OBEDIENT SERVANT - A: PALM SUNDAY

First Reading: Isa 50:4-7 (April 2, 2023)

“The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing the I shall not be put to shame” (Isa 50:7).

The phrase above is the response of the so-called Suffering Servant, who amidst the punishment and persecution he encounters remains to be calm, pacific, and silent. His faith in God’s goodness is so strong to the point that he would simply shrug off any harm. In particular, he declared: “I have my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting” (v. 6).

At first glance, it appears that the Suffering Servant is somebody who is emotionally numb and socially insensitive to pain since he would not complain for a single instance. Some would conclude that he is a masochist who glories in pain even if it is forcefully inflicted to him by others. Some, meanwhile, would opine that he is an ultra-optimist who could easily bracket suffering with a strong hope that his deliverer would not delay in coming and would liberate him soon (v. 7). This savior is believed to be tasked to vindicate the faithful by establishing his innocence (v. 8) and, most importantly, to punish his perpetrators severely (v. 11).

Conversely, I think that the Servant prophesied by Isaiah here is neither one of the abovementioned reasons. Rather, he is a person who has a deep spirituality, a spirituality that is rooted in obeying the Lord’s will (v. 5). Given that God allows the righteous to be persecuted by the wicked, pain is never glorified by the Servant. Instead, it is just a natural consequence of human sin, and, possibly, structural evil. These stimuli are brought to the world not by God, but by the humankind.

In this sense, a more appropriate term to the expression “Suffering Servant” is “Obedient Servant”, which means that this person’s embrace of suffering is not an objective in itself, but only a result of his transcendental acceptance of Divine Providence.

We are now entering the Holy Week with the commemoration of the Passion Sunday. An alternative name for this day is Palm Sunday to signify the crowd’s triumphal welcome of Jesus to Jerusalem (Mt 21:9). Ironically, this is only a fake show of allegiance, since in a few days, Jesus would be condemned to death upon the instigation of the same crowd (27:22-23). The passion of the Lord commenced here, leading to his fateful crucifixion at Golgotha (v. 33).

In no way should this episode be read as a glorification of suffering because Jesus did not choose it himself; it was only brought to him by the adamant crowd. In the same way, we should never look at pain as an end in itself in such a way that we wallow in a kind of fatalistic surrender. Rather, we should detest misery at all costs and fight all systems, institutions, and personalities that perpetuate any prolonged existence of societal suffering.

However, when such contexts cannot be easily altered, like the Obedient Servant, we should have a strong faith in the Lord, believing that he would never leave the faithful downtrodden but would provide him/her with the grace to persevere, and receive his/her well-earned crown of glory (Isa 51:3).

- Rex Fortes, CM