“Though I thought I had toiled in vain
and for nothing, senselessly, spent
my strength, yet my reward is with
the Lord, my recompense with my God.”
--Isaiah 49: 4
Listen to this message.
One of our greatest voices, one of the most important prophetic figures
in scripture; and he feared his work, his life, had been in vain. Is this not the proper response to anyone who
feels their life has gone unnoticed?
Most of us, I imagine, looking back on our lives see missed
opportunities, unfulfilled promise; years of unrecognized effort, uncelebrated
worth. Who hasn’t felt the fear and the
pain and the neglect envisioned in the first half of this verse? We had
promise, we had opportunities, and amounted to nothing. We toiled in vain, spent our strength
uselessly and our lives have gone without note or success; our dreams and our
promise unrealized. Or we feel unseen;
no one seems to care (or notice) that we exist.
Today we celebrate the nativity of John the Baptist, a man
who on most any earthly scale would be deemed a failure; someone who “toiled in
vain.” He goes out to the wilderness and lives like a homeless man, becomes
something of a public spectacle with his ranting against sin, then goes too far
and is arrested and put to death due to a party game gone awry. And if it wasn’t for this other guy (his
cousin) whose earthly ministry also ends kind of badly, we probably wouldn’t even
remember John. He would have faded into
history; just another forgotten misfit with dreams and promise who lived and
died without notice by the Caesars of the world. At best, an annoying mosquito
to be swatted away and forgotten.
I know people who never seem to receive their moment of glory. I’ve worked in universities and schools
almost all of my adult life and witnessed time and again how some people
repeatedly are singled out for praise (often very deserved) while others (also
very deserving) year after year go unnoticed. I’m thinking of a particularly
dedicated teacher I know who shows up every day, works long hours, loves and
nurtures her students, yet when it comes time to single out people for hard
work or extra praise, she is never mentioned; never singled out; apparently
never noticed, while the same English teachers or Science teachers or Math
teachers are honored and praised time and again. Is it because the one teacher constantly goes
beyond, exceeds expectations and the other simply doesn’t have that extra skill
or talent or charm? Possibly. But that doesn’t change the fact that a
capable and dedicated teacher might feel exactly as Isaiah does in this
passage. That she/he has toiled in vain,
uselessly spent her life’s energy doing work that goes unnoticed and unappreciated.
Yet, what Isaiah is also saying is:
Don’t look to earthly honors and awards as the measure of your real worth.
Today, as we remember the nativity of John the Baptist, we
are called to remember that our reward, our true worth isn’t found in the
praise of Caesar or by the number of “likes” we get or the number of times we
are singled out for praise, but in the Lord; our recompense is with God; our
true worth is measured not in man’s eyes, but in God’s glory. We are His servant, and we must remember we
are working for His glory. Not our own.
A couple of weeks back we had the Gospel in which Jesus said
that a house divided against itself cannot stand (Mk 3:25). I hear reverberations of that great truth
here as well. Perhaps that is why this reading from Isaiah spoke to me so
profoundly. What I hear in Isaiah is a
message about division of the heart. I
hear an echo of a division that rears its ugly head inside me most every
day. When I am writing a poem or working
on my novel –if I am in the zone, so to speak-- I write single mindedly. The
words, the story, the image, the work itself is all I care about. But, when I
am distracted, or things aren’t coming easily I will begin to doubt myself and
question myself –I will second guess. And
often when I hear of some young author who just published a first book to great
acclaim, I will grow a little sour with envy as I recall my drawer full of
rejection slips. I begin to doubt my
worth, to suspect my efforts have been in vain, my strength senselessly spent,
because instead of doing my work the best I can, for the glory of God, I’m
doing it for myself; for my glory, my rewards, my recompense, and in my selfishness,
I am becoming a house divided against itself.
I’m seeking not what is my true reward but something like a shadow of
it. In fact, by seeking an earthly reward I am serving Caesar; but as the
prophet tells us, we were made for God and our true glory comes from serving
Him.
If fact, whether we are called on stage to be honored or we
toil in humble anonymity isn’t really our concern. We are not servants of the Academy or of the Nobel
Prize Committee or even of the NY Times (or the Whitehouse), we are servants of
God. Our work is done not to bring us glory, but God. There are teachers I know who become legends
(at least for a time) and others who retire and are quickly forgotten, but the
key to being a successful servant of God isn’t found in earthly acclaim. In fact, the important work we do for God may
be found as much in our anonymity as in our efforts. As Mother Teresa said, “We
are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful.” Or as John the
Baptist said:
“What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.
No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals
of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.” (Acts 13:25)
The work we do isn’t about us; it’s about Him. And the reward, the recompense, isn’t found in
certificates or trophies or acclaim, it’s found in being a faithful
servant. Don't be divided; be true, faithful, united in purpose with the One who created you. Grow where you are planted,
bear fruit where and when you can, and leave the rest to God. Do your best, not for praise or honor or
glory (or a raise) but because you are serving God. We must remember that any
work done for God’s glory is never in vain.
Plus, if you want to contemplate the value of earthly
success, consider when was the last time you heard anyone talk about the movie:
Cavalcade
(1933). Academy award for best picture
and a money maker for Fox Studios. But…
