Sixth Sunday of Lent, 2023

By Sr. Marianna Burkhard, OSB

This text has fascinated me for some time, so I chose it to ponder it more closely. 

Is 50:4-7 is the shortest of the four servant songs in Is 40-66. The line “morning after morning God has opened my ears” attracted me every Lent. What is special about this 3rd song? Comparing it with the two previous servant songs we see that it is much darker: The songs in Is 42 and 49 describe the servant as becoming “a light to the nations” (42:6c) who will “open the eyes of the blind and free the prisoners” (42: 6c-7). Though the 2nd song in Is 49 has some dark touches, it concludes by stating that through this servant “[God’s] salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (49:6b) 

The 3rd song (50:4-9) suddenly interrupts a speech of God and describes in the first person how God acts in the servant: God “has given me a well-trained tongue” (v.4), awakens my ear to listen every morning (v. 4c). The servant, in turn, says “I was not rebellious” (v. 5), and accepted physical and psychological blows (v. 6). Still the text concludes that with God’s help “I am not disgraced and … shall not be put to shame” (v. 7).  

At first it seems surprising that the “well-trained tongue” is mentioned before the hearing. Upon pondering it, I see the servant as having already been trained in speaking to “the weary” as a prophet. I can also see Jesus in his early ministry – preaching, feeding, healing people and garnering much acclaim. But now “morning after morning” God opens his ears – giving him a different, harder message. The new NABRE translation says “that I may hear as disciples do” (v. 4d). Disciples have an obligation to be obedient, have to listen – as Benedict says – with the “ears of their heart” (RB Prol v.1), their inner emotions, their whole being. 

Are we such obedient listeners in our lectio or to others and our sisters  when we hear something that is not to our liking? Will we consider wise advice although it goes against our own desires, plans or convictions? Will we see criticism as an opportunity to grow and learn? Like Jesus we may have already learned to give encouragement, show compassion and understanding, share words of wisdom with people and feel content with our ways of serving. 

But now our ears are opened to a message that is harder to bear, does not fit into the ways we see our ministry. I think of the time when, however hard I worked at gathering convincing evidence, my marriage cases at the Tribunal went negative. I was obliged to listen and write a negative sentence. I felt like having failed – and all I could do was to pray that God would help the people bear the bad news. And like this servant, Jesus hears God’s painful message that his mission will include apparent failure and the reality of great suffering.  

Prophets, especially Jeremiah, heard similar hard messages, argued with God, but did not remain in their initial rebellion, “did not turn back” (cf. e. g. Jeremiah, chps. 15; 20). Jesus listens, does not “turn back” (Is 50: 5); he prepares his disciples for the darkness spreading around him, rebukes Peter’s protestations. And during his passion Jesus literally “gave his back to those who beat him”, “plucked his beard and spit on him” (Is 50: 6).

While we probably won’t face such physical assaults, we may be or have been faced with psychological blows of one kind or another. Isaiah urges us to strengthen our trust in God who is “my help” and that with God’s help we will not be “disgraced or put to shame.” (Is 50: 7) And doesn’t the Passion of Jesus teach us precisely that we always need to trust in God and his help?  

Paul’s hymn in the letter to the Philippians is a fitting counterpart to this song of the servant. Elsa Tamez in the Wisdom Commentary points out that “the humbling of the Divine in solidarity with the lowest people” – slaves – was rooted not in any obligation but in “love for … those who are insignificant and excluded”. She goes on to say that we should not see Jesus “as a role model” to be imitated, but as “announcing the defeat of the forces that enslave human beings”  (p.77). Paul reminds the Philippian community and us “that the Divine triumphs over oppressive powers” – whatever they may be in our life. Yet life has taught us that God’s eventual solutions require patience and trust.

Both Jeremiah’s servant and Paul teach us that obedient listening in hard experiences, our letting go of our own plans, will lead us past disgrace and shame to a place of deeper trust. There God’s light can break into the darkness, disclose new insights and a joyful hope in a resurrection not yet seen. (Rom 8:25)