Tuesday of Holy Week
(Isaiah
49:1-6; John 13:21-33.36-38)
Few
prophecies foreshadow Jesus’ experience better than the four “Servant Songs” of
Isaiah. Found in the second part of the
Book of the Prophet, they are relayed systematically in the liturgies of Holy
Week. The first song or oracle, read yesterday, echoes
the voice of God. It says that his servant will bring justice to the whole
world by mercy, not by violence. In the
second, proclaimed today, the prophet himself relates how he once felt
discouraged. Then God’s voice lifted his
spirits. It declared that through him
not only Israel but all nations will be reconciled with God.
In the
third song, read in Palm Sunday’s mass, the prophet again speaks. He describes how he endured trials to
proclaim the will of God. The final song
is reserved for Good Friday’s service. It
summarizes the work of the prophet: of humble origins, the prophet took on the
sins of the world by his suffering and death. Certainly, all four evangelists
had the “Servant Songs” in mind when composed the story of Jesus Christ. They emphasized how the events of Jesus’ life
and especially his death correspond to the experiences of this prophet.
Who is the
person of whom the Book of the Prophet Isaiah speaks? Scholars have different theories. Some say Jeremiah; others. the author of the
second part of Isaiah’s book; still others, the suffering people of Israel, a
composite person. Although each of these
positions can be defended with ample texts, for us the question is mostly
academic. For us Jesus, better than
anyone else possibly could, personifies God’s Servant.
