May 29, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. My servants will shout for joy with a glad heart, but you will cry out with a heavy heart and wail with a broken spirit.’” (Isaiah 65.13-14)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

In the decade of the 1760’s among the colonies of America, the work of two surveyors, Mason and Dixon, settled a border dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania. It would be called the Mason-Dixon line and later recognized, pre-Civil War, at the border between northern “free” states and southern “slave” states. Mind you, this was not a recognition of servanthood but of slavery and slavery sympathizers. Of course, Mason and Dixon had no intention of their work to be associated with a future dispute that would seek to divide a nation which had, even before their day, fought to become “one nation under God.” It is the “slave” designation that continues to linger to this day as a faction of history pundits desire to rewrite history in America based on the atrocity of slavery and its ramifications upon future generations on “both sides of the line.” Let there be no mistake, slavery as it was conducted by sinful human beings (“masters” without regard to faith, hope and love as exemplified by Jesus) was, is and will always be wrong. That does not mean that “slavery” is bad. We must walk carefully along this line of thinking. Slavery that takes away the dignity and opportunity of human beings so that they serve only the human master even at the risk of their own lives is ungodly. Yet, Jesus did not condemn slavery any more than He would have condemned “the Law.” We know from John 3 that “Jesus came into the world not to condemn it nor do away with the Law but to show that the Law could be fulfilled so that it would accomplish the good for which it was intended.” When we get to the “Upper Room” chapters of John 14-17, Jesus speaks of the blessing which is about to come upon them. It will be, as we know from the Synoptic Gospels, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. As we remember from scripture, such transformations were identified by a “name” change. Jesus speaks of one of those changes not by their personal name but by their ministry name. When Jesus called them to follow Him and learn the true intention of God for His people, they were disciples of Christ. Now, in the Upper Room, Jesus declares, “I will no longer call you servants/slaves, but friends.” (John 15.15) There is a curious caveat which Jesus adds saying, “…for a servant/slave does not know the master’s mind and will; but I have taught you all the I have heard from My Father.” What the disciples will do in the world from that point forward (with the anointing of the Holy Spirit) will move them from students to instructors. The Holy Spirit will continue to instruct them in the way of Christ. What is unique here is the fact that Jesus alludes to Himself by default as a “servant/slave” of His Father. Are we hearing an echo from the Parable of the Prodigal Son? That son came in humility to his father having determined he was better off as a servant/slave at his father’s house than what he had determined was freedom/liberty to live in the world as the world. Jesus took upon Himself our sins of the world and in so doing, the Father would accept Him and all who would believe not as slaves/servants but friends of the family, indeed children of the Father. (The sadness that the older brother could not accept this reality and rebuked the father, and thus the younger son, becomes a considered testimony against that of Jewish leadership who made slaves of all people, whether Jew or Gentile. In the early Church, the Judaizers tried to make Gentiles become as Jews so that they would then be slaves to the Law. This is something the Apostle Paul had much to say about in his letters.)

So what can we make of this text from Isaiah as God addresses blessing to those who are His servants over and against those “people of God” who had failed in remaining faithful to God’s call over, in and through their lives? Is God saying that the faithful people, Jewish or not, did not know the mind and will of God? Far from it! The use of the word in context promotes the same identity and purpose as “worship and serve” in relationship to “the Law.” Where it says, “You will worship the Lord your God…” can also be translated as “You will serve the Lord your God” and vice versa. When it says, “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul,” it is in the same context as serve and worship. It is too bad that this was not a part of the “grace” teaching of the Old Testament. The desire to use “the Law” as the binding code to obedience in the strictest manner of being “without question” shows that they did not “know the mind of the Master” who was, is and will always be “The Father.” So, even in Isaiah, we are given the insight to the proper application of being “a child of God” and a member of the “people of God.” It was far less about race and ethnicity than it is about faith and righteousness. No wonder God seemed to be upset with “His people” when they certainly weren’t acting like He was “our Father.” It makes me wonder what the disciples must have thought when Jesus gave them the model for powerful prayer starting with the introduction of “Our Father….” It certainly wasn’t the language of slaves and servants! And now you can see that “fine line” I mentioned at the beginning of this reflection. God uplifts “the servants” in their faithfulness to Him as a testimony to the rest of the world as to the proper relationship between God and humanity. His will is done as a blessing for those who bless Him by doing His will. It doesn’t guarantee that everything will be good in the world but in His Kingdom there shall be no end to His goodness and mercy. Just know which side of the line you want to stand on: God’s side of the free or in slavery to sin and Satan (who serves God by what we should not be or do.)

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness which we know is folly but righteous works which declare Your glory and further witness the truth that can set all who believe free in Jesus’ name. AMEN.