NOTES for Isa 50:4-9

Speaking about his prophetic ministry, Isaiah mentions an "opened ear" and "the tongue of a disciple" ("the tongue of the wise"). What does he mean? Taken literally, the words about an "opened ear" imply the experience of prophetic hearing, in which a person hears the voice of God quite literally, just as we hear human speech. But such hearing is not directly connected with the physiological mechanisms that are involved in the ordinary case. A person hears God, even if it is a matter of a voice, not as he hears another person. The meanings opened by God are perceived by him directly, and only afterward does the person himself clothe them in the words of his native language. What is needed here is not so much sharp hearing, or even a sharp mind, as a spiritually attentive heart. Otherwise a situation is entirely possible in which a person, in the well-known Gospel expression, has ears but does not hear. A will that does not want to hear God closes a person's heart to God's action, and together with the heart the ears are closed as well: the person ceases to hear God.

But what closes the heart to God? And what can help preserve openness? Isaiah answers this question too: the tongue of a disciple. The corresponding Hebrew expression can also be translated as "the tongue of the wise." But even with such a translation, the point is the wisdom of one who is still continuing to learn.

Can a disciple speak? Obviously, yes. Can he say something important, wise, and valuable? Quite possibly. But a true disciple never considers himself entitled to teach. At least not while he experiences himself as a disciple. Once he stops experiencing himself as a disciple, his heart closes. There is nothing more to listen to; everything is already clear. He can begin teaching others. A disciple, however, never teaches. He can share with others what he has learned, but while doing so he never stops listening.

The ideal state for a prophet is to listen at the same time to what God is saying and to bear witness to what he has heard. And let those who dislike something in the witness's words bring their claims to God, because it was He who revealed to the witness what He revealed.

The resolve with which the prophet calls his opponents to God's judgment may look somewhat presumptuous to us today. We know well that there are no sinless people, and therefore at that Judgment we will all be among the accused, even if by earthly standards we were entirely right before our opponents. But the prophet does not necessarily have in mind the final Judgment, the one at which, at the end of time, each person's eternal destiny is determined.

In those days any intervention by God in events could be called God's judgment. And not only in those days: sometimes even today, though not often, we see the hand of God in the events of our own lives or in world history. This is the Judgment Isaiah is speaking about, and he is sure that at it he will be vindicated before his enemies. Such confidence may also have been connected with the obviousness of the situation: the passage is clearly speaking about persecutions, probably endured by Isaiah before the conquest of Babylon by the Persians. Faint echoes of some conflict between the last king of Babylonia and the Jewish community, as well as his conflict with the traditional priesthood, can be found both in Babylonian sources and in biblical books.

Yet the point was not merely the prophet's human rightness. His conflict with those who opposed him was not simply a clash between different people holding different positions. It was a conflict between a person doing God's work and those who opposed God's plans and wanted to destroy them. He needed God's judgment not to assert his own rightness and not for the sake of triumph over his enemies, but so that God's work would not stop, so that it would continue and come to success.

After all, God also does not need triumph for the sake of triumph, and He does not need to prove His rightness to anyone. What matters to Him is to carry out His plan for human salvation and to make our fallen world part of His Kingdom, transforming it and changing its very nature. Each of His servants becomes part of this plan, and therefore God does everything so that each of His servants will prosper in the mission entrusted to him. He does this also for the sake of those who see such a servant as their opponent: for God does not want anyone's destruction; He wants everyone, including the most terrible sinners, to turn, repent, and remain alive.

The words about the “tongue of the wise” can be applied not only to Isaiah's own prophetic gift but also to a possibility offered to everyone. This is all the more true because the prophet addresses the whole people of Israel.

How great are the mercy and faithfulness of the Lord, who addresses a person every day regardless of what that person does in his life. God gives him the opportunity to hear the truth, the opportunity not only to hear but also to speak, in order “to sustain the weary.” This gift of speech is given to everyone without exception. The only thing required of the listener is “not to turn backward” and to heed what is heard, however strange it may be.

At times this truth of God may prove entirely impossible for our human consciousness to contain. Isaiah's words speak to us of Christ's sacrifice and of the path of suffering traveled by every person. The Lord is indeed ready “morning by morning to awaken” our ear, if we too can say as He did: “I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.”

Speaking about his prophetic ministry, Isaiah mentions certain persecutions that he endured. At the same time he speaks of God, who opened his ear. The reference is clearly to Isaiah's prophetic calling: God allowed him to hear His voice, calling him to serve Him. And immediately the text turns to the persecutions which, judging from the prophet's words, begin right after this encounter. It is hard to say exactly which events in Isaiah's biography are meant. It is clear only that his ministry was by no means simple. But for the prophet himself, persecution proves to be the natural and logical continuation of his calling and of his subsequent prophetic ministry.

Isaiah's awareness of the inner connection between his spiritual path and the rejection he aroused in those around him made his path a prototype of the earthly path of Christ, who, of course, also understood perfectly the reasons He was rejected by those who, it would seem, should have rejoiced at His coming. This is not simply the hatred for the righteous person that every sinner feels, consciously or unconsciously, when trying to justify his sin.

There is something more here: here is the Kingdom entering the world. And it does not fit into any human framework: not political, not social, not religious. To accept the Kingdom, to enter it, one has to give up every kind of framework. And that is frightening. A person is especially frightened for his religiosity, because it is more important than social status or political preferences. Of course, the witness of the prophet is not the witness of the Messiah.

The Messiah brings the Kingdom into the world; the prophet only bears witness to it as something destined to enter the world. But Isaiah's witness, the image of the Messiah and the Kingdom that appears in his preaching, also did not fit into any traditional framework of his era. It is no wonder that the prophet's witness aroused rejection and resistance, possibly even persecution and harassment. Meanwhile Isaiah, it appears, understood perfectly why he was being persecuted. And he had no illusions about his contemporaries, just as the One who brought into the world the Kingdom to which Isaiah bore witness had none.

Israel's restoration begins in the post-exilic period. God calls those faithful to Him to remember that from one man, Abraham, He created an entire people; all the more, then, can He restore Israel from those preparing to return to Jerusalem. There, in their homeland, they will face many difficulties and obstacles. Enemies and ill-wishers will threaten them, and more than once they will lose heart. But it is God Himself, “the arm of the Lord,” who will create new life. The Israelites must remember that the Creator's eternal will is being fulfilled in them and that no temporary problems or obstacles can stop Him. Our ministry, and indeed our whole life, can have meaning only if it corresponds to—or at least touches—the eternal will of the Father. Then our deeds become His work, and His work is never unsuccessful.

After the many trials that befell the people because of their wickedness, the Lord still does not reject them. Moreover, through all the stern words of rebuke, we hear once again that the flame into which sinners will go will be kindled by themselves, by their own sins. This is more than a statement about the condition of the prophet’s listeners and contemporaries; these words contain a warning for all ages.

Beyond this, the Lord reveals to us the irrevocability of the salvation that comes from Him and will remain forever. At first it may seem strange to speak of eternal salvation when it is immediately said that the earth will wear out and people will die off. But there is no contradiction here: what is stricken by corruption and has not used the opportunity to be saved will come to an end. Yet what is firmly united with the Lord, who abides above the created world, will endure.