In the weekly meetings of our Cornerstone Catholic Scripture Study group in Florida, we have spent the past 20 weeks reading the Prophets. We have studied the recurring cycle in Israel’s life with God: God makes a Covenant with Israel, Israel rebels, the prophets indict and warn, Israel continues to rebel, God reluctantly punishes, Israel repents, God forgives and renews the covenant.
The first Isaiah (ch 1-39) repeats the indictment and warning of punishment, and the hope of forgiveness, in terms consistent with the Prophets before and after him.
A century or more later, the second Isaiah adds a new element: the Suffering Servant, the anointed one (Messiah) that the Lord will send to reform and save Israel. Earlier anointed ones were kings (David and Solomon). But Isaiah’s Messiah is not a king but a servant, not conquering but suffering.
52:3 He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering[a] and acquainted with grief;
he was despised, and we did not esteem him.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter
This new element, the Suffering Servant, was so radical, so revolutionary, that other later prophets do not pick up on this element in Isaiah. Not one of the prophets who wrote in the century and a half after Isaiah speaks of it. God apparently chose not to repeat it.
And then the line of Prophets ends abruptly after Malachi. Why? Four centuries of silence follow, until John the Baptist announces and Jesus fulfills the prophecies.
What happens during this four-century silence, this gap, this hiatus? Does the Cycle continue? Sin and rebellion certainly do, but prophetic warning does not. Why not?
Perhaps it is because the prophecies had become written scripture, incorporated into their liturgy, regularly taught to every Jewish generation. Sending another Prophet to repeat the message yet again might seem redundant.
Or maybe it was simply too radical a message for Israel to understand at the time. God knew they were not ready to give up their hope of an earthly, political rebirth of Israel as an earthly political kingdom under another David.
But the Jews were even then being taught the one painful lesson that goes with Hope: Patience. They were learning to wait patiently for a deliverer, a King-Messiah, no matter how long it took.
On a personal note, I had many hurdles to surmount before I could join the Church. Mainly, of course, there was my sinful nature, especially pride. But there was also what can be called the Jewish Problem. My mother’s family were Jews (non-observant). And they and I felt very strongly the thread of anti-Semitism that had run through Church history. From early times, many in the Church had blamed the Jews as a people for having condemned Jesus, and that had been the major factor in creating the racist scourge that is anti-Semitism. The term “Christ-killer” came from the earliest days of the Church. Of course, some of the Temple leaders and their followers were indeed guilty of Jesus’ death. But not all Jews in Jerusalem that day were involved, and certainly none of the ones born later. Yet all Jews throughout the ages since have felt the sting of Jew-hatred on the part of Christians (and the non-Christians to whom it quickly spread).
It is true that many or most Jews did not accept Jesus as Messiah or convert to Christianity, in the Apostle’s time or since. But it must be recognized that there was a stumbling block in the road for them (as St. Paul put it): they were expecting a King-Messiah, not a humble village preacher-healer. They had so learned the lesson of patience that they would not (or could not) give it up. Many are still waiting for the Messiah today. And an added stumbling block was set in their road by misguided voices in the Church: anti-Semitism.
I was led past this stumbling block by wise Catholics who showed me how various saints, and especially St. John Paul II, had reached out across this divide, embracing our “Elder Brothers in the Faith”. That did it for me. I could join a Church that could still move forward to correct past mistakes. (I am often reminded of the clever convert’s answer to the question “But why the Catholics?” He answered that “the Catholic Church is for saints and sinners only; righteous folks are welcome at any of the Protestant chapels down the street”.)
And I marveled at the unlimited patience of the priests (as well as a Jewish deacon) who brought me along the path I walked, patience that was undoubtedly tested but undiminished in the several-year course of my questions, doubts, objections and hesitations. As I’m often forced to admit, I am a very slow learner. In the words of the Cornerstone prayer, “Thank you, Lord, for the grace that has led me to this moment.”
But, back to the post-prophetic gap after Malachi: What we know of Israel’s history during this period is largely political. The Assyrian-Babylonian-Persian imperial rule is succeeded by Greek rule, under Alexander the Great and his successor regime, the Seleucids. These Greeks introduce much of their culture, but it is not until the second-century, when a Seleucid king tries to invade the Temple, that Israel revolts; the Maccabees rule a semi-independent kingdom until the Romans arrive, 63 years BC-“Before Christ”. Which brings us to a stable in Bethlehem.) And this brings us to the greatest of all revolutions: the Jesus Revolution. The one that began with Jesus and the Apostles and disciples and is still going on today.
The Gospel writers had little difficulty seeing that Jesus was the Suffering Servant, since Jesus himself made it clear. In Luke 22:37, at the end of the Last Supper he says:
“For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted among the lawless’; and indeed, what is written about me is being fulfilled.”
In the next verses he is arrested.
Isaiah shows up more often in our Catholic liturgy than any other Prophet, and it’s easy to see why. Here is the clearest prediction and promise of the Messiah, the Christ; foretold by Prophets living centuries before he was even born!
What happens after the resurrection of the Messiah? The Cycle continues, but now the new Covenant is not with a chosen people, but with all humanity. Jesus becomes the new and eternal covenant and it is sealed through his suffering, blood, death, and Resurrection….and then sin and rebellion continue. But something else happens.
As I said, the Romans arrived in Judea 63 years before the birth of Jesus, the Suffering Servant. And the Roman Empire was fertile ground for the spread of the Gospel. The previous empires were not. We hear very little about Assyrians or Babylonians or Persians converting to the worship of the True God. (Even after Daniel’s miracles repeatedly appeared to convert their kings, it never seemed to last.) But Rome was different: it was ripe. For several reasons: it was relatively tolerant of religions that did not upset things too much. (Given the coming persecutions, it seems odd to think of Rome as tolerant of non-Roman religions. But it was relatively so.) That is why there were so many Jews living in Roman colonies, especially Egypt (the Diaspora caused by the earlier conquests of Israel). And in Rome, many pagans had chosen to convert to Judaism, because they were impressed by the moral behavior of the Jews (in stark contrast to general Roman immorality, which often approached Sodom and Gomorrah levels). These converts were called “God Fearers”, and they were common in Roman synagogues, and they were frequently the early converts to the new Jewish sect called Christianity.
Of course, the Roman emperors quickly realized how disruptive Christianity could be, and decided to persecute Christians as brutally as possible. But it was too late. The cat was out of the box, and no numbers of martyrdoms would put it back.
The Roman Empire becomes the incubator of the faith that would spread throughout the world!
The entire Bible story foreshadows this expansion. Starting with one faithful man (Abraham), it grows into a family and a tribe, becomes a nation, and from that nation in the fulness of time it expands to the whole world. After some false starts and setbacks and failed covenants (Adam, Noah…), humanity has been taught how to live with God and under God. We still sin, but not out of ignorance.
The Prophets have given a voice to God’s Love, Mercy and Suffering in very human terms. Our sins and rebellions cause God grief, pain, and anger: very human responses. Isaiah’s God, our God, is quite different from the Philosopher’s God of Plato and Aristotle, so far above and beyond us. Our God is human as well as divine, as we learn when he sends his son to us. We cannot comprehend God without a human face and voice. And God suffers when we sin. That is what Love requires. Who of us have not felt the pain of a loved one’s sin? That is the message that the Prophets and Jesus bring to us. And that, I believe, is why we have a crucifix hanging before us in every Catholic Church. Not just an empty cross, but a more-or-less realistic image of Jesus suffering and dying for our sins.
Let us pray:
Thank you, Lord, for our many blessings, those we recognize and those we do not. Forgive us for our sins that have caused you suffering. May your loving kindness reach out to those others who have suffered at our hands.
AMEN
O Ben Finiti 