ISAIAH 42:1-7
Thus says the Lord:
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight.
I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street.
A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.
He will faithfully bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
These readings belong to the second and third books of the prophecy of Isaiah, written probably by anonymous prophets who carried out their ministry during the Babylonian exile, between 553 and 539 BC.
In their work, magnificent for its theology and poetic value, the mysterious figure of “The Servant of Yahweh” appears. Scholars are divided into multiple explanations of who this character is. In the tradition of the Church, this figure has always been seen as an announcement of Jesus, “upon whom is the spirit,” who “will not break a bruised reed,” who will be “a light to the nations”…
But there is more, much more. Isaiah is guessing “how the Messiah will be.” And he is clearly proclaiming that he will be an anti-messiah (an antichrist) in relation to what the common belief of Israel expected: not a king, not a powerful one, not for Israel, not a spectacular loudmouth, but a healer, a liberator of the poor, concerned with justice.
The text is magnificent and we should reread and savor it several times.
ACTS 10:34-38
In those days, Peter took the floor and said: – It is clear that God shows no partiality, but accepts those who fear him and do what is right, whatever nation they belong to. He sent his word to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
Peter utters these words in Caesarea, in the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius. Peter has realized that Jesus is not for the Jews only, but for the whole world, and he professes it thus.
Immediately, he makes a brief, intense and perfect synthesis: he presents Jesus as “the anointed of God with the power of the Holy Spirit,” “who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.” The text ends like this:
“We are witnesses of all that he did in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To this all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
As we can see, it is a magnificent synthesis of Peter’s faith. It is a pity that the texts we read in the Eucharist are so mutilated, by wanting to make them brief, that they lose much of their meaning.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.