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Kindlers of Fire, Lighters of Firebrands: Notes on the Suffering Servant of the Lord

 I love the Lord and the Lord loves me, but why am I a sufferer?

Why these difficult terrible trials and pains when we so much love the Lord?

One of the solutions that one may find in the Bible concerning the eternal question of innocent suffering is found in the Songs of the Suffering Servant of the Lord in Isaiah 40-55 (or Second Isaiah as biblical scholars call it).

It was the German biblical scholar, Berhard Dhum (1892) who first pointed out four passages in Isaiah as songs of an anonymous servant of  Lord  (EBED YHWH in Hebrew). The servant is beloved by the Lord, yet paradoxically a sufferer.

The four passages are all found in Second Isaiah:

1) Isaiah 42:1-4

2) Isaiah 49: 1-6

3) Isaiah 50:4-9 (this Sunday's First Reading - 9/12/2021)

4) Isaiah 52:13--53:12

In these passages, a common motif is discernible:  the beloved servant is innocent but suffers for other's healing ("By his wounds, we are healed" is a popular verse on this, Isa 53:5). With it, we may see suffering as "vicarious"-- we suffer for others.

The identity of the suffering servant is not disclosed. He/She/They is/are anonymous. It could be Israel who suffered during the Exile, prophet Isaiah himself, or his disciples. For the Gospel writers, esp. Luke, Jesus is the EBED YHWH; or the Christians themselves (Acts 4:27, 29-30). It is an open figure.

It is not then a wild imagination to think that the suffering servant "might be you" right now who so love the Lord but "dumadaaan sa napakatinding paghihirap at kalungkutan."

But notice also that the suffering servant in Isaiah is not simply subservient to the acts of injustice done against him. In the Reading for this Sunday (Third Servant Song), the servant challenges his persecutors to bring his case to court:

"Who will bring a case against me? Let us appear in court together! Who has a case against me? Let him approach me!"

 To suffer then is not the toleration of violence, "kahit na tinatapan kan na ng dignidad mo, at yinuyurakan ng iyong pagkatao." The words of the servant can be a fitting rallying cry for us today who suffer a lot of injustice:

 "You are kindlers of fire, lighters of firebrands!" (Isa 50:11).

For an introduction to the Second Isaiah, please visit my YouTube Channel Biblical Apostolate PH or click on the YouTube video below

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Fr. Randy is the current Parish Priest and Rector of the Sacred Heart Parish Shrine in Quezon City, Philippines. He is also the Director of the Biblical Apostolate of the Diocese of Cubao and the coordinator for the Biblical Apostolate of the SVD Philippine Central Province. He teaches Biblical courses at the Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City. He holds a doctorate from the Ateneo de Manila University (PhD, 2015) and from the Loyola School of Theology (STD, 2014); Licentiate in Sacred Scripture (SSL, 1999) from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome); an M.A. in Pastoral Ministry from the Divine Word Seminary  (1995). He served as president of the Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines (CBAP), chairperson of the Tagaytay Religious Association (TRA), Dean of Studies (Divine Word Seminary), and editor of the academic journal  Diwa: Studies in Philosophy and Theology. He founded the Certificate in Theological Studies (CTS) at the Divine Word Seminary and the SVD Tagaytay Alternative Learning System (SVD-ALS), an educational program for the out-of-school youth. Visit also his YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/biblicalapostolateph

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