Title Yahweh God's Servant
bell song
Comparing this appointment ceremony with the appointment ceremony in today's text, today's text seems to be related to the king's appointment ceremony. Of course, the prophets were also appointed by God, but not publicly, while the kings had to obtain the consent of several witnesses. However, studies by Bible commentators indicate that it is not possible to know exactly who the ‘servant’ we are talking about in today’s text is. The writer of the Bible hides that part and is only referring to the servant of Yahweh in a general sense. Therefore, we must think about the mission given to all of God's servants in this text, not just the political or religious leaders of a nation.
However, before discussing the details of that mission, we should pay attention to the fact that Israel thought of all its missions in relation to Yahweh. Israel's political and religious leaders have consistently been servants of Yahweh. The fact that he was a servant of Yahweh God before he was a leader who governed the people teaches us exactly what a leader really is. Leaders large and small may mean to humble themselves, but the more important point is that their work begins with a relationship with God before a relationship with people. The basis of what he does is the word that lies in God. Perhaps the problem is that most people only understand these words as clich s. On the surface, they say that their relationship with God is important, but in reality, they are mostly focused on their relationship with people. So, when people get approval, they think that things are going well and they feel confident, but when they don't get approval, they feel skeptical and anxious about their own work.
The Bible accurately diagnoses this fact. That is why the servant of Yahweh God sings that he receives his 'spirit'. Those who do not receive the Spirit of Yahweh can never become his servants. What the hell does it mean to receive his spirit? It is usually a question similar to “Have you received the Holy Spirit?” We are not yet mature enough to empirically explain the Spirit of Yahweh. It can only be explained indirectly and passively. It can be said that holy fear is what dominates us. It can also be described as an experience of being captivated by a force that transcends our individual existence. Those who have experienced this kind of power do not feel anxious about their small weaknesses, nor do they emphasize their strengths greatly. You clearly perceive how trivial these things are, and you become totally dependent on the greater divine power.
Yahweh's Choice
Total dependence on the Spirit of Yahweh is the criterion by which Yahweh God chooses his servant. Even the Bible writer is singing today that Yahweh God believes in such a person. “He is the one in whom I trust, and he is my servant whom I have chosen.”
We can find a very important teaching in this very verse. One of them is that the event of becoming a servant of Yahweh is decidedly dependent on the choice of Yahweh God. He says he picks it up. Of course, we often hear this saying. Most clearly, I think of Calvin's 'Theory of Predestination' as a teaching about God's choice. There are also objections to this teaching. The question is, why did you choose only ‘me’ or ‘that person’ and not other people? Why is it that only that person has special abilities? Why is he the only one who is so smart and handsome? Why were some people born in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives and died in this tsunami? Why does oil only come underground in the Middle East? These questions seem to refute the teaching of God's choice, but they are fundamentally irrelevant. The confession of faith that God had chosen started with an absolute affirmation of the reality revealed before us, not with an attempt to explain the question of the reason.
Some people refer to the absolute affirmation of God and the world as fanaticism. Living with “yes” instead of “no” in front of God and this world is completely different from falling into fanaticism. Fanaticism is an attitude that fundamentally destroys all of our rational epistemology, but absolute affirmation is an attitude of intuition that lies beyond reason, rationality, and epistemology. Absolute affirmation of God and the world is mysticism. Just as no one calls mysticism fanaticism, so is faith in God's election no fanaticism.
Today's text suggests that God's choice is not made unconditionally, but based on the "favorable thing" of Yahweh God. Of course, this expression is not very appropriate, but I am expressing it this way because it cannot be explained to the reader in other ways. Although there are limitations, it is a right interpretation and expression to be pleasing to God. What is pleasing to Yahweh?
Spirit of Yahweh
The answer to this is related to the ‘Spirit of God’ which we have already mentioned earlier. Those who are pleasing to God are those who deserve the Spirit of God. Isn't the person who deserves the Spirit of God ready to let the spirit work freely? Of course, God's sovereignty will intervene here as well, but people need the minimum preparation to receive the Spirit. I can't tell you what it is. It is saying that there is no single absolute standard for those who have been chosen as God's servants, that is, those who have received His Spirit.
However, we can say this passively. It is about emptying your heart so that the Spirit of God can work freely. Emptying your mind sounds a bit clich d, but in fact, this would not be possible without a revolutionary shift in consciousness. The general tendency in which we live is always going to be self-fulfilling. It is not just about possessing money, but knowledge, fame, or even faith is used as a means of self-filling. This basic principle of constantly emptying oneself, like the teaching of the monks that they should abandon the boat after crossing the river, is absolutely essential to our Christian faith.
Perhaps we should think of the relationship between our emptiness and the spirit this way. Emptying us is already the presence of the Spirit. There is no place in this world that is completely empty. In fact, the vacuum state should be regarded as filled with 'nothing'. In this sense, it is also said that we can empty our hearts only when the Spirit of God is present in us. There is a reciprocal and dialectical relationship between these two relationships, our emptying and the coming of the Spirit. It's an almost simultaneous event, rather than following which one comes first. When we empty our mind, the Spirit comes upon us at that very moment, and at the same time the Spirit comes upon us, our mind is empty.
Even if you hear such an explanation, people who have not actually experienced it will not realize it. It is similar to not realizing the world of high priests who meditate alone for several hours to someone who was only interested in TV melodramas or gag concerts every day.
There are traces of a little taste of this spiritual state in today's text. A person who has experienced the Spirit “does not shout or shout, so that his voice is not heard from outside” (verse 2). He doesn't have to make a fuss about revealing himself to people. The inner world is so deep and wide that it is impossible to tell whether he is or not from the outside. Such a person is a ‘servant’ of Yahweh God.
justice practice
Today's text repeatedly points out the duties given to the servants of Yahweh God in three verses. 1c: I will open up the right path of life for all nations. 3b: I will only open the right path of life with sincerity. 4b: I will open up the right path of life to the end. The common word in these three verses is 'the right way of life'. It is not easy to unravel the exact meaning of the Hebrew word 'mispat' translated as the right way of life through the joint translation in Korean today. Luther translated it as 'Recht' (righteousness, right), and it is said that it can be translated as 'truth' and as 'true religion'. According to Westerman, the basic meaning of the Hebrew word mispatra is “judgment by law.” A servant of God can be said to be a person who proclaims righteousness according to the will of God.
The righteousness of God was the greatest concern of the prophets and New Testament writers. It was the righteousness of Yahweh that captured the hearts of those who thought they were servants of Yahweh. As today's text emphasizes three times, 'Mispart' is the mission that we, who claim to be servants of Yahweh God today, must put all our energy into building.
What exactly is this righteousness of God? The ultimate reality of righteousness will be revealed to us only in the end, but it is partially revealed through today's text. Look at verse 3. The servant of Yahweh God says, “A reed is not cut off because it is broken, and a lamp is not put out because the wick is flickering.” In the end, God's righteousness is to save the dying. That's right. Just as the Holy Spirit is the spirit of life, those who have received the Spirit will naturally be captivated by these things of life.
Isaiah 61:1,2, which Jesus read in the synagogue, and verse 7 following today's text are similar. First, look at Isaiah 61:1b. “Preach the gospel to the oppressed. Bind up the torn heart, and inform the prisoners of liberation. Declare freedom to those in prison.” Verse 42:7 says: “Open the eyes of the blind, release those who are bound from prison, and release those who are imprisoned in black bars.”
A broken reed and a flickering lamp signify the oppressed, a torn heart, grapes, the imprisoned, and the blind. Their characteristic is that they are soon put on a dead end in life. Restoring the way of life to these people is the precious mission of Yahweh God's servants. No, there is nothing more to do other than this.
Think a little deeper. Those who truly need the help of God, the creator and sustainer of life, are those in the absolute crisis of life. Those who are capable of self-defense need little of God's help. Rather, without God, they would be able to live comfortably. It is the essence of the gospel to restore the way of life to those who have reached the dead end of life.
Who are the people at the dead end of life with us today? There are many cases, such as those who are terminally ill, those who are in extreme poverty, those who are declared bankrupt, foreign workers, etc. How the hell can the church achieve this 'mispart' for them today? If possible, you should also give material help, but that alone is not enough. It would be much wiser and more effective for our society as a whole to establish a just order. The church must fight against the flow of this age that is fixing the phenomenon of the poor and the rich. In today's text, it is said that Yahweh's servants carry out the work "without losing their spirit and losing their courage." We may all have different abilities, but we are all servants of Yahweh God.