1st Reading, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From: Isaiah 50:5-9a

Third Song of the Servant of the Lord
[5] The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward. [6]I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

[7] For the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; [8] he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near me. [9a] Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty?
__________

Commentary:
50:4-9. The second song dealt with the servant's mission (cf. 49:6); the third song focuses on the servant himself. The term "servant" as such does not appear here, and therefore some commentators read the passage as being a description of a prophet and not part of the songs. Still, the context (cf. 50:10) does suggest that the protagonist is the servant. The poem is neatly constructed in three stanzas, each beginning with the words, "The Lord God" (vv. 4, 5, 7), and it has a conclusion containing that same wording (v. 9). The first stanza emphasizes the servant's docility to the word of God; that is, he is not depicted as a self-taught teacher with original ideas, but as an obedient disciple. The second (vv. 5-6) speaks of the suffering that that docility has brought him, without his uttering a word of complaint. The third (vv. 7-8) shows how determined the servant is: if he suffers in silence, it is not out of cowardice but because God helps him and makes him stronger than his persecutors. The conclusion (v. 9) is like the verdict of a trial: when all is said and done, the servant will stand tall, and all his enemies will be struck down.

The evangelists saw the words of this song as finding fulfillment in Jesus -- especially what the song has to say about the suffering and silent fortitude of the servant. The Gospel of John, for example, quotes Nicodemus' acknowledgment of Christ's wisdom: "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him" (Jn 3:21). But the description of the servant's sufferings was the part that most impressed the early Christians; that part of the song was recalled when they meditated on the passion of Jesus and how "they spat in his face; and struck him; and some slapped him" (Mt 26:67) and later how the Roman soldiers "spat upon him, and took the reed and struck him on the head" (Mt 27:30; cf. also Mk 15:19; Jn 19:3). St Paul refers to v. 9 when applying to Christ Jesus the role of intercessor on behalf of the elect in the suit pressed constantly against them by the enemies of the soul: "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?" (Rom 8:33).

St Jerome sees the servant's docility as a reference to Christ: "His self-discipline and wisdom enabled him to communicate to us the knowledge of the Father. And he was obedient onto death, death on the cross; he offered his body to the blows they struck, his shoulders to the lash; and though he was wounded on the chest and on his face, he did not try to turn away and escape their violence" ("Commentarii In Isaiam", 50, 4). This passage is used in the liturgy of Palm Sunday (along with Psalm 22 and St Paul's hymn in the Letter to the Philippians 2:6-11), before the reading of our Lord's passion.
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.