READ: Isaiah 60-61
Verses
chosen for meditation: Isaiah 61:7-8
7 Instead of your shame
there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
8 For I the Lord love
justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
REFLECT
Chapter
61 advances our understanding of Jesus the Servant, his role in his redemptive
suffering and the outcomes of his ministry. Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1-2 when
announcing his public ministry in Luke 4:17-19, confirming the connection
between Isaiah’s prophecy and Christ’s fulfilment. In these verses, it’s clear
what Jesus came to do: to bring good news, comfort, freedom and joy to the poor
in spirit all over the world.
How
Jesus does this is with grace and justice. Our meditation verses for the day,
v7-8, shows grace and justice at work. Instead of shame, there will be
double portion of blessing and honor. Instead of disgrace, there will be
everlasting joy. Jesus had already shown some life examples, transforming a tax
collector into a disciple, a prostitute into a saint, a thief into a friend. He
redeemed them and he came to redeem all of us. How sobering is that? So
undeserved, but what good news!
This
shows that grace is a most powerful agent of change. However, grace here is not
simply something distributed arbitrarily on a whim. Why we can enjoy this
double portion of blessing, instead of shame, is because of Jesus’ ministry. The
atonement he did for us is the foundation of this grace. This grace is
free for us, but it is not cheap.
Isaiah
moves naturally from grace in v7 to justice in v8, because there is no conflict
between the two. The grace in binding up the broken-hearted and setting
captives free (v2) is also a reflection of his justice in punishing their
oppressors, because he hates robbery and wrongdoing (v8). The day of vengeance
of our God (v2) is good news for the oppressed and those who mourn, but bad
news for the oppressors and wicked, because judgement is necessary to liberate
those in pain.
RELATE
How
do we respond in the light of this grace, offered so freely, but at an
infinitely heavy cost? One response is shown in Isaiah 61:10, where one who
personally experienced this grace is so filled with gratitude that the natural
response is heartfelt praise and thanksgiving. I wonder if we glorify Jesus with
the same fervour today, and whether we grasped what he did for us on the cross.
If
we truly grasp what Jesus did, it should lead to another natural response,
which is to replicate this grace to others. In gratitude for the grace given to
us through the Servant’s sacrifice, we too become servants, channeling grace to
others. And this is the primary task of the church: to be the servant who
serves others. The church should ask today, “are we serving ourselves or
serving others?” The self-serving church is a contradiction to what Jesus
stands for. The servant church also exists to produce servants. Beyond church
attendance, membership, number of baptisms, the telling statistic is how many
disciples in the church are actively serving others in their daily lives.
Perhaps
one of the toughest parts of servanthood is expressed in Isaiah 61:4-6. The
servant church is called to be the rebuilder of ruins, and be the priest for strangers
and foreigners. Things get broken so easily (human relationships, marriages, social
structures), but they take great effort to rebuild. As much effort is required
to serve strangers: people we alienate due to differences like education, economic
standing, social background. As much effort is required to serve foreigners:
people “not like us” due to differences like race, language, culture. Strangers
and foreigners may be viewed as threats, but a “priest” offers self-sacrificing
service to those who are not liked and those who do not like us.
This
is the part unfortunately, where many draw the line when it comes to service, when
it dawns upon us how much it takes to rebuild lives and the barriers to break
down to truly help those difficult to help. It’s messy. It’s time-consuming. It’s
hard to serve when it inconveniences us. Many do not like to be part of the rebuilding, but like to be there when things are built and look nice. We see then that servanthood is not
easy. It seems impossible unless we deny ourselves, not doing things that only
benefit ourselves. No servant acts out of self-interest. We find strength to do
this due to the grace of Jesus, who did it under infinitely worse circumstances.
REST
Make me a servant, humble and meek.
Lord let me lift up those who are weak.
And may the prayer of my heart always be.
Make me a servant,
Make me a servant,
Make me a servant today.
Chris Chong
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