A Biblical Vision, Part I: Mastering the Old Testament Witness to Christ

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A B i b l i ca l Vi s i on, Par t I : Mas ter i ng the Ol d Tes tament Wi tnes s to Chr i s t

Suffering and Servanthood: Jesus’ Self Consciousness as the Suffering Servant of Yahweh

[Jesus] called himself the Son of Man, which pointed in a Danielic sense to future vindication and authority, but he insisted that the Son of Man “must suffer” and he portrayed his coming death as fulfilling a mission which has its roots in the description of the servant in Isaiah. These two ideas, suffering and servanthood, come together in a key saying of Jesus, Mark 10.45. For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. The saying comes as the climax of a lesson on servanthood which Jesus gave to his disciples in the wake of the request of James and John for privileged positions in Jesus’ Kingdom. To reinforce his point, he uses his own example of voluntary servant hood, proved through his self-sacrificial coming death. It is the last phrase which lifts the saying from talking about serving in general to showing clearly that Jesus had in mind the very special ministry of the servant of the Lord. For it is clear from Isa. 53 that the Servant would not only suffer, but he would die – or rather be brutally killed – and his death would be as a sacrifice for the sin of many (Isa. 53.10ff.). a. Peter at Pentecost, Acts 2.25-31 – For David says concerning him, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; [26] therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. [27] For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. [28] You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.” [29] Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. [30] Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, [31] he foresaw and spoke about the resurrec tion of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. ~ Christopher J. H. Wright. Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament . p. 154. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .