The Remains of Our Day

Lectionary OT Reading: Isaiah 49:1-7

In the movie The Remains of the Day, Anthony Hopkins gives a touching performance as Mr. Stevens, a butler in an English manor who is effective, efficient and amazingly dedicated to his job within the servant class. Mr. Stevens serves the Estate of Lord Darlington, a well meaning English gentleman who unknowingly is duped into becoming a Nazi sympathizer. In order to serve his house with excellence Mr. Stevens blocks out the needs of his father, ignores his desire for Miss Kenton, and refuses to see that the policies made at conferences he is serving are empowering Germany to begin the Third Reich. Later, when Lord Darlington is unmasked as a German enabler and stripped of his title, the estate goes to an American who asks the aging and lonely Mr. Stevens what he must have thought when the conferences that brought the horrors of World War II were being held in that very house. Mr. Stevens replies, “I was doing my job, Sir. I was too busy to listen to the speeches.”

It’s a tragic cautionary tale about being a servant who does not know the Master’s business, and is powerless in the role of servitude. It’s a good movie for Christians to see because we are, afterall, servants of God called by Jesus Christ. We are the opposite of Mr. Stevens in some ways. We rarely strive for the gospel in a dedicated way, and appease our servitude by showing up to church on Sunday where we just listen to the speeches, and never do the work. The lectionary scripture from Isaiah 49 – describing the call of God to a servant – helps us to remember that although we are serving, we are not blind or helpless pawns of fate. We have responsibilities too.

We are not Powerless

Verse 2:
He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.

We tend in our day and age to think of the servant as a powerless person – lower class, with no will of their own. However, in the days of this writing (and even into the first century) being a slave or servant could afford the person tremendous power and ability. Slave owners kept slaves in their houses and depended on them for everything from chores and work to banking and message giving. A slave who was trusted and truly wanted to serve his or her master well, had a world of power and privileges at their command.

As God’s servants, we are given tools of great empowerment. We are given the word of God to learn by living it, and share by showing it. We are given the Holy Spirit to guide us into God’s will and into the paths of those who need to see God. We are given community to make one another stronger, more able and more equipped. We are given free will, that we may choose to do God’s bidding, and we are given gifts so that we may give them back to God. Never think yourself weak or unable to further the gospel in this dark world. Christ is the light, and you hold the lantern.

We are not Purposeless

Verse 4:
But I said, "I have labored to no purpose;
I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.

Sometimes we feel like our work has been in vain. Maybe someone we witnessed to seems to make no change at all. Or maybe the lifework we do isn’t showing a lot of good fruit for the hard work we are investing. Maybe we aren’t even sure what we are doing anymore. The servant in Isaiah certainly feels discouraged. Perhaps its because the servant sees the lack of purpose that servant has had in the effort. Sometimes we can put a lot of effort into something and not have any purpose behind it. Sometimes in trying to make something better all we do is tear it apart.

In Chuch Palahnuik’s novel “Choke”, Ida Mancini is a woman who spent most of her years as a liberal “activist” in the 60’s – working to draw attention to a number of causes. When she gets old she begins to lose her mind to Alzheimer’s. On one of her last days of clear thought she gives a speech that describes where her empty life has led.

“I’ve defined myself, all my life, by what I was against. I fought against everything, but more and more I worry that I was never for anything. Oh, I can criticize and complain and judge everything, but where does that get me? Rebelling isn’t rebuilding. Ridicule isn’t replacing. My generation! All we did was make fun of the way the world was. We didn’t make it any better. We spent so much time judging what other people created we didn’t create anything of our own. We took the world apart, but had no idea what to do with the pieces.”

As God’s servants we need to have purpose in what we do. We need to do more than judge, tear down, complain and re-hash our ideas. We need to see our lives, words and actions serving God and triumphing the healing love of Jesus. That is our purpose and that is how we serve.

We are not Private

Verse 6
he says:
"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth

So the servant tells the master about his lack of purpose and his failure to bring the One God to the nation. What does God do? God says “Its not your fault you didn’t to do the job – it was TOO SMALL a task. I’ll give you a bigger one. Now you’ll bring everyone to me!” – So imagine that you manage the produce section of a grocery store. You go to the boss and say “I haven’t done a very good job with my department. The fruit is rotting, and my sales are down”. Then imagine the boss saying “You know – the problem is produce is only a small part of my business – so here’s what I’ll do – I’ll put in you charge of the WHOLE STORE!” – AH! But that’s God. Where we see our failure as servants to promote the gospel, God sees us as valuable loved children who can shine the light of Christ to the whole world. God believes in us. We should too.

Our work isn’t mean to be private – but vibrant. We aren’t just for the “chosen few”, we are for the whole world. So don’t think if you let God down, you’ll get an easier job. What you’ll get is mercy, empowerment, and a bigger job next time!

Isaiah’s odd scripture here is a reminder that we are not supposed to be standing in a room listening to the speeches while the banquet goes un-served. We are not supposed to be so busy serving that we ignore the world or God’s words. We need a balance of spiritual empowerment, purpose and public witness of Jesus to help us be a servant worthy of the Kingdom of God. Then, when we hit the remains of our day we too will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant."