In the servant song of chapter 42, God responds to the people. He responds by choosing His humble Servant to bring the right way to God’s people and to all the nations. He gives them His word that the anointed (messiah) one will mercifully bring them back to God.
In Epiphany we finally get the first of four of Isaiah’s servant songs (the three others 49:1-6; 50:4-9; and 52:13-53:12). There are several things common to each of these that we can draw out, but I want to focus on the power of the word of the Servant, so we have a connection to the liturgical situation for our preaching on the Baptism of our Lord.
In each of the songs, the Servant “does not cry out” (42:2) but wields His “mouth like a sharpened sword” (49:2), while having an “instructed tongue” (50:4), that “He did not open” (53:7) when suffering for the sins of others. Hence, the emphasis on the word. Now, Israel had been using their words as well but for a different purpose. They complained that the ways of the Lord were not just, that God’s words were a burden. So, in the servant song of chapter 42, God responds to the people. He responds by choosing His humble Servant to bring the right way to God’s people and to all the nations. He gives them His word that the anointed (messiah) one will mercifully bring them back to God.
This was gospel to Isaiah’s audience because the Servant is presented to the Israelites who were exiled in Babylon in the sixth century. Their temple was destroyed, and their king, Zedekiah, had his eye’s gouged out after witnessing the death of his sons. Isaiah speaks to a people whose way of life had come to a sudden end by Nebuchadnezzar. The exiles knew only frustration and defeat. They chaffed under the burden of the world around them. Having known freedom, they were now embittered by their restrictions. No wonder they would say: “My way is hidden from the Lord; my justice (מִשְׁפָּטִי; mish-pa-Ti) is disregarded by my God” (40:27).
This is, perhaps, an opportunity to explore a theological confession that could come from the context of our reading. It could be a time to instruct God’s people on a proper distinction between Law and Gospel in terms of the Third Use of the Law, an area that has suffered much in current preaching. Namely, that preachers tend to think the Third Use of the Law is a terrific way to end a sermon because it gives us an opportunity to “respond” to the homiletical event. But the Third Use of the Law is still law. Therefore, it still kills and leaves sinners condemned. How can we help our hearers have a right understanding of the Third Use? I suggest this analogy I once heard at a theological symposium:
I used to hate driving 25 mph. Honestly, I loathed it. Cars are not even made to go that slowly. I used to imagine that some sick judge was out there creating these ridiculous laws that he knew were dumb because he wanted to fill his courtroom with convictions. In fact, I used to intentionally drive just over 25 mph when I was next to a police officer on the road so I could justify myself that he knew that I knew that 25 mph is just ridiculous. I used to hate driving 25 mph... until I had a kid. Once I had a child, my whole understanding of that law changed. Because I valued the life and relationship I have with my child I can now honestly say that 25 mph is WAY too fast if you are going to be on my street. You see, this is because my child plays with other children on the block. In fact, 25 mph is frightening to me. I am now one of those lawn-chair parents who “mad dogs” every person driving down the street, so they know that I know what they are doing. In fact, if you are coming to my street, I would just prefer you parked your car at the end of the block and walked to wherever it was you were going on my block and when you are done return to your vehicle and then drive away. My pharisaical perspective is admittedly extreme, but I know the wisdom of that law which I used to chafe under, because my whole life was changed when I was put into a relationship with my child. Of Course, that does not mean I drive perfectly today. I still break the speed limit. But now, instead of doing it out of defiance, I now know that when it happens, I am filled with regret and slow down and not just because of a fear of punishment but because I know it is good.
This is like the Law of God. Before Christ, we chaffed under the Law and hated God because of it (the First Use). But now our whole perspective on the Law has changed because we have been put into relationship with God through His Son. To our shame, at first, this relationship made us realize what great sinners we are (the Second Use). But the Gospel changed us and our whole perspective about everything including the Law is now seen rightly in Christ. In fact, we must be careful with this new perspective, so we do not become too pharisaical about it. Now, that does not mean we keep the Law perfectly, only the Son of God did that for us. It just means we agree that the Law is just, good, and right (the Third Use). I am grateful that God is merciful to me a sinner and has given me His Son to change everything I know about this world.
I am grateful that God is merciful to me a sinner and has given me His Son to change everything I know about this world.
Likewise, Judah is chaffing under the Law, and only the Servant can bring them back to a right understand of God’s ways. The Servant will not cry out against those in the street (42:2). Instead, He will be gracious and merciful; not breaking a bruised reed in the water or snuffing out the low burning fires (42:3). This is the character of Isaiah’s messianic (anointed) Servant. He is characterized by grace and mercy. The question remains of how we get connected to this Isaianic Servant? How do we get into a relationship with Him so our perspectives and lives might be changed? We want to see God rightly, so where do we look?
Well, let us look at another time where one of Isaiah’s servant songs was being read on a street (42:2) or at least on the “road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (Acts 8:26). There the Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah’s servant song from Isaiah 53:7-8 and he asked Phillip, “‘Tell me, please who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ Then, Phillip told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 834-35). Jesus, the Isaianic Messianic Servant, accomplishes the Father’s mission to bring justice and order to a fallen and shattered world through the power of His life, death, and resurrection. The very words of that Servant song the eunuch was reading speak of the work of Christ in His ministry through crucifixion and resurrection. The way you are brought into relationship with Jesus, the way you are connected to the work He did on the cross and empty tomb is in the waters of Baptism.
This is where you can bring in the significance of our appointed Gospel lesson for the day in Matthew 3:13-17. Here, we see the fulfillment of prophecy, the promises of God kept, and the way to meet the Messiah in your own life. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in the Epistle lesson for the day in Romans 6:3-4:
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried, therefore, with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
Therefore, because Phillip obviously connected Isaiah’s suffering servant, Christ, with baptism somehow, it is no coincidence that the Ethiopian eunuch asks: “What prevents me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:37) and he was baptized right there on the side of the street.
Talk about a life-changing experience on the road. This is how you are brought into relationship with, the Suffering Servant, God’s Son, through the waters of Baptism. There, in Christ, is the way your perspective and life are changed. When you are connected to Christ by the power of His working through water and Word, you are forever changed. This is a good chance to catechize using Luther’s Small Catechism, from the third segment on the Sacrament of Holy Baptism:
Question: “How can water do such great things?
Answer: It is not the water, indeed, that does them, but the Word of God, which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts this Word of God in the water. For without the Word of God, the water is simple water and no Baptism. But with the Word of God, it is a Baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Spirit[1] (Titus 3:5-7).
In Baptism, God takes our wayward lives and brings them back into order through the justice He meted out on His Son on the cross for you, and now you live in relation to God and His Word in a whole new way. Admittedly, not perfect now but perfectly loved. God has mercy on us and keeps us by His grace the rest of our lives.
Perhaps, a better way to end the sermon can come from a different dynamic than: Law, Gospel, Response (Third Use). We can now make the dynamic and structure of this sermon a modified Law/Gospel Structure: Law, Gospel, Celebration. This suits our Lutheran theology better because celebration asks a better question at the end of the sermon. Rather than a law question which asks: What are you going to do to respond to the Gospel? Celebration asks “what” you are celebrating and “who” you are celebrating? The answer to these is still: “Only Jesus” and “Only the Gospel.”
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on Isaiah 42:1-9.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Isaiah 42:1-9.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
[1] McCain, Paul Timothy ed. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005. 340.
