[0411L] Lesson for Holy Tuesday

Isaiah 49:1-7

Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me. He 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. And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." But I said, "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 now the Lord says, who formed me in 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 sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength – he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, "Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

This is the Old Testament lesson for Holy Tuesday.  In this reading, the prophet speaks of how the Lord has called him from before the time of his conception in the womb.  Even before that moment, says the prophet, God has equipped him for this holy calling that in the appointed time he might be faithful to the mission given by God.  We hear this reading in Holy Week for the obvious reason that all of this applies not only to the prophet Isaiah but also to the Christ, whose passion we recall in this holiest of all weeks in the year.  Only we who are the Church should never lose sight of the fact that all of this also applies to each and every one of us.  God has given us a mission.  He has called us by name long before anyone else knew of us and prior to forming us as a portion of creation.  This reading is one in which we should find great comfort, for it reminds us that God has given us all that we need to be faithful to the mission given us by God.  The faithfulness of the prophet and of the Christ give us hope that we too shall be faithful in our own day and generation, not because we are somehow special in ourselves, but rather because God is always faithful.

The Rev’d Father Timothy Alleman, Rector

+   The Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross  +  Wilkes-Barre +