Jesus: The Promised Servant

Introduction

Of all the names and ways the prophet Isaiah speaks about Jesus, there is none so pervasive and perhaps mysterious as the title servant. Why, of all the things the prophet could have emphasized about the coming Messiah, would he have put so much time and weight on this title of Servant?

In this text, Matthew quotes from the famous servant texts in Isaiah, specifically from Isaiah 42:1-4

Isaiah 42:1–4 ESV

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.

Equally mysterious to us is that in this text, Jesus withdraws, which itself is understandable since we know the Pharisees were seeking a way to kill Jesus which he, through spiritually discerning eyes, knew. The mystery is why he carried out his ministry and yet so secretly, telling those he healed not to speak a word of it.

Matthew not only sets out to answer this question, he shows that it is part of Jesus fulfilling the Scripture’s description of the Messiah, who would come as a Servant, coming without great pomp and show, but with a quite and humble disposition healing those in need, and thus qualifying himself as the one whom the ancient prophet had spoken of.

Jesus’ Withdrawal and Obscurity in Ministry

The text opens with Jesus knowledge of the Pharisees’ plans to kill him. Knowing his time had not yet come, Jesus withdraws from public ministry in that particular town in which the healing of the man with the withered hand had taken place. Jesus likely goes into the countryside, and is followed by crowds.

Despite the danger Jesus is facing at the hands of the Pharisees, and despite his withdrawal from the towns in which he was previously preaching the Good News, Jesus does not cease his ministry. His miraculous works specifically show his claim to being the messiah to be accurate, and showing himself to be who he is as well as preaching that the Kingdom of Heaven had come was why Jesus came, and he does not cease to do the will of God.

This is a pattern that will be followed by his own disciples both in the ministry Jesus outlined for them in Matthew 10, but also into the book of Acts after the stoning of Stephan and the persecution in Jerusalem that followed.

Acts 8:4 ESV

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Christians are never called to remain in a place of danger if it is caused by a rejection of the Gospel message. Although we are not to fear persecution, we are not called to necessarily stick around and wait for it. Fleeing persecution is not faithlessness, although ceasing our ministry is. If persecution comes, it comes because of a rejection of the Gospel message, but wherever we flee to should be viewed as our new base for ministry. We should not be afraid that persecution might erupt again because of a negative response in the past, but rather are to continue proclaiming the Word where we are. Perhaps you have had an experience of sharing the Gospel that ended in personal rejection and a broken relationship. Do not let this stop you from continuing your work. Although you should not try to “poke the bear” as it were by continuing to share with someone who is clearly not interested, do not be discouraged from sharing the Gospel where you are able to. Such rejection is simply in accordance with walking in the footsteps of Christ, so let us not be discouraged with sharing again with someone else. Instead, may we all the more boldly proclaim the good news where we are able.

Jesus continues to heal those who come to him. In fact, Matthew claims that he heals all that came to him.

It is good to note that, although those preaching a prosperity Gospel may take this as an example of how God wants everyone to be healthy in this life, this actually removes one of the greatest excuses they use to say why not all of those prayed for in their meetings are healed. Normally, if someone is not healed by a prosperity preacher, the reason is chucked up to the person not having enough faith. If only they had enough faith, they would surely be healed. Yet, in our text we see that Jesus heals all that come to him. Are we to believe that all these Jews had enough faith to be healed, but many people today who come to a healer to be healed do not? It does not state that only those with enough faith were healed, especially since Jesus elsewhere points out the great things that can be done with only a mustard seed’s worth of faith. This was surely a unique part of Jesus’ ministry, showing him to be uniquely the Son of God, whereas even the Apostles did not always heal. Paul’s health problems as well as Timothy’s are examples of health issues that were not healed during the time of the Apostles. But in this scene, Jesus heals all that come to him, one again bringing to mind that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4

Isaiah 53:4 ESV

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

Jesus came as a healer of both soul and body. While we may not always experience bodily healing in this life, Jesus did die in order to heal us of all our illnesses in the next life, where there will be no tears, pain, or death. His healing here is a foretaste of that eschatological healing, as well as the present healing he brings to our souls through regeneration by faith in Christ.

Jesus orders those he heals not to make him known. This is something that we see several times in Jesus’ healing ministry, his cleansing of the leper in Matt 8:4 being an example.

Why does Jesus do this? After all, if he came to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom and to make himself known as the Messiah, we would expect him to do these signs openly. There are two reasons we can see from our text, and the latter is what Matthew will focus on. The first reason is that Jesus’ time had not yet come. That is, the climactic moment of his death and resurrection was not yet to be, and being too open about these signs would increase the jealousy of the Pharisees and make it easier for them to plot a way to put him to death. When Jesus would openly enter Jerusalem being hailed as the Son of David, the time would be right for the things that were to take place to happen. His death at the hands of the jealous and unbelieving Jews, and ultimately his resurrection. While we would expect his signs to convince the Pharisees, scribes, and priests to believe in him, miraculous signs are not effective to produce faith in someone. While someone may claim that if God just showed them a sign they would believe, this is not the case. We know this through the response the Jews often had to Jesus and his miracles.

But the second reason that Jesus goes into hiding and commands secrecy from those he is healing is what Matthew focuses on here. To Matthew, rather than this being an obstical to believing that Jesus is the Christ, it is in exact fulfillment of prophecy of the Christ being the lowly Servant of the Lord as foretold by the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 42:1-4.

To Matthew, this is exactly what the true Messiah would do. He would not come as a fighter engaging the conflict against those who oppose him. Instead, he would take the lowly and humble route of continuing his ministry in a way that is not confrontational. This doesn’t mean that Jesus never engaged in confrontation; we just saw him confront the Pharisees on the issue of the Sabbath, although he did not initiate that conflict. Jesus is no coward, but rather is wise and discerning about which battles to fight and when. He carries himself in his first coming, not as a conqueror of men, but as a Saviour of men. He is not, at this time, crushing his enemies, but rather continues the work of God in a quiet and gentle way by avoiding the conflict. This is unexpected for us, who expect someone coming into power to be quick to fight and win the battles that will ensure their place of authority. When Mohammed’s message which he claimed to receive from God was not received, he would go to war and kill those who were his enemies. Although the religion claims to and in some ways does promote moral living, their leader and founder pursued power in a very worldly way: through conquest and force. Contrast this with the way Jesus comes with his message which points people to him as the appointed King of God’s people, the Son of David, Son of Man, and the Son of God. This also contrasts with the way the Jews expected their Messiah to come. Rather than coming as a high and mighty warrior and conqueror, he comes and a Saviour of the sinner with a gentle and lowly heart.

Leon Morris

The Gospel according to Matthew 5. Jesus Fulfilling Prophecy, 12:15–21

in popular expectation messiahs exercised their authority by crushing opposition, but Jesus showed his authority in his concern for the helpless and downtrodden.

D.A. Carson

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke 4. Jesus the Prophesied Servant (12:15–21)

Despite all Matthew has done to show Jesus to be the messianic Son of David and unique Son of God, he wants to separate himself from exclusively royal and militaristic interpretations of Messiah’s role. He knows that the ministry of Jesus Messiah must also be understood as the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Suffering Servant.

So now, understanding that, we can move into the passage that Matthew quotes as a further proof of Jesus being the Messiah. Let us now explore who this Servant of the Lord is and how Jesus’ actions here match up to what Isaiah expects this man to be like.

Understanding the Servant Passages

The word translated servant has a general meaning of being in a relationship that is humbled compared with the one with whom the person has a relationship. Thus, it can be translated child in a family setting, or servant in a social setting. The point is that this servant has taken on a lowly position.

The passage that Matthew quotes is one of four servant songs. The others are found in Isaiah 49:1-6; 50:4-9; and most famously Isaiah 52:13-53:12. These songs prophecy various aspects of Christ’s life, from his calling from the womb, his words being like a sword (Rev 19:15), his sinlessness, his teaching and practice of turning the other cheek, and of course his satisfactory death for the salvation of his people. Isaiah 53:5-6

Isaiah 53:5–6 ESV

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

So not only is Matthew attaching Jesus to this specific prophecy that he quotes, but all of these servant songs. He is showing that through Jesus’ interesting and even questionable actions of removing himself from public spaces to do his ministry, Jesus is actually more accurately fulfilling the Scriptural expectations of the coming Messiah.

Why does he take on this part of a servant? After all, the Messiah is described elsewhere as a King who would crush his enemies under his feet. He is the Son of David, the Son of Man seated at the right hand of God in Daniel 7. He is the One who will deliver Israel from her enemies, and yet he comes as a servant. This servant language denotes lowliness, humility, and submission, which seems to be at odds with everything else the OT tells us about the Messiah. And yet this is exactly the kind of language Isaiah chose to use in describing the Messiah’s ministry. This is something that the NT picks up on.

Philippians 2:6–8 (ESV)

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Matthews point is that the servant-like attitude of Jesus is completely in line with the OT’s Messianic expectations. This is how Jesus goes about his ministry, lowly like a servant, not proud and arrogantly challenging the proud Pharisees. He does not fight fire with fire, so to speak, but rather returns their evil with a meek and lowly attitude of continued service to the burdened he came to minister to.

Christ’s Lowly Ministry

Let us not look at the way in which Jesus actions fulfill this prophecy specifically.

The servant is identified as chosen and beloved? The term servant of the Lord is often associated with Israel, and in this way Jesus is the true Israel. He is the only Israelite to ever live in accordance with the will of God perfectly and truly. Thus, he is one with whom (God’s) soul is well pleased. He inherits the title of Israel himself as the perfect child of God, the true Servant of the Lord. He is also called God’s chosen, again a common title for God’s chosen people Israel. Jesus is chosen in a similar way that Abraham is chosen; to be God’s servant, to walk before him blamelessly, to be the founder of the people of God, to be heir of all God’s promises, and to ultimately fulfill the role humanity was given in the first place: the be the image and likeness of God on this earth.

He does this by dwelling in the power of the Spirit of God. While Jesus himself was and is God, the Holy Spirit dwelt upon him in his human ministry and it was through the moving of the Holy Spirit that Jesus ministered. In the Spirit, which was often given to prophets to speak the Word of God to God’s people, he is to proclaim justice to the nations, or to the Gentiles; non-Jews. This is interesting because up to this point, Jesus’ ministry has mainly been focused on reaching the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and yet the prophets knew that through him the Gospel would spread to all nations. Such is the nature of the Great Commission, which Jesus would give to his disciples who are commanded to carry on the work of the Servant. This is why Paul will quote the servant songs in 2 Cor 6:2 when referring to his own ministry, which he sees as a branch of the ministry of the Christ, the true Servant of the Lord.

Verse 19 is where we see the most relevant part of the text. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, not will anyone hear his voice in the streets. Of course, this is not saying that Jesus did not preach in public, for he surely did on many occasions. Rather, the point here is the gentle attitude with which he would go about his ministry. He would not be a loud, boastful and combative person, but rather he will later be shown as gentle, not breaking a bruised reed.

In his first coming, Jesus did not come to retaliate against evil. He did not come to put his enemies in their place and bring their condemnation upon them. He didn’t come to remove his enemies and enforce a visible reign among the nations. All these things are true of his next coming, but his first coming was one in which he would gently and without violence come to gather the weak and needy whom he would invite into his coming Kingdom.

I cannot help but think of the modern view of Christian nationalism, a Triumphalist view that teaches that Christians should be expecting physical, political, and cultural dominion on earth for the church. This view is over-realized eschatology, similar to the prosperity Gospel. The church has the duty to continue the ministry that Christ had while he was on this earth, and while on this earth Jesus did not challenge governments, authorities, powers, and he did not with any militarism promote the Kingdom of God in a way that is visible to the worldly human eye. In the NT we see Paul teaching us to pay taxes to the wicked emperor Nero and to submit to governing authorities as much as we can. We see no NT expectation that the world will get better and better and that the church will gain more and more power in the worldly sphere. Instead, we see a Christ who withdraws from the Pharisees and heals in secret in order to fulfill what the prophet had said about him; that he would not come as a powerful confronter, but as a Saviour for the weak. Judgement will come, and when it does it will be a great and terrible day as Jesus crushes his enemies with a rod of iron. But here and now he has come, not to condemn the world, but to save it.

Let us take care, lest our worldly expectations of God’s work infringe upon the Scripture’s expectation. The true church will always be weak in the world, but in her weakness there is strength. She will speak the truth, but will not seek the power to enforce her way upon the world. Rather, she will speak the truth in love and invite the weary and heavy-laden to find rest for their souls in the Messiah who does not break a bruised reed or put out a smoldering wick.

The metaphors smoldering wick and bruised reed are in line with the harassed and helpless (9:36) and the weary and heavy-laden (11:28). It is generally the helpless and low that Jesus came for. When the Pharisees attack Jesus, he defends the way he fulfills the law by helping these people, he preaches justice, but he doesn’t waste his time trying to frustrate the Pharisees or see them dethroned from their high horses, but rather he continues his ministry to the poor and needed, leaving the proud and obstinate to their fate in the end.

Until he brings justice to victory. This reminds us that, although Jesus’ hidden ministry may seem like a defeat or a retreat, Jesus is continuing in the way that leads to victory for God’s people and his Kingdom. While one would expect Jesus to go to war in some way against those who contradict him, he will end up going to a bloody cross at their hands. God’s will is the irony of victory through apparent defeat. While seeming weak, Jesus is strong. While ministering to the low, he is making them children on high. While coming quietly and without quarreling or a loud cry, he proclaims justice to the nations. While coming as a Saviour, he prepares the earth for the time when he will come as a judge.

Conclusion

In Jesus, we have the fulfillment of all the Scriptural expectations of the Christ, both as our Lord and King, and as the lowly and gentle Saviour that he is. He lowered himself for us and does not bring the Kingdom in visible glory or power in this first coming, but rather brings it quietly, as it were, with a message for the lowly and outcast.

Following the walk of our Saviour means, on the one hand, having the confidence of being children of God, the King of the Universe. On the other hand, it means having the sincere humility, goodwill, and gentleness that shows our attitudes to be Christ-like.

The power of God does not go out in human or visible force, but through the unseen work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of people who are made into the gentle and lowly image of Christ. Let us embrace that image by faith, knowing that ours is the victory, even in seeming defeat. Our gentle Saviour would give himself over to suffer on a cross for our sins, and through his death we have obtained victory over this world. Let us claim that victory in faith, knowing that the time will come when Jesus will not return as a mere servant, but as a judge and mighty warrior to destroy evil once and for all and to deliver his people into the victory he already won for them.