This is, as our pastor stated, a delayed start to an Easter series he was excited about but thought he needed to address the crisis of our times first (See March 22 – Keeping Faith in the Storm). As he said, we plan, but reality takes over.
This series will examine how Jesus knew what his calling was and what kept him on the costly path to faithful fulfilment of his mission. He was fully human and so, like us, was a unique individual whose development, to be a mature and successful person who would accomplish his calling, needed him to have a healthy self-understanding of (1) who he was, his identity, and (2) what he was called to do.
During his walk on earth, Jesus at least three times predicted his death (Mark 8:31-3, 9:30-2, 10:32-4). This tells us he had come to understand that the cross, death, was part of his calling. But how did he come to know this, what motivated him, what did he hope to achieve, why was this a necessary part of his calling/mission?
Pastor Winston here shared how he had felt called from a career in business to become a pastor. We need to follow our calling if we do not want to miss out on what life, what God has in store for us.
How then did Jesus learn of his calling?
1. His parents, who had been told who he was to be, the Messiah, no doubt told him this when they gauged he was old enough to begin to understand.
2. We see this in that already, at age 12, when he was found debating with religious leaders in the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus told his parents he needed to be “about the father’s business.” He identified God as his father. Perhaps he wanted to learn from these leaders what they understood from scripture of who the Messiah was to be and what was his mission.
Quite possibly one of the passages they considered was one of the Servant Songs of Isaiah, e.g., 42:1-9:
42:1 “Here is my servant whom I support,
my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.
I have placed my spirit on him;
he will make just decrees for the nations.
42:2 He will not cry out or shout;
he will not publicize himself in the streets.
42:3 A crushed reed he will not break,
a dim wick he will not extinguish;
he will faithfully make just decrees.
42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed
before establishing justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait in anticipation for his decrees.”
42:5 This is what the true God, the Lord, says –
the one who created the sky and stretched it out,
the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it,
the one who gives breath to the people on it,
and life to those who live on it:
42:6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you;
I take hold of your hand.
I protect you and make you a covenant mediator for people,
and a light to the nations,
42:7 to open blind eyes,
to release prisoners from dungeons,
those who live in darkness from prisons.
42:8 I am the Lord! That is my name!
I will not share my glory with anyone else,
or the praise due me with idols.
42:9 Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass;
now I announce new events.
Before they begin to occur,
I reveal them to you.”
Here, Jesus would have gotten insight into something of his call:
i. The nature of his ministry – v. 1 – he was to be a servant to his people
ii. The character of a servant – true to God, faithful to his ways (v. 3), delighting in doing his father’s will, which would bring real success (v. 4)
iii. He would be a leader with a gentle touch (v.2-3). This can make us question, what kind of servant or
leader are we?
iv. The goal of his ministry (v.3-4) – he was to bring righteousness, justice & hope, re-establishing God’s
order into all of society - setting it on the right way, God’s path.
v. the purpose of his ministry (v. 6) - to renew the covenant and bring light, including to the Gentiles.
In other words, he was to begin to bring The Kingdom of God back to this earth (v. 4).
vi. What he was to accomplish:
Live a life that would be: a. The basis of a new relationship between God and his people (v. 6)
b. Hope for the restoration and renewal the world seeks. He would make the
world right and good as originally intended. He would open up God’s blessings to all.
c. An act of liberation – opening the eyes of the blind, not only physically,
but from the darkness of this world to the light of God’s ways (v. 6-7). He would free us from our
prisons of patterns and habits that chain us down, lock us up, releasing us from the darkness and
gloom of our broken world.
vii. What the power behind his call would be: God’s Spirit would be on him (v. 1, 6)
viii. What a privileged position this servant would have – he would be first to know what God was about and what his role in it was (v. 1, 6, 8-9). The Father would take him into his confidence. The servant’s obedience and faithfulness would grant him a special place in the Father’s trust, in his heart. His faithfulness to God tells us we can put our faith in him.
All of this helped shape Jesus’ self-understanding and identity as the Messiah, so he was able to live up to and fulfil all of it, to prove himself.
Likewise, if we believe in Jesus, we can let him show us our call, our destiny and empower us to fulfil it as he did, also as the same kind of servant.
Like Jesus, we can also look to determine our identity by studying God’s word.
As believers in Jesus, he ultimately defines who we are; our identity can only be fully found in him.
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