1 This is what the Lord says:
“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce
with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors
did I sell you?
Because of your sins you were sold;
because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 When I came, why was there no one?
When I called, why was there no one to answer?
Was my arm too short to deliver you?
Do I lack the strength to rescue you?
By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea,
I turn rivers into a desert;
their fish rot for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with darkness
and make sackcloth its covering.”
4 The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears;
I have not been rebellious,
I have not turned away.
6 I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!
9 It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me.
Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
the moths will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on their God.
11 But now, all you who light fires
and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
You will lie down in torment.
Mark 9:35
The Teaching About Being a Servant
35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all."
The Prophet Isaiah wrote about the Suffering Servant over seven hundred years before the Messiah came to the earth...Jesus is the Suffering Servant...Isaiah wrote four Songs of the Suffering Servant, and some say five...In the Book of Isaiah chapters forty two, forty nine, fifty, fifty-three, and some regard chapter sixty one as the fifth song of the Suffering Servant...These chapters and verses talk and teach us about the Servant God will send or something about the Suffering Servant God will be sending to Israel...
As we read these verses of Isaiah, we feel and almost see One who is suffering...The Servant is weary and abused...And as we read these verses Jesus did these things for us...The Servant would be abused, and offer His back for us to beat, and He would suffer on the cross for us...Jesus was arrested and confronted by those who had no charges against Him...His accusers tried to disgrace Him, but they disgraced themselves...He truly relied and relies on God, His Father...
The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away...I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting...Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced...Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to me...He who vindicates me is near...Who then will bring charges against me?...Let us face each other!...Who is my accuser?...Let him confront me!...It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me...Who will condemn me?...They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up...Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant?...Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God...
As a Servant Jesus invited the weary, the outcasts, the tired, the poor, and the hungry to be with Him...Being first and being famous and being great was not an aspiration of Jesus...Yet, that is what He has become...He was a Servant...He truly was a Servant of God, and the Greatest Teacher of all time...