At the moment of his baptism, Jesus began his public ministry. From then on, he no longer spent his days in the carpenter shop in Nazareth, as he had for the first thirty years of his life.
Now he sets off on the next stage of his mission. The prophecy from Isaiah, which we heard in the First Reading, summarizes this mission with a very interesting word: "servant."
Isaiah writes that God says to the Messiah, "You are my servant." The Hebrew word translated servant is "ebed", which literally means "slave." In the Old Testament it was often used in the context of "slave of the King." Moses, when addressing Yahweh, called himself, "your slave" as a way to express his humility in God's presence. The Psalms also describe King David with this term, as a title of honour. Yahweh calls him "my servant whom I have chosen." The prophets are also referred to as Yahweh's special, honoured "servants."
But in the passage from Isaiah, the term is not used to refer to just another prophet or king. Rather, it refers to the Messiah, the unique servant who will "restore Israel" and be a "light to the nations," bringing God's salvation "to the ends of the earth."
This term has much to teach us. It tells us much about Christ, but it also tells us much about ourselves.
Christ the Servant
By using this term to refer to the Messiah, Scripture teaches us two things about Jesus.
First of all, he had a unique relationship with God. The "slave of the king" was the one, in Old Testament times, who had special access to the king. He was the one who the king depended on, who advised the king, who the king confided in. He was like the prime minister, the viceroy, the chief of staff. No one else had direct access to the throne - they all had to go through the king's special servant. Moses went up the mountain and into the tent of God's presence, but everyone else waited outside.
Just so, Jesus' relationship to the Father is unique. This is why John the Baptist, whom Jesus himself later called the greatest of all prophets, says that Jesus is "a man who ranks before me, because he existed before me." Jesus Christ was not just a smart, enlightened man who stumbled across some wisdom and became a famous teacher.
Jesus is not just another Socrates. He is the Eternal Son of God made man, the Saviour, the one Mediator between God and man. Here we see Christ's glory. Here we see why St Paul's favourite title for Jesus is "Lord," a word reserved for God alone in the Old Testament.
And yet, at the same time, he is the servant of his Father. He has come to earth to do his Father's will. He has received a mission from his Father, and he is responsible for carrying it out. Here we see Christ's humility. Later in John's Gospel Jesus says that "my food is to do the will of the one who sent me, to accomplish the task he has given me" (John 4:34).
So Christ occupies both a place of supernatural honour, and also a place of complete dependence on his Father. That is what the term "servant" teaches us about Christ.
Christians - Other Christs
But at the same time, every Christian is another Christ. When we were baptized, we received the same Holy Spirit that came upon him at his baptism, and God's grace flowed into our souls, and we became sons with the Son, children of God - not just symbolically, but really.
So we too occupy a double place in the history of salvation. Each one of us is a slave of the king, an intimate companion and collaborator with the Lord. We have direct access to the heavenly throne - access unique to a king's son or daughter. Our true dignity comes from this sharing in the divine nature - not from our intelligence or athleticism or good-looks, but from each one of us having been adopted by God and brought into his intimate circle of friends and collaborators.
But this also means that we, like Christ, have a mission on this earth. We too are called to do God's will, to fulfil his plan for our lives. And that plan consists of continuing Christ's own work, restoring this fallen world, one heart at a time, bringing the salvation of God to the "ends of the earth."
As Christians, we are noble and honoured way beyond anything we can imagine, but we are also dependent - we are "slaves of the King," servants of Yahweh. Like Paul, we can say that we have been "called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God" - an apostle, a messenger, an ambassador of Jesus Christ to this world full of darkness and sin.
Conclusion: Heeding the Call
This is who we are. This is who we are called to become more fully. Today, when Jesus renews this call and gives us his own life through Holy Communion, let's renew our commitment to this mission.
And this week, in our words, example, and decisions, let's strive to be worthy brothers and sisters of our Saviour Jesus Christ, worthy slaves of the King, willing to give up even our very lives in order to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbours as ourselves.