NOTES for Isa 49:1-6

Speaking about his prophetic ministry, Isaiah utters bitter words: "I have labored in vain, and spent my strength for nothing." What disappointed the prophet so deeply? At first glance, it appears that his ministry, on the contrary, was quite successful. He became, in effect, the prophet of the first aliyah, that first repatriation, that return of the Jews from captivity to the land of their fathers, which everyone, both those who set out for Judea and those who preferred to remain in Babylon, perceived as the triumph of God's people, as the beginning of blessed times that would be crowned by the soon coming of the Messiah.

Isaiah began to speak about the imminent end of the captivity when the Babylonian Empire still seemed unshakable, and when what he had spoken about actually happened, the prophet became a true national hero. But this did not make him glad, and his own words allow us to understand why. He says that God made him a gatherer of the people, the one through whom He wants not only to gather the people but also to renew them spiritually. God wants Yahwism itself to become different, for the witness about Him to resound throughout the whole earth, for His people, a significant part of whom had by that time remained in the communities of an already quite extensive and numerous diaspora, to become His witness for all who seek truth and spiritual life.

Meanwhile, the people did not correspond at all to the task that had been set. There was euphoria over the decree of Cyrus the Great about the return; there were intense, almost feverish messianic expectations. But the closedness of the community was already showing itself, along with a certain contempt for the nations and self-isolation explained by the demand for strict observance of ritual purity. In short, all the traits had already appeared that would later bloom luxuriantly and produce the worst examples of Pharisaic religiosity.

Under such conditions, there could be no question of any witness to the nations, not because there were not enough missionaries, since Jewish mission was quite active over the following centuries, but because these missionaries bore witness to themselves, to their people, to their tradition - in short, to anything at all except the main thing needed for spiritual life: living communion with God and how to find it.

This was not done out of malice or because the missionaries considered those whom they addressed unworthy. They were simply absolutely certain that until those whom they addressed became Jews in every respect just like themselves, no communion with God was possible for them. Thus the mission among the nations that God wanted to organize through His people, scattered throughout the whole civilized world of that time even before Christ's coming, failed. It had to be postponed until Christian times and entrusted to the Church.

In these days, the Church offers us readings that speak of the mystery of the redemptive sufferings of the Son of God—the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah speaks in the voice of the Messiah: “I have labored in vain; I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity, yet My reward is with My God.” His reward is that He will become a light to the nations and bring salvation to all people. Jesus says that God will glorify Him, the Son of Man. He says this knowing that in a few hours He will face crucifixion... Jesus’ glory is His victory over death, His resurrection. But victory is possible only at the price of His Blood.

The prophet Isaiah puts in the mouth of the Messiah the word of defeat, that the work of the Messiah ends with failure. And just like that from the human point of view, the evangelic history looks like. Christ preaches wonderful things, attracts to Him followers... But His word is rejected, the followers disperse, and He Himself dies of a shameful death of slaves and bandits. All those who were healed and resuscitated, who used the gifts of Christ, stay somewhere off, and all His works go to the sand. And the same thing we observe centuries after centuries in the history of His followers. Everything they try to build, collapses and becomes the prey of voracious time. But it is from a human point of view. The prophet Isaiah begins to see clearly the essential: in Christ God Himself comes into the world, and that is why happen miracle. The messiah, whose mission failed, is risen - and so won. That is how God wins.

People wait and look not for such victory. People think that Christ should solemnly enter Jerusalem, humble all and to establish His reign. But He dies on the Cross. And that’s why it is important for us to stop thinking how necessary it is, how everything has to take place, and to follow the Lord Jesus - not for the sake of abstract fruits of salvation, but for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Before us is one of the central passages of Isaiah’s prophecy. The interpretations of the Fathers of the Church reveal its meaning to us as a prophecy about the coming Savior, who is called here the Holy One of Israel. Yet the form of the narrative may suggest that it concerns only Israel’s earthly triumph, and such a reading must have made it considerably harder for part of the people to recognize the Messiah when He came among them. And yet, when the Messiah came to earth, He not only revealed the Heavenly Father in Himself, but also embodied in His human form the traits of those sons of the people of Israel who were closest to God, concentrating in Himself the essence of their spiritual paths.

But the paths shown to Israel are not paths for one people alone. By following them, Israel provided landmarks for all nations. Now all humanity can become God’s numerous and diverse people by receiving the One who would appear in Israel several centuries later.