Week 16 - Isaiah 50:1-11
In the Wed passage for this week we encounter the 3rd "Servant Song" in Isaiah. In the first song (42:1-4), the servant's task was to bring justice to the oppressed. In the second song (49:1-6), the task was to restore Israel and bring light to the nations. In this third song (50:4-9), the task is to teach the weary and suffer humiliation.
- Marty
Reading: Brueggemann pages 119-125
Questions for Reflection
- The servant listens. As someone in the thinking triad of the Enneagram, I have given up reading (mostly!) for Lent. My intention was to use some of the new found space in my life for stillness. It is a weird thought for me that I might not have to “figure” out life like a problem to be solved. Or that acquiring knowledge might not be the path to salvation or purpose. I am hoping that in the space I might hear a word from God. That or even a word that comes from one of the other Enneagram triads: heart or instinct. What do you expect from “a word”?
What is a life changing “word” that you have received? Do they come often or consistently or rarely?
- The servant has been given a word to sustain the weary. Brueggeman states that this word is insistence that the truth of Yahweh contradicts and denies the power of Babylon. Often the powers of the world – both the direct power of humans and also indirect power of complacency, status quo, culture, and human habit seem impossible to grapple with and change.
Do you see examples in life where the truth of Yahweh contradicts the power and authority of the powers that be?
image by Ariel Burger
