate union with His Father; the knowledge that His death would break the heart of His dear mother Mary. This was all going through the mind and emotions of Jesus in the Garden, but we will never be able to understand the depth of His suffering unless we are asked to duplicate His experience in martyrdom. The Father sent an angel to minister to Him in His agony. One translation suggested that Jesus himself requested an angel to come, to comfort and strengthen Him while flat on the ground in anguish.
700 Years Ahead of Schedule! Isaiah’s prophecy was remarkably precise in this Servant Song… “Then those who seized Jesus led Him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered… Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Many of them slapped Him, saying, ‘Prophecy to us, you Messiah, you Anointed One! Who is it that struck you?” (Matt. 26:67); “Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they jammed it on His head and put a reed in His right hand. And kneeling before Jesus, they mocked Him, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And then they spit on Him and took the reed and struck Him on His head. And when they had mocked Him, they stripped him of the robe and put on His own clothes and led Him away to crucify Him.” (Matt. 27;27-31).
“Answer me, Lord, for your grace is good; in your great mercy, turn to me. You know I am insulted, shamed and disgraced; before you stand all my foes. Insults have broken my heart to the point that I could die. I hoped that someone would show me compassion, but nobody did; and that there would be comforters, but I found none.” (Psalm 69:16, 19-20; a messianic psalm of David that was surely fulfilled by Christ in His Passion).
Shamefully Treated. Jesus understands the trauma of shame from the inside of the pain. He personally experienced it. He understands the shame of guilt, because He took on the sins of the world, absorbed them, and put them away. So He understands guilt and the shame that goes with it. He also understands undeserved shame. He was repeatedly, profoundly shamed throughout His Passion. He knows what it’s like to be treated shamefully, to be abused and demeaned.
Open Shame. The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus suffered “open shame” during His Passion: the shame of betrayal (Judas); the shame of abandonment (Disciples); the shame of rejection (the crowd choosing Barabbas); the shame of the religious authorities spitting on Him and beating Him with their fists; the shame of the soldiers stripping off His clothes and mocking Him with a royal robe and crown of thorns; the shame of the soldiers making fun of Him by kneeling and bowing before Him and ridiculing His kingship. And now the worst is yet to come. Crucifixion was meant to be especially shameful. Shame was the central point of this whole method of execution. Jesus was unfairly executed with criminals. He was stripped naked and hung up high so everyone could see Him. While on the cross, bystanders hurled insults at Him, priests would jeer at Him, scribes and elders would mock Him unmercifully. As Rev. John Piper expressed so clearly: “Shame was stripping away every earthly support that Jesus had: his friends gave way in shaming abandonment; his reputation gave way in shaming mockery; his decency gave way in shaming nakedness; his comfort gave way in shaming torture. His glorious dignity gave way to the utterly undignified, degrading reflexes of grunting and groaning and screeching.”
Scorning the Shame. Psychiatrist and author Dr. Curt Thompson has a very helpful section in his outstanding book called The Soul of Shame. In this one section he discusses Hebrews 12:2, where its writer says that Christ “endured the cross, despising the shame.” Dr. Thompson discusses how Jesus laid out a pattern for us on how to deal with shame. Translations of the word ‘despise’ also use words like scorn and disregard. Jesus scorned the shame associated with the cross. He faced His shame head-on, He was aware of its presence and didn’t pretend it wasn’t there. He acknowledged the shame and turned away, as if He didn’t think anything of it. He fearlessly confronted His shame while not being overrun by it. He turned attention away from the shame after addressing its reality, and turned towards His Father and what He was being asked to do. In His vulnerability, He scorned shame, He faced it down and overcame it by rejecting it, because of the love and acceptance He felt from the Father. Jesus disregarded the shame and pushed it into the margins in terms of its importance.