Page 6 - Moravian Messenger September 2019

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The Servants of Creation
Behold my servant whom I uphold
My chosen in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit on him,
He will bring forth justice to the nations, Isaiah 42.1.
Isaiah often speaks of a mysterious Servant, and Jesus recognised these sayings as prophecies of himself. At the Last Supper he said: 'I am among you as one who serves' Luke 22.27. He heard a version of these words at his baptism, when the heavens were opened and he heard the voice: 'Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased', Luke 3.24. The first Christians found in Isaiah's Servant poems many prophecies of Jesus.
But what did they mean by a servant? It was rather more than that word means today.
The first Servant was Adam. He was put into the Garden of Eden 'to serve it and preserve it', words that are usually translated 'to till it and to keep it', Genesis 2.15. These words have two meanings, and we need to look at both: first, Adam was to tend the garden and care for it; second - the other meaning of the words - he had to lead its worship and preserve the teachings about it.
In Jewish tradition, Adam the Servant was the first high priest. He was the high priest of all creation, set over it, yes, but not as a ruler in the way we now use that word. Psalm 8 shows how 'the son of Adam' was to rule:
First, he had to look at the mighty wonders of creation, and ask how the Lord could have such a special role for a mere human being:
When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars which thou hast established;
What is a human that thou are mindful of him,
And a son of Adam that thou dost care for him,
Psalm 8.3-4, my translation.
Only then could he look at the great responsibility given to him, and the key word here also has two meanings:
Thou hast made him a little less than God,
And dost crown him with glory and honour.
Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands,
Thou hast put all things under his feet, Psalm 8.5-6.
'Thou hast given him dominion' also means 'Thou hast made him a teacher of wise sayings'.
Adam is the Servant, the High Priest and the Teacher.
The High Priest was anointed and dressed in special garments that symbolised his role. One of these was the ephod, which symbolised a yoke of service. It was a short coat, secured with golden cords and with two huge precious stones set in its shoulders, Exodus 28.5-30. The fabric of the ephod was specially woven from fours colours - red, blue, purple and white - just like the veil of the temple.
'We have a great High Priest' ...
Hebrews 4.14.
The four colours represented the four elements from which, as they believed in those days, the creation was made: red was fire, blue was air, purple was water - because, they said, purple dye came from sea shell - and white was the earth because it was linen thread spun from flax that grew in the earth. The four elements woven together represented the fabric of creation. Just as the veil of the temple screened the Holy of Holies, so the stuff of creation screened the glory of God.
The ephod fabric was woven from the same four colours, but it was interwoven with gold thread, Exodus 39.2-5. Gold was a symbol of the divine wisdom, the uncreated light represented by the Holy of Holies [see article 4 of this series]. The one who wore the ephod had to give wise teaching by weaving the wisdom of
heaven into the fabric of the creation. The ephod was the yoke, the sign of the Servant.
Isaiah described the Anointed One, the Messiah, wearing this yoke of service and wise teaching:
'For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder,
And his name will be called “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”', Isaiah 9.6.
Hail to the Lord's Anointed, Great David's greater son! Hail, in the time appointed, His reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression, To set the captive free,
To take away transgression,
And rule in equity.
He comes with rescue speedy
To those who suffer wrong,
To help the poor and needy,
And bid the weak be strong,
To give them songs for sighing, Their darkness turn to light,
Whose souls condemned and dying, Were precious in his sight.
He shall come down like showers Upon the fruitful earth,
And love, joy, hope, like flowers, Spring in his path to birth; Before him on the mountains Shall peace the herald go;
And righteousness, in fountains From hill to valley flow.
Dr Margaret Barker
Methodist Preacher and Theologian
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