Servant

"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, the favourite of my soul. I will endow him with my spirit, and he will proclaim the true faith to the nations. He will not brawl or shout, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break the crushed reed, nor put out the smouldering wick till he has led the truth to victory: in his name the nations will put their hope."

The Gospel of today (Matthew 12:14-21) quotes the first song of the suffering servant from Isaiah 42:1-4. Matthew sees this prophecy being fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed One. If I am a disciple of Christ, then I am called to imitate in his sweetness, gentleness, humility, non-violence, and above all in his servanthood. Being a servant means becoming unimportant in this world. It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice. How many of us can accept this? How many of us can just play the second fiddle, be backstage? Being a Christian does not make us important. We are like the leaven hidden in the dough. We are like the treasure hidden in the field. We are only seeds planted in the soil, but can give growth to the mighty Kingdom of God.

As Christians we are called to give up pomp and power. We choose powerlessness over power. Like Jesus we are called to be bridge-builders between power and powerlessness. Bridge-builders, including Jesus, usually start building a bridge from one side. You can't build a bridge from the middle, as engineers would tell us. We had better start from the side of powerlessness, not power. Because if we start on the side of power we'll stay there forever. As followers of the Gospel, we will always be in a minority position. But that's how we shall have greater access to the truth. We in our time have to find our way to disestablish ourselves, to identify with our powerlessness instead of our power, our dependence instead of our independence, our communion instead of our individualism.

Paradoxically, our humility or powerlessness is that which gives us power. Tao Te Ching says, "All streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. Humility gives it its power." In our helplessness we become powerful instruments of the Lord. Only in emptiness can a vessel be filled. The emptier the vessel, the fuller it can be filled. God can use our nothingness, more than our talents and capacities. He can use our vulnerability and our woundedness for His greater glory.