I Have Labored In Vain- Isaiah 49:1-7
Have you ever been there? Have you ever felt like everything you've done was just wasted effort? You've poured yourself into a person. You've counseled, worried, and prayed until you're out of breath and words, but he (or she) does the same stupid things over and over. You preach or teach every Sunday, but never seem to see the changed lives for which you long. I want you to imagine such thoughts in the mind of Jesus. Hold on preacher! Jesus was/is the Son of God Almighty. How can Jesus who was the true and living Word of God ever have such thoughts? To put on my theologian hat for a moment, those sentiments are very true. On the other hand, Jesus was very, very human as well. In order to save us from our sins he had to be both divine and human.
Try to imagine what is going through Jesus' mind in those tumultuous days between his "triumphal" entry into Jerusalem and his eventual crucifixion on Friday. He's spent around three years with his disciples teaching them the ways of the Kingdom, the values of the Kingdom. He's healed the sick. He's liberated the demon-possessed. He's even raised the dead. He's continually warned against self-righteousness. As he's travelled through Judea and Galilee, he's drawn larger and larger crowds. Yet what has it gotten him: a lot of trouble! His ministry lived out the frustration that Isaiah foresaw in ch. 49:4: "I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity." Jesus knew that his road would in at a cross outside Jerusalem, but he also prayed fervently that it wouldn't be a cross. I can't help but believe that Satan was ever-present lurking just behind Jesus those last few days to plant seeds of doubt. Is all this worth it? Can you really do this? Is all this really necessary Jesus?
In my mind I can imagine Jesus hearing these words of Isaiah 49 as if they are being spoken directly to him and about him. "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." As the different competing factions of the Jewish leadership were making strange bedfellows with each other to oppose the odd rabbi who claimed to be God's Son, these words echoed in his head. I don't know what the weather was like on those days immediately after his entry into the city several days before the Passover around A.D. 30. They could have been bright or overcast, but one thing is for certain, they were increasingly dark.
Think again of my original question. Have you ever felt like all your efforts to accomplish something great and worthwhile were for naught? I suspect that any of us who have lived for awhile have been there. I have, and it's not a pleasant place to be. Failure, discouragement, guilt, and bewilderment are the "normal" state for our fallen race. We don't need to clean up our act to come to Jesus, only to admit that we're not clean. Consider that Jesus, only Son from the Father, the firstborn of all creation, the Alpha and Omega, has already been there. "Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation." If the Gospel is good news, then it must be good news to people who need good news the most. What good is a Gospel that is good news only for the healthy, wealthy, and popular? Israel's savior and redeemer, the savior and redeemer of the whole race, was also despised and abhorred. Jesus has already been there. He knows. He remembers, and never forgets.
Try to imagine what is going through Jesus' mind in those tumultuous days between his "triumphal" entry into Jerusalem and his eventual crucifixion on Friday. He's spent around three years with his disciples teaching them the ways of the Kingdom, the values of the Kingdom. He's healed the sick. He's liberated the demon-possessed. He's even raised the dead. He's continually warned against self-righteousness. As he's travelled through Judea and Galilee, he's drawn larger and larger crowds. Yet what has it gotten him: a lot of trouble! His ministry lived out the frustration that Isaiah foresaw in ch. 49:4: "I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity." Jesus knew that his road would in at a cross outside Jerusalem, but he also prayed fervently that it wouldn't be a cross. I can't help but believe that Satan was ever-present lurking just behind Jesus those last few days to plant seeds of doubt. Is all this worth it? Can you really do this? Is all this really necessary Jesus?
In my mind I can imagine Jesus hearing these words of Isaiah 49 as if they are being spoken directly to him and about him. "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." As the different competing factions of the Jewish leadership were making strange bedfellows with each other to oppose the odd rabbi who claimed to be God's Son, these words echoed in his head. I don't know what the weather was like on those days immediately after his entry into the city several days before the Passover around A.D. 30. They could have been bright or overcast, but one thing is for certain, they were increasingly dark.
Think again of my original question. Have you ever felt like all your efforts to accomplish something great and worthwhile were for naught? I suspect that any of us who have lived for awhile have been there. I have, and it's not a pleasant place to be. Failure, discouragement, guilt, and bewilderment are the "normal" state for our fallen race. We don't need to clean up our act to come to Jesus, only to admit that we're not clean. Consider that Jesus, only Son from the Father, the firstborn of all creation, the Alpha and Omega, has already been there. "Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation." If the Gospel is good news, then it must be good news to people who need good news the most. What good is a Gospel that is good news only for the healthy, wealthy, and popular? Israel's savior and redeemer, the savior and redeemer of the whole race, was also despised and abhorred. Jesus has already been there. He knows. He remembers, and never forgets.
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