Road Maps

"Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. 2He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. 3And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God” (Isaiah 49:1-4)

Road maps are great. In our age of digital everything, we can know what the place looks like, how long it takes to get there, and how long it will take before we arrive. Just as you close in, the voice from the app says, "Your destination is on the right."

Isaiah is giving Israel, and us, a great road map as to who the servant will be, and what the servant will experience from early on in his prophetic book through the end. Today, the reading gives us reference to Christ. The references are clear and unmistakable. They will be echoed in the New Testament often, usually with a phrase such as, "...and fufilled what the prophet said." 

Jesus is our redeemer, the servant who came to earth to speak the truth, leaving the right hand of the Father, who is humbled and humiliated and yet follows the will of the Father. In pain, he will pray in agony (Matthew 26), and he will call out to his Father from the cross (Matthew 27).

Yet God has a plan for him and us:

5And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—" 6“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 49:5-7)

His work was and is not in vain (and will be not in vain). His work will ultimately lead to our redemption, and all nations will bow down to him. His Word, sharper than any sword and an arrow that is in his Father's quiver, delivers us to him as we hear the Word spoken, like seeds planted in soil, and grows in us. Through the waters of Holy Baptism, the Word takes root and grows. It opens the eyes that are blind, and brings us as prisoners to the darkness of sin to the light of the world.

Pray with me: Gracious Father, We give thanks for your Son, Jesus Christ. Through his suffering, death and resurrection, we have hope through the faith you gave us freely in our baptisms. We share this Word to the lost in hopes that the eyes are opened, and people are led from the darkness and into the light. In Christ's name, Amen.