A biblical scholar once remarked: "One of the most common expressions in the Old Testament of the relationship between humankind and God is contained in the words ‘serve,’ ‘service,’ and ‘servant.’ " What comes to your mind when you hear any one of these words? What do you think of when you hear the word "servant"? A flunky? A gofer? A Victorian called "Jeeves"? Someone with no mind of his or her own? A person who lacks fiber and is easily a patsy for someone else to use or "lord it over"? Unfortunately, in too many cases, people are inclined to think in this way.
But this has never been the biblical concept which emerges gradually in the Old Testament and is perfected in the New. The Bible rescued and redefined the concept of "servant," giving it fiber, stamina and spiritual substance. Probably no writer discussed the servant idea more fully than the prophet Isaiah, and what he wrote cast a long ray of understanding across the people and events of biblical witness and history. The servant could be a nation, a ruler or a religious leader, but in God’s good time it came to its ultimate expression in the person of Jesus Christ and his mission to the whole wide world. For us today, however, what matters is the character of servanthood and how it shapes a sense of who we are and what our lives are about, really. Of the many things Isaiah says of the servant whose inner character has real fiber, there are three which are appropriate emphases during this Holy Week.
1. The servant is not a loner; he does not move and live in solitary. Nor is he a freewheeler. Neither is he a miscellaneous activist, rushing around putting out brush fires or giving handouts here and there in order to foster good feeling or to be blinking as one of a thousand points of light with no unity of effort or established ends. Isaiah, instead, sees the true servant as one who has an orientation to God’s ordering and control. Hear his opening words in our text: "My servant whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights ..." (Isaiah 42:1 RSV). Clearly the servant is not ever his or her own. There is a givenness about the servant’s character; the servant is endowed with qualifications that come from an order and will beyond self and which lay claim upon every personal talent and power. As Professor G. Ernest Wright expressed it: "[It is] God’s reaching down into human affairs."1 Or, as it is stated more fully in The Speaker’s Bible:
The servant of the Lord is useful only because he is used; influential only because he is influenced; victorious because he is obedient; learning the methods of his work by daily wakefulness to God’s voice, a good speaker because he is a good listener, with no strength or courage but what God lends.2
2. Here is a second emphasis: the servant has a sense of direction in his or her calling. The servant comes upon the human scene as one whose purpose is to set things right. And the remarkable thing is the attitude of the true servant as he or she goes about the assigned task. Listen to these lines: "He will not cry or lift up his voice ... a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth" (vv. 2-4). What a wonderful combination there is here of means and ends! The servant has a high purpose, but knows that the character of the means will determine the character of the ends. The servant’s intention is to heal and repair whatever and whoever is hurting or broken, but it will not be done through a rough-and-ready style. Every act of helplessness must be done with a larger and higher purpose in mind.
This leads us to re-think much of the social action and public welfare programs of our day. In the face of the crying needs of our time - poverty, homelessness, joblessness and so forth - it is not enough to simply give a cup of cold water - which for many a giver is a matter simply of self-satisfaction or an escape from the program. Social service must not become a substitute for religion. Christianity is not merely helping people. Such quick fixes produce persons who are generous in contributing to the Community Fund, but who scorn the church and avoid its worship. They fail to see that service without religion becomes materialistic and that religion without service becomes something unreal. True, the servant gives the needy a cup of cold water, but note what Jesus added to this remark: "in the name of a disciple;" (Matthew 10:42 RSV) that is, the act of helpfulness is done in the name of something of universal moral and spiritual significance. The giver gives because he or she is reaching out to a sister or brother in a world where God is Creator, Father and Redeemer. The deepest need of the needy lies within. And, therefore, a mere cup of cold water does not lift his or her spirit out of the pit into which poverty, injustice, drugs or other misery has thrown them. The question, then, is: Does our service speak some message? That of the true servant does, because its central purpose is to invest the redeeming power of our religious conviction into the life of the person in need, so that it will bring him or her to the fullness of the self-realization of personal abilities, talents and potential. A cup of cold water only prolongs an unfortunate situation. What a difference there is when the aim and purpose of the servant is to advance a Kingdom in which everyone can find their place!
3. A third, and final thought: the true servant brings a measure of dignity to every act of service. For this we turn to the New Testament and look at our Lord as he combined a venture in humility with an act of genuine service. To wash another’s feet was the duty of a slave, but Jesus was never so conscious of his high calling as when he - to quote John’s Gospel - "knowing ... that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel ... and began to wash the disciples’ feet ..." (John 13:4, 5 RSV). This demonstrates for us forever that the quality of service depends upon the spirit in which it is done. Our service will have fiber and contagion if it is inspired by a calling and purpose which God alone can provide and bless.
1. Isaiah, Layman’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 11, p. 105 (Richmond: John Knox, 1964).
2. The Book of Isaiah, Vol. 2, p. 45 (Grand Rapids, MI; Baker Book House, 1963).