One of the Servant Songs, this passage from Isaiah points toward a particularly hostile, yet paradoxically fruitful, result of speaking for God. The Servant begins by affirming his fidelity to God in the face of great hostility. The source of his strength in the face of adversity is not the Servant himself, but the God who sent him. The Servant is in the right when he claims to speak for God, because it is God who has “opened his heart that he may hear.” Despite the social and perhaps religious “shame” that is attendant upon his preaching, the Servant is confident not only that he is in the right, but also that those who currently oppose him will come to recognize this.
James continues to speak about being doers of the word of truth, the true form of worship. Faith cannot be limited to hearing and believing this word. Such “faith” is no faith at all and is not saving because it does not conform the individual to God’s will or way of viewing the world. “Works” here means living according to God’s values, which includes “care for orphans and widows in their affliction” (1:27) and fulfilling “the royal law according to scripture: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (2:8). It is a delusion to think that one could have faith without living in accordance with it, which is to say, by “demonstrating” it.
At Caesarea Phillipi Jesus questions his disciples to provoke a response. Jesus indirectly affirms Peter’s response that he is the Messiah by referring to himself as “the Son of Man,” a messianic term. While Peter recognizes who Jesus is, he is unable to fathom or accept the possibility that Jesus’ death and identity are consistent. Peter’s “rebuke” was probably in the form of a denial that such a thing would be necessary, or even possible (if Jesus is the Christ). Jesus rebukes Peter in turn for failing to recognize that God does not work according to human expectations. Nor should those who follow Jesus expect to avoid his fate.