Outer Rim Territories

St. John's Suffering Servant

This is a consolidation of a fourteen page paper for our Gospel of John class last term. It was chosen and given one of the awards in the last issue of our student paper, the topic being "Christ in the Old Testament." The committee like how I make an inductive move, demonstrating Christ in Isaiah from the perspective of John's usage of Isaiah. They didn't care for my use of the phrase "interpretive tool" to convey the idea of scripture interpreting scripture. Its pretty dense and maybe a bit pedantic. I hope it helps in your Lenten preparation toward the Paschal feast. (The genius for the paper was an article from Fr. Reardon in Touchstone last year.)

St. John's Suffering Servant

Philip and the eunuch of Acts 8 use Isaiah’s Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12) as an interpretative tool to understand Jesus’ sufferings and death. John too calls to mind the prophecy of the Suffering Servant in 12:32-38. The prophecy sets our expectations for the events to follow in the Gospel, namely, Jesus’ trial, scourging, crucifixion, and resurrection for the sin atonement of the nations. The Servant wins peace (εἰρήνη) by his suffering, namely, reconciliation of God and Zion (Isaiah 52:7ff). While reclining at the table on Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus promises this peace (Jn 14:27; 16:33). After his resurrection, Jesus announces this reconciliation between God and man, that is, the forgiveness of sins when he says “peace be with you” (Jn 20:19, 21, 26). By the Servant’s death, he offers up his soul for sin, his days are prolonged, and he will see his seed (σπερμα) which will prosper in his hand (Isaiah 53:10). His reward is offspring who are born of him and not merely Abraham (Jn 8:33, 37). He is the tender plant, the root which will spring forth from the dry ground (Isaiah 53:2). Jesus is the seed of David (Jn 7:42). When Jesus falls to the ground, is cut off from the land of the living, and is buried with the wicked, this seed produces much grain (Isaiah 53:8,9; Jn 12:24). Jesus is the Lamb of God (Isaiah 53:4,7; John 1:29). He is the sacrifice of the ram by Abraham as a substitute for Isaac, the Passover lamb and cultic laws of an unblemished lamb as a sin atonement offering (Genesis 22:7-8; Exodus 12:3; Leviticus 5:7), and a guilt offering (Isaiah 53:10; Leviticus 5:17). Christ offers himself willingly as the sacrifice. He willfully submits (Isaiah 53:7), bearing the iniquity of all, as the acceptable sacrifice to God (Isaiah 53:6,10). It “pleased” YHWH to bruise the Servant (Isaiah 53:10): by the Servant’s death, the sin of the world is atoned and the many are justified (Isaiah 53:10, 11). The love of God is revealed in the Servant, and this is a matter of divine necessity, hence, YHWH’s “pleasure” (John 3:15-17):

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (Jn 10:17-18).

At the crucifixion, Jesus is pierced (ἔνυξεν), and immediately blood and water came forth (John 19:37), recalling the blood of the lamb sprinkled upon the altar and the people; also, the water of purification (Zechariah 12:10; Rev. 1:7). The Servant was “wounded for our transgressions,” and he “poured out His soul unto death” (Isaiah 53:5, 12). Jesus is the one who has given up his soul (ψυχή) in the world that we might have life eternally (Jn 12:25). The Servant willingly does this (Jn 15:13). John echoes this theme of divine monergism from Isaiah (Jn 10:11-13; 13:37, 38). The prophetic words of Isaiah portray the events witnessed by the evangelist on Good Friday, despite their brevity or absence in John’s account. Isaiah’s oracles foresaw the entire drama, from the courtyard of Caiaphas, to the hall of Pilate, and all the way to the cross on Golgotha. Not only did Isaiah see the events, but also he provided the theological interpretation of these events. Not only did he witness Christ scourged, but also he asserted “by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). He described the wounds that Jesus would endure, but also confessed that Jesus was “wounded for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5). When soldiers mocked and beat Jesus, we learn from Isaiah that “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). When Jesus died, Isaiah tells us it was because God made “His soul an offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:10). The Book of Isaiah accounts in detailed prophecy the sufferings and death of Jesus. Isaiah provides a key theological understanding to interpret properly the witness of John.