The Old Testament calls God "the Strong one of Israel" (Gen 49:24; Isaiah 1:14). This affirmation was backed up by many images describing God as a citadel, a bastion, a shield. So it is often affirmed that God destroyed Israel's enemies. All in all God appears as a God of terror and cruelty.

Isaiah rebelled against this image of God and taught that God would not save us through power and might but rather through suffering, especially the suffering of one whom we now call "the Suffering Servant".

As a human being, Jesus had to find his life's vocation. In the Synagogue in Nazareth (Lk 4), Jesus read a passage from the prophecy of Isaiah and affirmed: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your presence". When John the Baptist sent messengers to ask "Are you the one who is to come or shall we wait for someone else?" (Mt11), Jesus in answer quoted Isaiah.

These and other passages lead us to affirm that Jesus found his vocation in the prophecy of Isaiah: his way was to be the way of the Suffering Servant. Because of Jesus' choice, we understand in faith that all Christian suffering can be united with Jesus' suffering on the Cross.