On a human level, Jesus was strongly influenced by Isaiah's visionary teaching. As the Son of God, Jesus came on earth to save all humanity without distinction of race or colour or language or culture. As a human being, Jesus, like the rest of us, had to grow physically in age and stature and spiritually in wisdom and grace (cf. Luke 2:39-40, Luke 2:51-52). Part of the wisdom which Jesus acquired, we may say, was learning to incorporate his divine saving mission into his human psychology and experience. As he learned to appreciate and take to himself the vision of a suffering servant as proposed by Isaiah, so it is not unlikely that Isaiah's universalism helped him in a human way to an affirmation and expression of the universal nature of his divine mission. Jesus came on earth to bring the grace of salvation as a divine gift offered to all humanity. Whether every single individual accepts the gift and lives accordingly is another matter.

During Advent, we are preparing to celebrate Christmas. Part of our preparation is a renewed acceptance of Jesus, his world vision and the values that marked his whole human life.