Isaiah 50:4–9

March 16 2008 Palm Sunday Sermon

⁴Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. ⁵The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. ⁶I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. ⁷But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. ⁸He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. ⁹Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

"I am Abraham's servant," That is how Eliezer introduced himself. Never in the scriptures does this servant refer to himself by his proper name, for as a servant his entire identity was based in the person he served. Eliezer, the faithful servant, who for his total dedication to his master Abraham had been placed over his entire household. It was the faithful Eliezer that Abraham trusted to find a wife for his son, his only son, his beloved son Isaac.

A servant's whole identity is based on the person he serves. The servant will dress in the manner the master approves; will act in the manner approved; even suffer the same fate as the master in times of adversity. Throughout history you can find the devotion of servants to their masters, even unto death.

God desires true servants who are obedient to him in all ways. Isaiah sang of just such a servant who obeyed his father's will even to the point of humiliation and death. The servant of Isaiah's song is the true servant.

But just who is this true servant? Are we true servants? Our text is the third of four songs which the servant sings through the prophet Isaiah: "The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary." The true servant is a trained and well taught disciple. He has the tongue of a disciple. He submits to the teaching of his master and gladly learns from his master.

The servant sings: "Morning by morning he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught." The true servant hears the word of his master. He is in continual communication, always listening, always learning. The true servant delights to hear his master's word and learn from him. As opposed to a hired hand who rebels against what is being taught, the true servant's ears are open to receive the word of God. The hired hand runs away from his word, but the true servant does not turn away, he rather turns toward the Word of God, desires it, thirsts for it, and looks to it for guidance and wisdom. "The eyes of servants look to the hand of their master; the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God till he has mercy upon us."

The true servant suffers the fate of his master. He is not rebellious; he turns not backward. He gives his back to those who strike and his cheeks to those who pull out the beard. He hides not his face from disgrace and spitting. But the hired hand runs in the face of adversity. He betrays his master and deserts him when misfortune strikes or disaster looms.

Are we true servants of God? Like hired hands we rebel against God's law. We revolt against him in sinful disobedience. Rather than seek him and thirst after him to do his will and please him, we are disobedient and unruly. Instead of praise we deserve rebuke. We flee our master when things get difficult or our lives are threatened. Instead of standing up for his name and proclaiming his word, we cower in fear and flee humiliation and scorn. We don't want to learn our master's teaching. We avoid and shun opening his word and studying the scriptures. Sometimes we just don't have time, or we lack interest. Other times we stubbornly avoid it, even refuse it. We don't take seriously his commands. We don't fear his threats of punishment for sin, and sometimes don't even think that disobedience is a very serious matter. As a result we don't take seriously his church or its mission. We often reduce his church to mere fellowship, a club or service organization, but don't take seriously his commands and what he requires of us in obedience.

This disobedience is sin and has made us slaves of sin. Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say unto you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever..." Because we are servants of sin, we do not serve our neighbors in love. We are forced into a life of servitude. Our vocations are turned into obligations, rather than being the joyful service of love toward one another. Our vocations of serving our family and friends, of serving our employers, of serving our communities and nation, instead of being done in joyful love, become obligations and toil. This is the curse of sin. This is what God decreed when he told Adam: "In pain shall you eat of the ground all the days of our life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust and unto dust you shall return."

We have failed as servants of God. So who then is the servant whose song we hear in the prophecy of Isaiah? It is Christ, our Lord, the true servant of his Father. It is the Lamb who goes uncomplaining forth. It is Christ who was obedient to his Father's teaching. To him was given the tongue of those who are taught. It is he who speaks the Father's word. It is he whose ears are opened to hear his Father's words in continual communication. And it is he who gives his ear to hear the pleas of his people.

Christ is obedient to his Father's will. He was not rebellious; he turned not backward. He actively obeys by serving his Father and his neighbor. He passively obeys by giving his back to those who strike and his cheeks to those who pull out his beard. It is Christ who did not hide his face from disgrace and spitting.

He did not turn back in time of danger or abandon the course midway when peril stuck. He was accused and tortured, but he set his face like a flint on his destiny: the cross. He remained in faithful service to his Father even though it ended in his crucifixion.

Listen to the conversation between God and his Son captured by John Milton in his famous poem, "Paradise Lost." In one scene, man having fallen into sin, God tearfully laments: "Man with all his posterity must die; die he or justice must, unless for him some other, able and as willing, pay the rigid satisfaction...death for death."

Then God asks the heavenly hosts, "Where shall we find such love?" He asked, but all the heavenly quire stood mute, and silence was in heaven. On man's behalf patron or intercessor none appeared...and now without redemption all mankind must have been lost, adjudged to Death and Hell...had not the Son of God, in whom the fullness dwells of love divine, his dearest meditation thus renewed.

"Father," he said, "thy word is passed, man shall find grace.... Behold me, then; me for him, life for life I offer. On me let thine anger fall. Account me man. I for his sake will leave thy bosom. And this glory next to thee [I will] freely put off, and for him lastly die well pleased. On me let death wreak all his rage under his gloomy power."

Therefore, as we sing in the hymn, for me "the Lamb goes uncomplaining forth. He bears the guilt of my sin. Though laden with the sins of all the world, no one else shared his burden. He goes on patiently, growing weak and faint; led to the slaughter without complaint. Offering his spotless life, he bears the stripes, the wounds, the lies, the mockery and yet suffers all this gladly for me.

Who is this Lamb? It is Christ, the soul's greatest friend, the Lamb of God, our Savior. He is the one whom God the Father sent to gain his favor for us. "Go forth, my Son" the Father said, "and free my children from their dread of guilt and condemnation. The wrath and stripes are hard to bear, but by your suffering they will share the fruit of your salvation."

"Yes, Father, Yes." Said the Son. "I'll go willingly and bear what you command. I'll do what you have asked me." And so the one who built the earth's foundation was lain into the very soil he created.

All this he did for us, uncomplaining. The Servant who for us gave his back to those who strike and his cheeks to those who pull out the beard. So that we shall one day see his glory and taste the pleasure of his kingdom. In baptism he gives us obedient ears to hear his Word rightly. In baptism he gives us obedient tongues to confess Christ's word to a disobedient world that surrounds us.

He is the true servant who serves us his body and blood in Holy Communion to forgive all our disobedience. And his blood shall be our royal robe. His righteousness shall be our crown. And clothed in these garments of his blood and righteousness, we shall be brought to stand next to him as his bride forever.

Christ, the Lamb who goes uncomplaining forth serves us. And his divine service moves us to serve him and our neighbors. By His perfect obedience all who are in him will be vindicated. Christ was vindicated when he was raised to life at the end of holy week. We will be vindicated when in the resurrection all will see that God has declared us perfectly obedient to him on account of our incorporation into Christ.

Yes, the true Servant is the one we see on Palm Sunday, riding into Jerusalem in humbleness on the colt of a donkey. He is the suffering servant who goes forward to Golgotha in obedience to his Father's plan of redemption. It is for us sinful servants that Jesus obediently goes forth to die. The faithful servant dies for the sinful servant; an exchange of sorts.

Yet the true servant is also the risen servant who is present here to serve us with his perfect obedience. Because of his divine service we are no longer servants of ourselves and servants of sin. We are transformed into servants in his likeness. We are freed from servitude to sin in order to serve God and our neighbor. Amen.