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The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to
death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many
people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not
to make him known. Matthew 12:14–16
This passage goes on to say that Jesus withdrew to a more deserted
place to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah the Prophet (Isaiah
42:1–4). That prophecy is the first of what is referred to as “The
Songs of the Suffering Servant.” In these songs or poems of Isaiah,
the Messiah is presented to us as one who would be sent on a
mission from God, would suffer injustice for the sake of others,
would be rejected, and ultimately be vindicated and exalted. The
mission of the Suffering Servant was to bring justice and salvation
to all, including to the Gentiles.
At that time, the idea of a messianic king was still prominent in
the minds of many. They anticipated the coming of a messiah who
would be a political leader and would lead the people of Israel out
of oppression, making them a free, prosperous and powerful nation.
But Jesus acts in the opposite manner. Instead of raising up an
army to combat the evil intentions of the Pharisees and to
overthrow the Romans, Jesus withdrew from them and invited people
to come to Him for healing and to receive His teachings.
Jesus perfectly fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah by becoming the
Suffering Servant. And because His messianic role was much
different than what many people had anticipated, Saint Matthew
points us to the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah as a way of
clearly showing that Jesus truly was the promised Messiah. He was
just not the form of messiah that many expected. He was One Who was
humble and gentle of heart. He was One Who would redeem people by
the Blood of His Cross. And He was One Who would extend salvation
to all people, not only the people of Israel.
One lesson this teaches us is that even today we can have false
expectations of God. It is easy for us to set forth our own idea of
what God should do and what true justice demands. But we also read
in Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than
your thoughts” (Is. 55:8–9).
Just as it must have been difficult for the people of Israel to
come to accept the promised Messiah as a servant Who suffers and
Who redeems all people through that suffering, so it is often
difficult for us to accept our Lord as He is. It is difficult to
shed our own ideas of what we want God to do and this is especially
difficult when He calls us to share in His own suffering and
servanthood. To serve, suffer, sacrifice our lives, and the like
can be difficult to accept. But this is the way of our Lord—it is
the way of the Suffering Servant of God.
Reflect, today, upon your own expectations of God. Do you have a
long list of things that you think God should do? Do you pray for
that list of your ideas, thinking that if you only ask enough, God
will grant your requests? If your requests flow from His perfect
will, then praying for them in faith will bring them about. But if
they flow more from you and your own ideas of what God should do,
then all the prayers in the world will not bring them to be. If
this is your struggle, then try to start anew by turning your eyes
to the Servant Who Suffers for the salvation of all. Reflect upon
the fact that God’s thoughts and ways are most often very far above
your own thoughts and ways. Try to humble yourself before the
Suffering Servant and abandon all ideas that do not flow from His
Heart.
My Suffering Servant, I thank You for Your suffering and death
and for the redemption that flows from Your sacrifice of love. Help
me to shed all false expectations that I have of You, dear Lord, so
that I will be guided by You and Your mission of salvation alone.
Jesus, I trust in You.
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