Thursday, December 5, 2024  

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Today's Scripture
Isaiah 42:1–4

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching. (NRSV)

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Reflection

These verses of Isaiah, addressed to Israelites exiled in Babylon, summon a people mired in loss and displacement to rouse themselves for an important job. “My servant” (i.e., the people) are to bring forth justice to the nations and establish justice in the earth.

Surely that sounded like a tall order to folks who had been conquered by an invading army and forcibly carted off to a foreign land, whose temple had been ransacked and leveled, and whose leadership had been vanquished. Yet it is this people’s calling, as it has always been, since their ancestors were commissioned to journey to an unknown destination only to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

The calling of people of faith to defend the cause of the vulnerable (“bruised reed” and “dim wicks”) is not dependent on the resources we possess to carry out that calling. In fact, that calling seems especially incumbent upon us when we feel we are the least well-equipped for it. The scriptures and history of the church are filled with stories of women and men with little in the way of marketable skills or wealth simply putting themselves at God’s disposal and allowing God’s Spirit to work through them for the sake of the poor and those in any kind of need.

These saints (and aren’t we some of them too?) learned the truth of the apostle, that God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

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Prayer
Make us your servants, O Lord, especially in times of defeat. Summon us again to your work of justice, of defending orphans and widows, refugees and immigrants, and sustain us in this calling. Through Christ our teacher and our Savior. Amen.

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Written by Rocky Supinger, Senior Associate Pastor

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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