O God, take our minds and think
through them. Take our lips and speak through them. Take our hearts and set
them on fire. Amen.
Today we are blessed to
read one a text that stands at the very heart of the Bible's central claim. As
it says in Isaiah, the servant of God has been chosen, "chosen before I
was born" (Is. 49:1), "so that my salvation may reach to the end of
the earth" (Is. 49:6).
For Christians, the
servant is Jesus whose epiphany we remember and celebrate and now attempt to
illuminate for our time. Why has Jesus come? It is amazing how many answers to
that question we can find in Isaiah, a book written well before Jesus’ time. God’s
servant has been called and named before birth, having been known even in the
mother's womb (Is. 49:1). The first characteristic of the servant is that their
"mouth" was made by God to be "a sharp sword" (Is. 49:2).
It is important to note that this servant is decidedly not a warrior but an
orator, whose words are sharp rather than whose iron sword is honed for battle.
The book of Revelation borrows this image in John's description of "one
like a son of humanity" from whose mouth comes a "sharp two-edged
sword" (Rev. 1:16). Thus, very earliest Christianity focused on the power
of Jesus found in his words, not in his prowess as soldier or fighter.
The identity of the
servant for Isaiah is not Jesus, but the specific identity of the servant is
less significant than the work of the servant. The chief task of the servant is
to return the exiles to the Promised Land of God. Isaiah himself paints the
famous pictures of Israel streaming back to Zion from the various places of
their exile (go back and read Isaiah chapter 2 to see what I mean). When the
exiles return to Jerusalem, the glory of God will be revealed and all flesh
will see it together, as Isaiah chapter 40 describes it.
But now comes the more
expansive work that God has for the servant. God says that it is too small a
task to speak the word of truth and power only to those you have known and
loved and whom you recognize as people like yourself in order that you might
create again the community you had before the calamity of exile. No, says God!
That is simply too trivial in the grand scheme of my desire for the world.
"I offer you as a light to the nations in order that my saving work may
reach to the very ends of the earth" (Is. 49:6b). The full task of the
servant of God is nothing less than a beacon of light for the whole world in
order that all may see and experience the saving of God. This servant was
initially summoned to reconstitute the remnant of the Israelite exiles, but
Isaiah realizes that such a task is too small, too trivial. No, this servant
will now be sent as a "light to the nations," in order that God's
"salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."
In fact, Isaiah echoes
famous words from the book of Genesis 12:3 where Abram, God's chosen one, is
called from his homeland to be one who "will bless all the families of the
earth." In effect, Isaiah's great servant is a new Abram, fulfilling that
call given so long ago. Little wonder that the early Christians read this
marvelous passage and thought of the one they called Christ. That baby in the
manger, so small, so unknown, so mysteriously hidden, for them became public in
power and healing, finally despised and dying on a Roman cross. Why? To fulfill
the role of the servant, they believed, to offer the light of God to the ends
of the earth. The servant Jesus called his followers to attend to all, not just
to some, not just to those they knew and loved and recognized as "one of
them."
And so, he calls us to
embrace the world, all of it, in order that all may have the salvation, the
"making whole" of God, for them as for us. The call of the servant is
to extend the saving work of God to the nations, to the whole earth. How are we
light to that vast company? On Isaiah 49:6 rests the Bible's central claim that
no one may be excluded from the salvation of our God. And our task is to
continue to make that inclusion real in every place and time. We are in good
company in the attempt to make inclusion real, aren’t we?
Consider the central
person in the reading from John’s Gospel. Peter is considered to be one of
Jesus’ first disciples, the rock upon which the church has its foundation. But
really, he was just a regular guy, a fisherman minding his own business when he
was called to be a servant of Christ. We are all aware of his loyalty to Jesus,
as well as his cowardice and denial during Jesus’ trip to the cross. He was
scared of experiencing the same fate as Jesus. Wouldn’t we all have done what
we could to save our hides?
But Peter’s failures did
not overshadow his faith or his passion. Peter ran to the tomb when he was told
of Jesus’ resurrection. Peter was with Jesus during the time after his
resurrection and before his ascension. Spurred by accusations of drunkenness
during the time following Pentecost, it was Peter who stood up to the crowds,
telling them about the events of Pentecost, and demanding they repent. It was
his declaration of faith in Jesus that converted about 3,000 people to follow
Christ that day. And it was Peter who fought and won the battle to accept
Gentiles into the church. Because he knew that God’s salvation was for
everyone. So, I ask again, how are we a light to the world? How can we be like
Peter and spread the Gospel to all, not just the elite few?
Jesus was sent by God to
show us how and Peter was his main example. Be an orator, not a warrior. Evangelize
through loving action and be nothing less than a beacon of light for the whole
world.
Amen.
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