000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

18 Second Sunday after the Epiphany/Year A
born and called me through his grace . . . so that I might proclaim him
among the Gentiles . . .” (Gal. 1:15). As Israel was to serve God on behalf
of the whole world, so Paul went to the whole world with his good news
for Gentiles. In the Song of Simeon, Luke so interprets the significance
of the birth of Jesus: “my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have
prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel” (2:30–32).
Commentary on today’s reading has often been obsessed with determining
whether the servant is a particular individual or the people Israel.
On one hand, the servant is sent “to” Jacob and Israel (v. 5); on the other
hand, Israel is said to be “my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
The best answer is that both Israel and the prophet are servants of God,
and indeed each of us shares the servant’s task, here so beautifully sung.
Our passage makes the logic of blessing (well-being) clear. Between
communities, well-being is available to Israel only if it is also available to
all other peoples and vice versa. Within a community, well-being is available
to some only if it is available to all. This is why, in Israel, no one was
to have too little and no one too much, and why the man who built his
barns bigger to hoard food while others lived in destitution did not
achieve the well-being that he sought (Luke 12:13–21).
The purpose of the servant’s task is that God will be glorified: “you are
my servant in whom I will be glorified” (v. 3). We dare not forget in all
our theologizing and preaching that we make all our witness, whether in
word or deed, ad maiorem Dei gloriam, to the greater glory of God.
In verse 4, the servant declares: “yet surely my cause is with the LORD.”
The Hebrew for “cause” is often translated “justice” because mishpat is the
heartfelt justice of a loving God; this is the order of the world as God has
created it and we rely on it for all possibility of well-being in the human
community and in nature. “Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says: On three
things does the world stand: on justice, on truth, and on peace.” 4
One often hears that whereas Jesus and Paul were inclusive, Judaism was
not. Frequently this is stated in terms of boundary markers; Jews had them,
Jesus and Paul did not. It is time to put this pejorative contrast to rest. No
group can exist without boundary markers; no congregation could identify
its members. Boundary markers function as means of inclusion.
In early Judaism, there were strong inclusive tendencies. Notably the
Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26–40 was reading Isaiah 53:7–8. If he kept
reading, he would have found Isaiah 56:4–5: “For thus says the LORD: To
the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths . . . and hold fast my covenant, I will
give, in my house . . . an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” Would