The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
The reading from the prophet Isaiah today is the second of what we call the Servant Songs, the sections of Isaiah that Christians understand as prophesying the life, suffering and death of the Lord Jesus. We are, of course, most familiar with the longest Servant Song which we read during Holy Week. But this one can be read two different ways, at least, and so it deserves some attention from us.
God says that Israel is his servant, in whom God will be glorified. This reminds us of Jesus' High priestly prayer at the last supper, in John's gospel, where he talks about God glorifying him, while he himself glorifies God. The next few verses are spoken by Isaiah, but they sound as if they could have been spoken by Jesus himself: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God. And then Isaiah tells us: The Lord says, he who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob (which you remember was the name of the man who later was called Israel) back to God, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength; God says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."
Yes, this Servant Song does describe Jesus, doesn't it? Jesus worked hard at trying to teach the Jewish people, who are called Israel, about God and his love; but he "labored in vain," because most of the Jews would not accept his teachings. He must have felt that he had "spent his strength for nothing," but he remained sure that his work was God's work, and that it would eventually happen that the people of Israel would return to following God's ways, and that God's strength would enable him to keep on, though it would require much suffering. And that is what happened. After the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus returned to heaven, and told his followers to go out and teach and baptize the nations of the world and bring them to God. And that did happen. That's how you and I came to be Christians, because the disciples did exactly what Jesus had told them to do.
There's another way that we can read this Servant Song and the Psalm that follows it. Who has not at one time or another felt that our work was for nothing, and did not make any difference to the world? All of us have experienced that feeling of hopelessness and
despair. But the fact that we have faith in God gives us faith in ourselves, faith to go on trying, faith to go on with the work God has given us, no matter how it seems that there's no point to it and we are not getting anywhere. And our faith keeps us going, and finally we come to understand that it is God's strength that is giving us the strength to go on and make this work successful, and that God will bring us through the dark times when we feel like giving up, to the time when we can look around us and behind us and see how much we have really accomplished with his help and in his name.
The gospel reading today is from John, and tells how John proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God . We don't know if John was thinking of Jesus as a lamb that is obedient and follows its owner. Jesus certainly did that. He always obeyed God, no matter how painful or dangerous it might be. Perhaps John was thinking of Jesus as the lamb that people brought to the Temple to be killed and sacrificed on the altar, to take away the sins of the person who brought it. That fits Jesus, too, because his death on the cross takes away all the sins of those who believe in him. We cannot know exactly what John was thinking when he gave that name to Jesus. But John's two disciples, who were talking to him when he called Jesus the Lamb of God, were interested enough to leave John and go to Jesus and try to find out what John was talking about when he called Jesus the Lamb of God .
Perhaps this makes some of us remember the time that we ourselves first began to understand that Jesus was not just another man, but a very special person. Perhaps it makes us remember the way we felt at that time. We wanted to know more about Jesus, and so did John's two disciples. They went up to Jesus, followed him. Jesus turned and asked, What are you looking for? and they replied, Rabbi, where are you staying? That seems to us a very odd answer to Jesus' question. Maybe they meant, "Where have you come from?" Maybe they meant, "Who is your teacher?" because the teachers in the Temple usually had their students live in the teachers' homes. We don't know exactly what they had in mind, when they asked "Where are you staying?"
Jesus answered their question with an invitation: Come and see!
That is the answer that Jesus gives us today, when we ask, "Who are you, Jesus?" or "Jesus, why are you so important to so many people?" or "Jesus, why do so many people follow you?" Jesus says to you and to me, and to everyone else who asks, Come and see!
We cannot really understand Jesus by reading about him, or by hearing teachers and preachers talk about him. We can only understand Jesus by following him, paying attention to what he teaches us, and trying to live our lives the way he taught people to live their lives, long ago. We can only understand Jesus by coming and seeing for ourselves who he is and what he teaches. We need to read our Bibles, of course. We need to go to church and Bible study to learn what he taught and what those teachings mean for us today. And we need to try to change our lives so that we live them his way. We need to come and see, and when we come and see, God enriches us with his knowledge and grace, as Paul found out for himself when he came to follow Jesus, so many hundreds of years ago. Paul found out how much God taught him and how much God's grace helped him, and we will find out, too, just as Paul told the church people at Corinth in his letter to them.
Doctors and counselors tell us that when we get that "down" feeling, and feel that what we are doing and the way we are doing it doesn't seem to mean anything or make any difference, that we should think back to our beginnings. We should think back to how much we enjoyed our job, and what made us choose it. We should remember the excitement of starting a new job and how much we wanted to do well with it. If our marriage is feeling "blah", we should remember back to why we were attracted to the person we married, and what helped us fall in love with that person, and how happy we were to be married to that person we love so much. The same is true with our religion. When going to church becomes boring and we can't see what's so wonderful about it any more, we should think back to what we found when we first followed Jesus and went to see what was so exciting and wonderful about him and the people he
introduced us to in the church. And then we should give thanks to God for the knowledge and grace he gives us, along with the renewed excitement and joy in our faith, our marriage, and our work. And then we can go on our way, leaning on the Lord, as the old hymn says. Amen.
