Yet my reward is with the Lord (Is 49:4)

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Most of us have worked hard at something and wondered if it really made a difference. Often, it's in response to a call that life has placed before us – with family duties; at work with a long-term project; with a friend, colleague, client, a young person who needs support, mentoring or direction. Often times we need to find deeper reasons to continue – reasons more pure, more noble, when the self-satisfaction of our ongoing labour fades away. Every once in a while, confirmation arrives to tell us we are making a difference, to remind us that it's all been worthwhile.

Today's first reading is Isaiah's message of confirmation to his fellow Hebrew captives in Babylon. They are wondering if God's promises to Abraham and his descendants will ever materialize for them. They are strangers with few rights in a pagan society, stripped of the land and Temple that reminded them of who they are as a divinely chosen people. Bereft of these outward blessings, they must learn to walk with God in humble faith. Perhaps they are wondering if it has all been worth it, remaining true to their calling under such long-suffering circumstances. Isaiah seems to echo these preoccupations:

“Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God.
For now the Lord has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb,
That Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him...”

Isaiah encourages his people, telling them they will be restored to shine once again with divine blessings. The world will once again recognize their God as the true God who chose them to bear His light to the world:

“And I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

It matters how we live, even when others choose not to, even when when we are the minority, even when we are vilified for having chosen the least popular path of integrity. For me, this is Isaiah's message today.

Today's responsorial psalm (Ps 71) speaks to me of David's total reliance on God in the midst of his own years of persecution. God's anointed, forced to live in the hills, living at times at the generosity of local shepherds and townsfolk for food, water and shelter. God is David's Everything. This is who God wants to be for all of us:

Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my fortress.
O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.
For you are my hope, O LORD; my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strength.

Today's Gospel (Jn 13:21-33, 36-38) tells of Judas who will betray Jesus, Peter who will deny Him, and John, who will be with Him at the foot of the cross.

Lord Jesus, give me the heart of John, that I might remain faithful to You in all circumstances, with all people. Help me to be patient and persevering in the difficult and consoling seasons, and to recognize with Isaiah that my reward is with You. Grant that like David, I might come to rely on You for everything, with complete trust in Your goodness and love. If I fall, grant that I might turn back to You in repentance, and with Peter acknowledge that there is truly no one else to Whom I can go, for You alone have the words of eternal life. Amen.

Link to readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041222.cfm



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