“Here is my servant whom I uphold”. Here he is! But who is he? Who is it held before our eyes, dripping, half-drowned, dazzled?
It all began here says Luke in Acts: “God anointed him with Holy Spirit and power and because God was with him he went about doing good and curing any who had fallen into the power of the devil”. Who he is, is an issue of power: power received and power used.
Why does the Baptizer think it unfitting that he should be baptizing Jesus and not the other way around? Is that a matter of power, of precedence, too? Why does Jesus think it is fitting? And what kind of justice is being done when John plunges Jesus under the waves and holds him there until his breath is spent?
And why now? Why does the Spirit descend now? Why does God speak now? Declare now his love now, disclose his paternity now?
This is a gob-smacking moment for Jesus—but even more so for the God who breaks a 5000 year silence to mark it so. So, why now? Is this too an issue of power: power refused and power redefined?
“Here is my servant whom I uphold”. Can you see him, dripping, half-drowned, dazzled? “He does not cry out or shout aloud or make his voice heard in the streets. He does not break the crushed reed, nor quench the wavering flame but faithfully he brings true justice”.