be careful what you ask for
Every Christian will perceive that the song refers to Jesus; or rather, that Christian theology was tailored precisely to match Jesus to the song. At my theological seminaries, though, Lutheran Seminary Gettysburg and Episcopal Seminary Virginia, I learned to first discern what was in the mind of the writer, and that is obvious, or almost but not quite obvious, because the rabbis don't necessarily agree!
Jewish tradition identifies the suffering servant variously as Moses, who suffered throughout the wilderness journey; with other suffering but faithful prophets and kings; and with Israel herself, Jacob, Israel, Joseph, the nation of God's people Israel.
In the context of Isaiah, it's evident that the suffering servant is God's people Israel, who have been dragged through severe punishment for their unfaithfulness, being cleansed, now come to restoration. It's the theological cycle of covenant, sin, punishment, repentance, redemption, restoration or resurrection. The song (scroll down) tells the horror of it.
In our case, for Sunday, James and John want to be second only to Jesus in his coming kingdom. But Jesus, through the mind of Mark (and/or the Early Church) retrospectively, knows what is in store for him in Jerusalem, and warns the disciples that they have no idea what they are asking for. As someone said, be careful what you ask for, you may get it.
However, the disciples are as obtuse as ever, Mark's key characterization of them as part of his overall scheme and agenda. Those closest to Jesus just never "get" Jesus, and our frustration builds as Mark's story progresses.
Anyway, all of this is the making for another most excellent bible-based sermon, and that is what I anticipate hearing Sunday morning.
RSF&PTL
T89&c
The Suffering Servant Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Chapter 52
13
See, my servant shall prosper;
he shall be exalted and lifted up
and shall be very high.
14
Just as there were many who were astonished at him
—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals—
15
so he shall startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.
Chapter 53
1
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2
For he grew up before him like a young plant
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3
He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity,
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
4
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases,
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
5
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
6
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
9
They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with affliction.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
11
Out of his anguish he shall see;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12
Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out himself to death
and was numbered with the transgressors,
yet he bore the sin of many
and made intercession for the transgressors.
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Mark 10:35-45
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
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art pinched online from images of the film "The Passion of the Christ"