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

Palm/Passion Sunday/Years A, B, and C 39
not want to hear it. Although the truth is a comforting word, it is also a
word that often discomfits those who most need to hear it.
God gave the servant the tongue of a teacher so that he might “know
how to sustain the weary with a word” (v. 4). This is a remarkable concept
and well states a key function of ministry—to sustain the weary with a
word, to speak the apt word that gives us courage in the face of anxiety
and fear, that brings reconciliation out of estrangement, that opens up the
possibilities of authentic community in the face of isolation, that gives
hope in a time of despair and strength to the weak and overburdened.
In order to do this, God had to give the servant an ear that could “hear”
(shema) the word of a compassionately just God. God “opened” Isaiah’s ear
so that he did not “turn backward” in the face of adversity. Those who speak
need to be excellent listeners, to God and to those to whom they speak. We
need an open ear when we listen to God in our prayers, in our studies, and
in our attempts to live out in word and deed the faith that is ours. Too often
in prayer all we do is talk. There is a Jewish saying that study is a higher
form of worship than prayer, because in studying we listen to God while in
prayer, the only thing about us that is open is our mouths.
Part of what Isaiah learns, according to this passage, comes from his
suffering. This does not mean that suffering is necessarily redemptive.
Much of it is simply destructive of life and well-being, like the suffering
of the thousands of children who die of starvation every day. Yet there are
people who have endured intense suffering and gone on to become inspiring
figures with tremendous ability to spread the love of God and neighbor
in the world. The writers of this book know a survivor of Auschwitz.
His entire extended family died there; only he survived. When we got to
know him he was carrying the message of resisting prejudice and loving
the neighbor throughout the public schools as an unpaid ambassador on
behalf of gentleness and compassion. He had walked through the valley
of dark shadows but, like Isaiah, “did not turn backward.”
In answer to the question, how did you do this? Isaiah says simply: “The
Lord GOD helps me” (v. 7). All servants of the Lord need a listening ear so
that they, too, may receive a word that sustains the weary and suffering.
This reading is paired on Passion Sunday with Philippians 2:5–11, the
Christ-Wisdom hymn in which Christ “did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave
[servant] . . . and became obedient to the point of death” (vv. 6–8). The “servant”
could refer to any of God’s faithful servants. Paul so uses it here to
refer to Christ as the servant in whom God’s love is clearly disclosed, to the
end that God’s name should be confessed (“the name that is above every