Jesus our Forerunner

The second servant song of Isaiah, in chapter 49:1-6, has been a favorite passage of mine for the last 15 years. In particular I have reflected often on verse 4, in which the servant says, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all.” Taking these words as a response from Jesus to God the Father, I have reflected on how Jesus felt discouraged during his earthly ministry—especially perhaps as he was hanging on the cross. From a human perspective, his time on earth ended in ignominy, pain, and defeat. Yet his seeming defeat on the cross won eternal salvation for the entire world. This has comforted me when thinking about my seeming failures. The values of the kingdom are not the same as the values of our culture. Even though some of my work and effort seem to have no tangible results, God can use them in ways I cannot foresee or imagine. As well, I was reminded that Jesus identifies with all my struggles, including the struggle of working without visible fruit.  Jesus’ cry of despair in this servant song showed me the truth of these verses in Hebrews: For this reason he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18).

Jesus was also tempted to think that his labor in the Lord had been in vain, although in the second part of Isaiah 49:4 he shows us how we should respond to such a situation: “Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God”.

Recently I have been studying this passage again and have been concentrating more on verse 6: The Lord says, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light to the Gentiles that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

In Jesus’ earthly ministry he concentrated on preaching to his fellow Jews. Though a band of twelve disciples followed him, not many other Jews accepted his message. The statistics of his preaching ministry were not impressive. Still, the Lord does not rebuke him for this but says he will give him an even greater ministry, to be a light to the nations.

Jesus becomes a light to the Gentiles through his disciples. It was their task to spread out from Jerusalem and preach the gospel to the surrounding countries. He continues to be a light to all the nations as we in the present day are willing to go out and be his witnesses. So even in the servant songs of Isaiah we can see the development of God’s plan for cross-cultural missions. God’s plan from the start was for Jesus to train others and send them out to bring the kingdom to others.

During our year at home in Boston, many people have asked us to explain our work to them. I always feel apologetic when I explain that we are not actually translating the Bible into a minority language ourselves. We are helping other people to translate into their own language; training them to do it. This sounds so much less impressive! This servant song has made clear in a new way that God gave Jesus the commission to bring his light to the Gentiles, but this was a commission that Jesus could only fulfill by entrusting it to his disciples on earth, through the agency of the Holy Spirit. If this was impressive enough for Jesus, it is certainly impressive enough for me.

Paula is a Bible Translator in Southeast Asia