Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the Lord called me;
from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
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.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
and my reward is with my God.”
5 And now the Lord says—
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord
and my God has been my strength—
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 my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
7 This is what the Lord says—
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
“Too Small a Thing…”
Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)
Imagine being Judah hearing what God says in Isaiah 49. Imagine looking at the biggest problem of your history… Imagine facing what looks like the end of your existence as a nation, but hearing God say, about that very problem, “Too small.”
Or let’s make it personal. What is the biggest problem you are facing? Is it your job? Is it a relationship? Is it cancer? What’s the problem that takes up your whole view of your life right now? The one that looms big over every decision you make. The one that is always in the background of every good time, waiting to bring your back down to reality. What’s the problem that is the very definition of “big” for you? Imagine hearing God say, about that very problem, “Too small.”
Does that feel a bit harsh? A bit dismissive? How are you supposed to feel? How was Judah?
I’ve been preaching on Isaiah a lot lately, so maybe you’re getting sick of me saying it, but Isaiah is writing to Judah on the brink of being conquered and carried off into captivity by the Babylonian Empire. That hasn’t happened yet, but it’s coming. So Isaiah is writing to Judah warning them about what’s coming and reminding them why. He describes the coming destruction and tells Judah that it’s coming and it’s their fault. For their idolatry. For their sin.
But Isaiah is full of sections like this one, too. Places where God speaks to his exiled people even before they are in exile, and he comforts them. He tells them that it’s already his plan to rescue them and bring them home. He already plans to save them even before they are in the mess from which they need saving. Now, here in this section, God even goes so far as to say that saving them from the mess of the Babylonian captivity is, “Too small of a thing.”
So, it’s meant to comfort them, but does it? Whether they are looking ahead to being conquered the way Isaiah is at the time he is writing this, or they are looking back at having been conquered the way many Jewish readers of Isaiah would later on, either way they must have seen Babylon as a huge problem, right? Even from our perspective it was, because we can see from history that they were really never again a free people. The history of the Jewish people can be divided into before and after Babylon, that’s how big that problem was for them. And yet, here, God says, “Too small.” How is that supposed to make them feel?
Well, why does he say it? Look at what 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…” Who is God talking to? Isaiah is writing to Judah, so they are listening in, but the “you” of this passage is someone else, isn’t it? Using Isaiah’s pen, God is letting Judah listen in on a dialogue between God and Messiah. God is talking to his servant, chosen from his mother’s womb. God is talking to his “polished arrow”—to the one with a “mouth like a sharpened sword.” In Judah’s hearing, God is talking to Jesus, their Savior. And that’s when he says that restoring Judah from captivity in Babylon is “too small a thing.” Because Babylon is a big problem for them. It’s just not their biggest problem. Babylon is a problem they need God to address. But it’s not the only problem God wants to fix.
Think again of your biggest problem. The job, the relationship, the cancer. The looming, distracting, terrifying problem. Think about that problem and know that God thinks it’s too small. It is absolutely a big problem, don’t doubt that. It’s just not your biggest problem. It’s a problem you need God to address. But it’s not the only problem of yours that God wants to fix.
And when you realize that, you realize that the reason your problem seems so big is that you are thinking too small. We’re just people. We’re looking up at things that loom over us. “My job is stressful but I need it because I need money to survive. Seems like a big problem.” “My relationships are work but I need them because I can’t do life alone. Seems like a big problem.” “Cancer is… well, it’s cancer and if I can’t deal with it, I die. Seems like a very big problem.” These problems seem huge, because they are right here, in front of our faces. We can’t see around them.
But what’s behind them? What causes these problems? It’s an even bigger problem. It’s sin. Work is stressful because of laziness and pride; because of sin. Relationships are hard because of selfishness and misunderstanding; because of sin. Cancer is cancer because sin brought death into the world. Sin is death and sin kills us and one of the ways it kills us is cancer. But sin is the real problem. Quit your job and you’ll still have stress because of sin. End your troublesome relationships and life will still be hard, probably even harder, because of sin. Survive cancer and you’ll still have sin. From my house, you can’t see Mt. Baldy because Rancho Cucamonga peak is in the way, but Mt. Baldy is still much bigger. Your “too small” problems are “too small” because your sin is so much bigger.
But that’s what’s so amazing about what God says in Isaiah 49. God lends us his perspective. He lets us listen in on a dialogue between God and Messiah. He lets us hear a conversation between God and the one God chose to save us from our problems and who is, himself, God, and God says, in our hearing, that every single one of our problems is too small. Maybe there is nothing we can do about our jobs or our relationships. We can’t stop cancer; we can only try to survive it. Babylon was coming for Judah and there was nothing they could do about it. We are here looking up at big and scary problems, but God is looking down. And he says to himself, “I hear them. I will help them. Of course, I will. But that’s not all I’ll do. Doing only that, would be too small. My love for them is so much bigger.”
And it’s God, so it’s not just talk, is it? He says it, out loud, for us to hear and be comforted. And then he does it. God called him, before he was born. Called him Messiah, King, Prophet, High Priest. God spoke his name: Jesus, which means “Savior.” And God made his mouth like a sharpened sword to preach the good news to poor sinners. God hid his Son in human flesh and sent him among us to live for us. God sent his servant and displayed in him his splendor.
Could Jesus have said, “I have labored in vain,” when his disciples abandoned him and his people condemned him and his enemies crucified him? Yes! And yet, he knew his reward was to win us from our sin and make us his own. Jesus was “despised and abhorred by the nation” and that’s how he conquered our biggest problem. Jesus suffered for our sins. He forgave us. And because he did, “Kings will see [him] and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord...” Because Jesus is the Lord and he shows us that the Lord is faithful to his promise. Our God is bigger than our “too small” problems and bigger than our huge and terrifying ones, and he proves it to us and shows it to us in a way that we can see. In Jesus.
And not just us, right? I mean, that’s the other side of the “too small” that God says about Judah’s problem of Babylon and our problems too. If God is not limited to just helping us with the problems of this life, then God is also not limited to helping just us with the problem of sin.
“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 my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
This is how big God is. This is how huge a Savior we have. This prophecy is both spoken about us and to us. God let’s Judah hear him say to Jesus, “Not just Israel. Not just Jacob. Not just the people who know me here and now. But everyone. I want my salvation to be for everyone. Jesus, you are going to serve my will and redeem my people and what I mean by my people is everyone who believes. Eighth century BC Isaiah and Judah. First century Galilee and Palestine. Twenty-first century Pomona, California. Everyone. My salvation is big enough for everyone.”
And it’s God, so it’s not just talk, is it? He says it, out loud, for us to hear and be comforted. And then he does it. And from our perspective it looks small. It looks like a man named Isaiah writing a book. It looks like a man Jesus meeting some fishermen and their friends in the Gospel for today. It looks like Paul and Barnabas preaching to whoever will listen. It looks like a small gathering every week in North Pomona and simple people living lives of faith.
But if it looks small to us that’s because we think too small. We need God to lend us his perspective again. And from a God’s eye view we see how big his plan is. That Isaiah’s book will last and be read the world over and be true until the end of time and beyond. That Jesus called disciples to witness his saving work and then carry that news to the ends of the earth. That Paul and Barnabas worked to establish the Christian Church that grew until today and reached across the world to here, to this very spot.
And if our role in all that seems small, we’re thinking too small. It’s too small to see last week’s church attendance number (37, by the way), and think, “Oh, I wish it was more.” It’s too small to see the family you brought with you to church today and think, “That’s all that I can do.” It’s too small to see one day a week as the sum-total of our celebration of the salvation God worked all of human history to bring to us.
Borrow God’s perspective and see how amazingly huge it is that a sinner like me can be saved, and see that such a salvation couldn’t possibly be limited just to me and people like me. Look at Baptism and be blown away by the gigantic miracle God works in bringing a single person—even a baby!—to saving faith in Jesus, and know that Baptism is big enough to be shared with everyone ever. Come to Holy Communion and marvel that the God who fills all of time and space places his forgiveness on your tongue and into your heart, and see, too, that that forgiveness is for all of everyone who believes ever.
Imagine seeing things the way God sees them. That’s the gift that God gives us here through the words of Isaiah. Imagine being able to look at the whole picture and knowing that just relying on God to take care of the little problems of life like our jobs, our relationships, and cancer is not even a fraction of the trust you can put in God because of Jesus. Imagine seeing that with the eyes of the faith that God has given to you. How do you feel? How do your big problems look compared to God’s love?
Too small. Amen.
We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth… (John 1:45)
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