Today and for the next four Sundays until Lent begins, we will briefly concentrate on certain events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and son of man.  The Bible tells us He was circumcised on the eighth day and presented in the temple after forty days.  As He grew, His parents taught Him the Mosaic Law, and took Him along each year on their annual trip to Jerusalem during the Passover.  A truly remarkable event occurred at the beginning of His ministry.  It was His baptism by John.

          John had been baptizing people in the Jordan River north of Jericho.  The word baptism means simply "to wash."  After their return from exile in Babylon, Israelite women and men had begun practicing a ritual washing, a self-baptism that had less to do with outward cleanliness than inward, and it signified their rededication to God and to following the Law of Moses.

          John was not the first prophet to preach in the desert, but he was the first to combine ritual washing with repentance.  He told the people if they wanted to rededicate themselves to God, they first had to make some changes in their lives.  They had to stop overcharging their customers or cheating or lying or extorting or even complaining.  "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!" he shouted to the people, and they did as they came to him to be baptized there in the bleak desert, the place where people of Israel have always met God.

          One day in the midst of his exhortations, a quiet man stepped forward to be baptized.  Though few others knew Him, John did.  It was his cousin Jesus of Nazareth, a man already well known for his righteous living.  John knew Jesus was one who didn't need to repent.  What purpose would it serve to have a man baptized who didn't need it?  Jesus quietly said it was to be an example for others.

          We don't know that much about their relationship, but we can see that John knew Jesus well.  He even called Him, "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29).   He'd already seen in Jesus signs of the Messiah, and he believed He was the Christ, the Chosen One.  Just to be sure, he once asked Jesus, "Are you He who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" ( Luke 7:20 ).   Jesus' response convinced John, but he died shortly thereafter at the hand of the wicked Herodias and her daughter Salome.

          So who exactly is this Chosen One and what is His work?  Centuries before Jesus lived, the great prophet Isaiah wrote the words of our text:  "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen One in whom I delight.  I will put my Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations."  Looking back now, we know Isaiah was talking about Jesus.  He would be Prince of Peace and King of kings but He would also be a suffering servant and a servant who dispensed justice.  He would bring justice to the world, something we sorely need today in every nation.

          What is this thing called "justice"?  It's a term used thirty times in Isaiah and is the quality of something being right or lawful.  It's the standard which determines righteous conduct, and has to do with whether or not a situation turns out right or wrong.  Injustice means something happened that was not right.  It may be legal, but it's not necessarily right.  Injustice today is far too common.

          For example, in June, 1998, a Los Angeles man was awarded $74,000 when his neighbor ran over his hand with his car.  Though the neighbor did the deed, it apparently it didn't matter that the young man was trying to steal his hubcaps at the time.  Or in May, 2000, a Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay a young woman $113,000 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her pelvis.  Never mind that she had just thrown the soda at her boyfriend and had slipped on her own drink.  Similarly, two years ago this month, an Austin, Texas, jury found a furniture store negligent after a woman broke her ankle tripping over an unruly toddler running amok in their store.  The jury awarded the complaining woman three quarters of a million dollars, despite the fact that the misbehaving toddler was her own son.  These verdicts were all legal, but they were neither right nor just.

          Jesus came as a servant to bring justice to the world, not by fixing our legal problems but by fixing our sin problems.  In a perfect world there would be no injustice or unfairness.  There would be no foolish judgments like the Pennsylvania teenager who was awarded $15,000 after his neighbor's dog bit him on the backside, even though the boy had been repeatedly shooting the dog with a pellet gun.  Nor would a Maryland jury award a man a half million dollars when he was accidently locked in a garage for seven days due to a faulty garage door opener.  He might have deserved the award had he not been trying to rob the house at the time.

          Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 42, and let's look at what kind of faithful servant Jesus was prophesied to be.  In so doing, perhaps we can also become more like the faithful servant He is.

          Vss. 2-3:  "He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets.  A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.  In faithfulness He will bring forth justice."  The faithful servant is a gentle servant.  We live in an age of noise and harshness.  Loud traffic, noisy radios, and shouting people can make life difficult.  Jesus came as a gentle servant to nurse the hurting and bind the broken-hearted.  He doesn't push aside the helpless, but loves and cares for them. He raises the downtrodden and comforts the suffering, and He does it through us.  We are His hands who reach out and touch people in need.  We are His shoulders who bear one another's burdens.  We are His gentle voices of comfort, the bearers of Good News.  We are His feet that go on His errands and His hearts that ache when someone suffers.  As He is a gentle servant to all, so are we.

          Vs. 4:  "He will not falter or be discouraged till He establishes justice on earth.  In His law the islands will put their hope."  The faithful servant is courageous.  He does what is needful when others will not.  He does not become discouraged when the unexpected happens, but looks forward to the future with a Godly hope.

          Last Friday night Carol and I were in a serious auto accident.  We were broad-sided while making a left-hand turn at an intersection in Highlands Ranch.  Thankfully no one was injured, but it brought back some bad memories.  I had a green arrow to proceed, but when traffic slowed in that twelve-lane intersection and the arrow disappeared, another driver saw a green light and came through hitting us full force.  I was cited though I'd had a green light and he was not, though he had hit us.  That's the way life is sometimes.  You aren't always able to watch everything around you, and you can't always escape the foolish accident.  It's easy to get discouraged at injustice or tragic events, but we can't.

          You see, we're not all innocent and the other guy is not all guilty, but we are all sinful.  Sin is the great leveller and it makes us all guilty.  In a western movie, a young man praises an old gunfighter for shooting the bad guy.  "He had it coming," he said, trying to justify the shooting.  The old gunfighter quietly said, "Son, we all got it coming."  The old man got it right!  Because of sin, we all "got it coming," but because of Jesus, we won't get it.  He rescues us and saves us.  We all got it coming but we won't get it.

          Verse seven continues, "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;  I will take hold of your hand.  I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness." (Isaiah 42:6-7)   At certain times, God takes hold of our hand.  He leads us through life, and when we falter, He forgives us.  When we are foolish, He gives us wisdom.  When we are cited, He pays the fine.  When we destroy, He's ready to repair.  When we abandon Him, He waits for our return, and then restores to us the full rights as His children.  And if we feel cheated or short-changed, we can rest assured that some day our servant Jesus will right all wrongs and balance all the accounts.

          Jesus is our faithful Servant and He empowers to be the same.  The second of Epiphany's Five Purposes is "Faithful Service."  Soon we'll be asking you how you would like to serve Him in this new year.  Thanks be to God we have Him to bail us out.  Praise be His name we can live to serve Him another day.  Amen!

Copyright © 2002 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.