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The Suffering Servant: Part One.
Visions of the messiah: common view, with few exceptions whether Jewish or Christian B an all conquering hero who will rid the people of their enemies and problems.
People in the time of Christ looked with eagerness for such a messiah, as they continued to do for the next hundred years until the Romans destroyed the forces of Simon bar Kokhba in 135 CE.
The result, the end of a Jewish state, Jerusalem was plowed, and an edict established banning Jews from entering the city.
Simon=s name was son of the star, a reference to Numbers 24:17 and the prophecy of Balaam about the star from Jacob rising.
R.
Akiva proclaimed him a Messiah.
Should have heeded Gamaliel’s message in Acts 5!
 
That was not the image of a messiah that the Father and the Word had in mind when planning to send Jesus as the Messiah.
Scholars look at the Gospels and see Jesus=s messianic claims and believe he failed in his attempt.
They then see the disciples trying to create a new model of the Messiah to rescue Jesus=s abortive attempt.
Taking scriptures from Isaiah, they created a model of a Suffering Servant to replace the all conquering hero ideal.
These include Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-6, 50: 4-11; 52:13B 53:12.
The disciples looked upon Jesus as the Messiah.
The Messiah was an anointed one, the deliverer from the problems that people faced in the servitude of other nations.
Commonly they were Priests or Kings, or in some unique instances sought to fill both roles as had the Hasmonean kings who preceded Herod.
Yet they had all gone and relief was never in sight.
Jesus at least was a son of David.
\\ It is instructive to see the perspective of the disciples to a Messiah.
Luke records in Acts 1, that the disciples concern was about Jesus restoring the kingdom to Israel.
Even following the resurrection, the role of the Messiah for them was to establish a physical kingdom to provide immediate relief for the people.
Subsequent AMessiah=s@, either in the Jewish domain or in the world of Christendom always gravitated to the same ideas.
Eusebius saw the Emperor Constantine as such a messiah.
A king and priest combined ruling over the kingdom of God on earth.
When we talk of Messiahs, the immediate concept is of power B unlimited power.
Passover is approaching quickly and as we prepare we will hear numerous times in sermons about the instruction of Jesus to His disciples, especially as He instructed them to love one another as he had loved them.
Yet what is involved in the loving of your neighbor as your self, to the point of giving your life for them.
Is there an element to this that is easily overlooked?
That model of a Messiah that I=ve outlined, that people seek for, was not the role that Jesus Christ came to fulfill.
As we approach the Passover we are reminded all to quickly of the other role of the Messiah B a servant.
Yet a servant with power!
Matthew 28:18 AAll authority has been given me in heaven and on earth.@
Set off against the very beginning of Jesus= ministry with the temptation by Satan.
Mark=s Gospel follows Matthew and builds on the statement of Jesus.
In terms of the temptation no direct answer is provided.
Who wins the battle B is it a draw or a contested decision?
Mark uses a literary device to make us read on or listen attentively to find out what really did happen.
\\ The writers of the Gospels chose miracles to include in there accounts that spoke to the overall lesson they were seeking to convey.
Mark does the same.
As a result, it doesn=t take long to find out about the temptation.
Jesus goes out and calls men to follow him as disciples (vvs.
16-20).
He teaches with authority or power.
The second miracle is casting out a demon (vvs.21-28).
Healings followed!
That means that Jesus really did have the power that Matthew records in 28:18.
The record goes on over the next few chapters showing in what manner Jesus had power.
The healing of sickness, and diseases, the forgiving of sins (2:5) all fall within the range of Jesus power.
In fact nothing falls outside of it.
Wind and sea could be stilled (4:35-41).
People could be resurrected to life (5.21-43)
Food could be multiplied to feed multitudes, (6:30-44).
Power could be delegated to the disciples (6:7-13).
Nothing was outside his control.
Mark is eager for us to see this in perspective and he assembles all of these instances where Jesus is able to exercise power over every situation in a supernatural manner.
Mark 11.28 the leaders want to know on whose authority Jesus performs miracles and teaches.
For Mark or Apostle Peter on whose behalf he wrote, Jesus ministry was a reordering of power.
But what is unique about Jesus=s reordering of power?
It was never for his own benefit.
It was always for the benefit of others.
As Isaiah recorded in what is also considered part of the Servant Songs:
 
/A//The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, " (Isaiah 61:1-2, NKJV) /
 
So here we have a Messiah who has real power.
The catalogue that Mark provides is unequaled in human history.
\\ This aspect of power being exercised for the benefit of others is picked up as well by John in his Gospel account.
John 13 and foot washing.
Written in a different environment.
Look at our situation in the western world.
In coming to Passover these days most people have washed their feet already, clipped their toe nails, put on fresh socks, or hose in preparation for the service.
The task of washing the soft feet is no real chore.
It=s a different experience: its not the sort of thing we do for one another every day.
Yet God wants us to learn a lesson from it.
In other parts of the world, brethren can arrive at Passover in a different situation.
Their feet get dirty just getting to the service.
In the 70's there was a craze for platform shoes.
Two inch thick soles.
I suddenly found out that they weren=t just a fashion statement.
They were a necessity in places like Lagos in Nigeria to keep your feet out of the mud and muck.
Our brethren=s feet in that type of environ at Passover can be dirty.
Their feet often feel like hard weathered leather, because they haven=t been cosseted in well made shoes.
Much of their lives are spent barefooted, working in fields, or walking.
They are gnarled and calloused.
Unlike the water discarded here at Passover which probably has no more that a few hairs and lint to indicate it has been used, the water at the end of the service is red with dirt or clay.
Their circumstances are more like those experienced in the days of Jesus and the disciples.
Not advocating that we introduce a mud bath as part of the footwashing.
We have to learn the lesson in the environment in which we live.
Notice what happens:
Girds himself: a sign of a servant
Washes feet of all twelve
If I your Lord and master have washed your feet you do likewise!
Not a pleasant job.
It was the most debased job for a servant.
\\ Mekilta de Rabbi Ishmael said that a Hebrew slave wasn=t to wash feet B only a gentile slave could do this.
Ishmael based his reasoning on Exodus 21 and the instructions on having a Hebrew slave.
/A//Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.
If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him."
(Exodus 21:1-3, NKJV)/
 
*/Six years he Shall Serve:/* I might understand this to mean in any kind of service, but Scripture says: Thou shalt not make him serve as a bondservant@ (Lev.
25.39).
Hence the sages said: A Hebrew slave must not wash the feet of his master, nor put his shoes on him, not carry his things before him when going to the bathhouse, nor support him by the hips when ascending steps, not carry him in a litter or a chair or a sedan chair as slaves do.
For it is said: ABut over your brethren the children of Israel ye shall not rule, one over another, with rigour@ (ibid., v. 46). . .
.
To have a Hebrew slave to wash a masters feet was Aruling over him with rigour@.
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