Isaiah was blessed with a wonderful insight into the mind and heart of God. Much of the Old Testament speaks of God as a warrior, a King, a God of strength who would defeat all the enemies of Israel. Isaiah dared to think otherwise: God would certainly be a saviour God, but would save Israel and the whole of humanity through suffering and so through pity and mercy, through the loving kindness of his covenantal love.

Because he saw God as a God of love and not a war God, Isaiah also realized that God does not fight against anyone and so the whole human race must come within the ambit of God's pity and mercy: Thus the opening words of today's passage from the book of Isaiah calls to the "coastlands, the distant people." The passage finishes with the promise that God's Suffering Servant would be "a light to all nations," and his salvation would reach to the ends of the earth.

In a world still badly torn by war, we need to hear once again Israel's call to universal acceptance, for Jesus, God's Suffering Servant, died for all.