Day 24 - Tuesday, December 26
Title: GOD’S JUST SERVANT
Scripture: Isaiah 42:1-10 (NKJV)
“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law.” Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it. Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Poetry & Poet:
“The Gift to Sing”
by James Weldon Johnson
Sometimes the mist overhangs my path,
And blackening clouds about me cling;
But, oh, I have a magic way
To turn the gloom to cheerful day—
      I softly sing.
And if the way grows darker still,
Shadowed by Sorrow’s somber wing,
With glad defiance in my throat,
I pierce the darkness with a note,
       And sing, and sing.
I brood not over the broken past,
Nor dread whatever time may bring;
No nights are dark, no days are long,
While in my heart there swells a song,
       And I can sing.

GOD’S JUST SERVANT

Reading Isaiah 42, I asked myself, “What kind of justice is this that God will not raise his voice for it?” To make sense of this, we need to examine what this passage is revealing about justice.  The image of justice described here is of the God of the Universe squatting down to support a bruised reed. For anyone who has ever attempted to nurture a dying plant back to health, you may feel more keenly the words of assurance in this passage that “he will not be discouraged.” This is a slow image of justice, but it is a rich one. One where the care of the Creator restores to health the creation; one where prisoners are not locked away hopeless, but are taught, healed, and made new.
 
This song of Isaiah’s reminds us that God created the heavens and the earth; that he breathed life into each person. New things spring forth. There is a connection in this passage between God as Creator and the justice that is being ushered in through the incarnation. By entering into his work, Christ will “establish justice” by making us just. Consider for a moment the contrast in Lamont Thergood’s The Day––the colorful growth of life that pushes against and into the prison cell. Painted during the artist’s own incarceration, he wrestles with themes of justice, punishment, and restoration. Similarly, Johnson’s poem contrasts the hopefulness of a song that softly works against the “mist that overhangs [his] path.”
 
Given this surprising and quiet justice, what kind of justice would be shouted about from the street? Perhaps one in which God’s chosen people experience sudden victory. I imagine the shout outside the walls of Jericho and Rahab and her family are suddenly free, but I wonder what she feels in this moment. Is she truly a part of this new people? Does this one act of faith change her, or is she on a course to repeat her own troubled history in this new context? Or maybe a shout was exclaimed in the street over Paul (when he was still known as Saul) when he was struck blind and handed over to those he persecuted. But Isaiah 42 presses us to consider that Christ will not abandon his creation. He did not allow Rahab or Paul to remain uncomfortably as outsiders, and he will not allow us to remain that way either. Being brought in means to be known, and in knowing us Christ heals us, re-creating us into people who now live as we were meant to live. He is always the Creator. So, even amidst these shouts of victory, there is a quieter movement towards us of a justice that is personal and close.
 
In the book The Magician’s Nephew, C.S. Lewis describes the creation of Narnia in a manner that mirrors the Genesis account, but Lewis envisions the words of the creator Aslan flowing forth as music. Imagine for a moment today’s music is the soundtrack for this creation scene. The hum of sound almost like the orchestra is tuning itself, readying for the act of creation, hovering over the waters, justice ready to “spring forth.” On this day after Christmas, remember that Christ’s coming does not mean that Jesus strode in plucking the weak reeds out and tossing them aside. He came breathing out the life of the Creator into our weakness. Know that we who were imprisoned guilty will be released as re-created; not replaced; but healed into the fullness of life.

Prayer
Dear Father,
You are the Creator of heaven and earth, and it is by your creative nature that you heal, repair, and restore. Make us mindful of your care. Allow us to see the vision of your creative work, unfurling our true being, restoring our true nature, seeing our whole selves as freely united to you. And in that freedom let us live justly and praise you.
Amen

Stacie Poston
Adjunct Instructor
Torrey Honors College
Biola University

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