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a Guatemalan stole, |
SUNDAY 11th JANUARY 1987
“Servant of God”; this is the name given to the person spoken of by the
prophet Isaiah in a series of hymns in the book of the prophet, or prophets, Isaiah.
We don't know who Isaiah was speaking of when he composed the Servant Songs, but
from the time of our Lord followers of Jesus, and probably Jesus himself, have
taken the words as referring to him, to Jesus, the Christ of God.
The Servant Songs, of which this is the first of four, are for me among the most beautiful passages in the entire Bible, and among the most beautiful poetry known to me. But they're more than pleasant entertainment; because they are applied to our Lord from the very beginnings of Christianity they are a stirring insight into who he was called to be, and who I, as a follower of Jesus together with you, are called to be in his name.
From the shortest of the songs we learn most of what is to be explored
in the other three, longer songs. We learn that the Servant is upheld by God, that
he is a source of delight to God, who is the speaker. We learn of his
gentleness, yet it seems to me that above all we learn of his commitment to a
message of justice and of hope.
Momentarily I am reminded of one servant of God very noticeable in
Victoria at the moment. Desmond Tutu, like Christ, is a man unflinching in his
commitment to justice and hope for all people, and at the same time is a man of
great gentleness, who, for as long as there is any alternative, will strive to
ensure that apartheid is destroyed without a bloody revolution. No witch doctor,
but a servant of Christ, striving in faithfulness to bring forth justice out of
oppression and state-endorsed violence.
But the Servants of God have always been called “witch doctors,” or
called by countless other derogatory names. Martin Luther King had his house
bombed years before he was assassinated. The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer
was hanged by Hitler. Saint Thomas a’Becket was assassinated for his commitment
to justice, to name just a few. Such is the way of the Servants of God.
And you and I too are called like Tutu, like King, Bonhoeffer and Saint
Thomas, to be Servants of God, and to pronounce messages of justice and hope.
Sometimes such a call may involve a commitment to political struggle for
justice. At other times we may be called to sit with those who suffer in the
face of accident, illness, death, and there by our presence speak a word of
hope in the face of evil. And at other times we must let others come to us, in
the name of Christ, the Servant of God, and bring to us hope, comfort, or
freedom.
The other week a woman I was visiting here cried out to me, “Am I mad?
People tell me I look well, but I know I'm not well. Am I mad?” In her pain she
wanted to hear a clear word of truth; her oppression was the pain of the
illness and the added pain of those around her avoiding what she knew to be the
truth.
“No,” I told her, “You’re not mad. And yes, you are ill.”
“I think so too,” she replied.
She died that night, and while I wished I had done more for her, I
breathed a prayer of thanks that I had momentarily, for her, been a servant of
God, bringing the sad truth that no one was prepared to let her know.
We can be servants of God in many ways, but it is to that that we as
Christians are called.
