The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States "The divine definition of true success" for Saturday, 4 February 2017Isaiah 52:13 “See how my servant will succeed!
He will be raised up, exalted, highly honored!
14 Just as many were appalled at him,
because he was so disfigured
that he didn’t even seem human
and simply no longer looked like a man,
15 so now he will startle many nations;
because of him, kings will be speechless.
For they will see what they had not been told,
they will ponder things they had never heard.”
53:1 Who believes our report?
To whom is the arm of Adonai revealed?
2 For before him he grew up like a young plant,
like a root out of dry ground.
He was not well-formed or especially handsome;
we saw him, but his appearance did not attract us.
3 People despised and avoided him,
a man of pains, well acquainted with illness.
Like someone from whom people turn their faces,
he was despised; we did not value him.
4 In fact, it was our diseases he bore,
our pains from which he suffered;
yet we regarded him as punished,
stricken and afflicted by God.
5 But he was wounded because of our crimes,
crushed because of our sins;
the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him,
and by his bruises* we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, went astray;
we turned, each one, to his own way;
yet Adonai laid on him
the guilt of all of us.
7 Though mistreated, he was submissive —
he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to be slaughtered,
like a sheep silent before its shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 After forcible arrest and sentencing,
he was taken away;
and none of his generation protested
his being cut off from the land of the living
for the crimes of my people,
who deserved the punishment themselves.
9 He was given a grave among the wicked;
in his death he was with a rich man.
Although he had done no violence
and had said nothing deceptive,
10 yet it pleased Adonai to crush him with illness,
to see if he would present himself as a guilt offering.
If he does, he will see his offspring;
and he will prolong his days;
and at his hand Adonai’s desire
will be accomplished.
11 After this ordeal, he will see satisfaction.
“By his knowing [pain and sacrifice],
my righteous servant makes many righteous;
it is for their sins that he suffers.
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Rabbis debated who Isaiah’s fourth “servant song” was about. The first Christians had no doubt—they quoted this song more than any other verses to describe Jesus’ redemptive suffering. In Jesus, the early Christians saw, God’s servant succeeded by taking the world’s evil and hatred onto himself and through what looked like failure to human eyes changed it into a redemptive force. No passage in the Hebrew Scriptures spoke more eloquently to those early Christians—and to every generation of Christians since—about the meaning of Jesus’ death. As the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology said, “God’s power is at its greatest not in his destruction of the wicked but in his taking all the wickedness of the earth into himself and giving back love.”*
• Jesus set the stage for the way New Testament writers applied Isaiah 53 by quoting part of the passage and applying it to himself (cf. Luke 22:37). It all came true in Jesus’ saving death and resurrection, they said. What does Jesus’ way of succeeding in defeating evil as the Suffering Servant tell you about how God defines success? What kinds of evil have you faced? How can Jesus’ example guide you toward the path of genuine success at those times?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you succeeded through self-giving love, through suffering for others and giving your life to offer me life. Reshape any flawed notions of success I may have, and help me to truly succeed by the same divine standards that you did. Amen.
* T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, ed. The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000, p. 222.
Family Activity: Collect a backpack, some large, heavy rocks and a few thick markers. As a family, invite each person to try on the empty backpack, and feel its lightness. Next, ask everyone to take two stones and a marker. Have each person think of something they are not very good at or something they have done wrong and write it on one rock. Pass the backpack around asking each person to share what they wrote and place it in the backpack. Talk about how the backpack is feeling heavier. Now, invite each person to take their second rock and write on it something they do well but can sometimes be difficult to do. Pass around the backpack again with each person sharing what they wrote on the second rock, and placing their rock in the backpack. Have each person try on the backpack again. Discuss how at times both our failures and our successes can feel heavy or burdensome. Read I Peter 5:7 and Matthew 11:28-30[I Peter 5:7 Throw all your anxieties upon him, because he cares about you.
Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.[Matthew 11:29 Jeremiah 6:16] 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”[Complete Jewish Bible]I Peter 5:6-7 So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”[The Message]]. Thank God for helping us carry our burdens.
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I have been teaching Revelation in adult Sunday School at my wife’s church (she is a pastor). As I read today’s song about the “Suffering Servant” in Isaiah, parallels with the message of the book of Revelation in the New Testament sprang immediately to mind. Due to popular cultural portrayals of Revelation such as the Left Behind book series, many Christians think of Revelation as a vivid story of the cataclysmic end of time, with Jesus as the military warrior who wins the final battle and establishes a new heaven and new earth. While Revelation can be interpreted that way, I read it as harmonious with Isaiah’s Suffering Servant vision.
In a vision, John of Patmos, the author of Revelation, sees Jesus as a slaughtered Lamb that has been raised from the dead though still showing signs on his body of the physical violence done to him (see Rev. 5:1-14). The “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (vs. 5) is a living, yet slaughtered Lamb (vs. 6). The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is a military leader of the Israelite nation. The slain Lamb is the savior of all nations. Here, Revelation crescendos to one of its central, poetic, and paradoxical images – Jesus is both lion and lamb, symbolizing power made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). The humble Lamb who gave it all (the Passover lamb, see 1 Cor. 5:7), is exalted to the center of God’s throne room at the center of the universe. The meekest, least threatening person in the universe is worthy to usher in God’s final plan for the world. God overcomes the world not through a show of force, but through the suffering and death of Jesus. Jesus the faithful, vulnerable, sacrificial Lamb of God, reigns with God.
Hence, the central vision of Revelation sees Jesus in a very similar way as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah. One of the many great strengths of Christianity is that we honor our Founder’s heroism not in His successful use of violent force, but in His humble obedience and endurance through great suffering. Quoting William Hendriksen, who wrote a classic commentary on Revelation back in 1940, “Sometimes we speak and act as if the control of events and the destiny of the world rested in the hands of [people] rather than in the hands of God.” That he wrote this after World War II had broken out in Europe is a great inspiration for us today. If Hendriksen could be so confident in God controlling our ultimate destiny in such a time as that, surely we can also rest in confidence that God reigns in the heavenly throne room no matter what present suffering and evil we face. We, like the Suffering Servant, like the Lamb of God, can also endure whatever comes our way.
CLIFTON GUYClif Guy is the Director of Information Technology at Church of the Resurrection.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
•Cheryl Highfill and family on the death of her husband Stephen Highfill, 1/21
• Laura Wingfield and family on the death of her mother Jean Ross, 1/17
•Katie Sloan and family on the death of her husband Robert Sloan, 1/16
•Rick Butterfield and family on the death of his father Richard J. “Dick” Butterfield, 1/14
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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