Sunday of the Passion (Palm Sunday) Year B

Working with human hearts in the midst of suffering and adversity is some of the hardest work

Palm Sunday procession photo
Photo of Palm Sunday procession, via Unsplash

March 24, 2024

First Reading
View Bible Text

Commentary on Isaiah 50:4-9a



In times of adversity, it is quite natural for a person to hide, seek shelter, and avoid threatening circumstances. This instinct toward self-preservation is a gift from our long evolutionary journey through a very dangerous world. 

But the teacher in this poem does not do that, and it is worth asking why.

The teacher in Isaiah 50 is astoundingly bold—some might even say reckless. He takes a number of actions that place him squarely in the way of danger: 

I gave my back to those who struck me
    and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
    from insult and spitting. (verse 6) 

… therefore I have set my face like flint,
    and I know that I shall not be put to shame. (verse 7) 

… Who will contend with me?
    Let us stand in court together.
Who are my adversaries?
    Let them confront me. (verse 8)

It is the Lord GOD who helps me;
    who will declare me guilty? (verse 9) 

Like the suffering servant of Isaiah 52:13–53:12, this teacher is exposed to suffering as a result of his calling. In contrast to those later chapters, however, the suffering of the teacher in Isaiah 50 is not as strongly linked to the themes of healing and redemption. 

It is not entirely clear what in the teacher’s message makes him so dangerous. The closest thing we get to a content summary is found in verse 4: “The Lord GOD has given me a trained tongue, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.” The message is somehow intended to sustain those who are weary. Perhaps it aligns with other accusations in verses 1–3, which plainly accuse Judah of sin and transgression. Or perhaps it echoes the hope of return seen already in Isaiah 40. Either way, the teacher and his message make him dangerous to an unspecified group of “adversaries” (verse 8). 

Chapter 50 does, however, provide answers to our original question: Why does the teacher choose to place himself in harm’s way? Several answers are given, but all of them relate to the fact that the teacher does not undertake his task alone: Yhwh is with him

The most relevant material is found in verses 4–5 and verses 7–9. Significantly, the teacher’s powers of teaching and learning are attributed to Yhwh’s generosity from the very beginning: 

The Lord GOD has given me
    the tongue of a teacher, 
that I may know how to sustain
    the weary with a word
Morning by morning he wakens—
    wakens my ear
    to listen as those who are taught. (verse 4) 

The teacher gains from Yhwh both the ability to teach and the ability to learn. These gifts appear in the form of “grace,” without any indication of merit or worthiness. God gives them and the teacher receives them on a daily basis. 

The teacher goes on to describe how he responded to these divine gifts: 

The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
    and I was not rebellious,
    I did not turn backward. (verse 5) 

Unlike so many other prophets and teachers who are called (for example, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah), the teacher appears to accept the gifts without hesitation. 

But the divine gifts do not end there. Verses 7–9 describe a God who stands alongside the teacher as a helper and savior: 

The Lord GOD helps me;
    therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
    and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
    he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
    Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
    Let them confront me.
It is the Lord GOD who helps me;
    who will declare me guilty?
All of them will wear out like a garment;
    the moth will eat them up. (verses 7–9)

Each verse begins with a statement about Yhwh’s character, followed by a statement or question that derides his enemies and mockingly highlights their weakness. Ultimately, the teacher is able to face his opponents, not because he is reckless or plucky, but because he knows that he is not alone. 

Readers of Paul will recognize a very similar logic at work in Paul’s lengthy resurrection discourse in 1 Corinthians 15:54–55:  

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
    “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

An indicative, declarative statement is followed by derisive questions that indicate the impotence of death. 

Texts like Isaiah 50 and 1 Corinthians 15 bear witness to a deeply seated theological “syntax” at work throughout the Bible. Ultimately, that syntax is based on assumptions about the generous character of Yhwh, the God of Israel. We are who we are because of who God is.

This God acts through created human beings to “sustain the weary,” but working with human hearts in the midst of suffering and adversity is some of the hardest work ever devised. And the God of the Bible—being generous, kind, and compassionate—never leaves teachers to do that work alone. 

This was true for the teacher in Isaiah 50, and it is true for us today.