FAITHFUL SERVANTS - A: 2nd Sun of OrdTime

First Reading: Isa 49: 3, 5-6 (15 Jan 2023)

“It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isa 49:6).

Servanthood is a normal phenomenon in antiquity, wherein a person may be sold or reduced to slavery under the tutelage of a designated master. This normally occurs at the aftermath of wars and armed conflicts, which naturally produce many prisoners and families with no place to go. Another reason for this occurrence is when someone cannot anymore pay a long-held debt from a creditor. Sadly, a slave under this condition is treated as a commodity that could be used in settling financial debts and obligations. Another reason for slavery is to serve as penalty for one’s grave crime against the society. Since prisons ordinarily are difficult to manage over time, most ancient societies used slavery as a practical form of implementing punishment.

In all of these situations, a slave is treated as a mere object, and not anymore as a human person. In fact, in those days, slaves were given heavy burdens, treated badly by their masters, and were not repaid for their services. They were even considered as walking dead, i.e., there is no more hope in ameliorating their lives. However, the prophet Isaiah was explicit in stating God’s good news: “You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory” (v. 3). This text demonstrates that God has found favor on Israel, who even though remains as his servant, is being entrusted with the work of salvation (v. 6).

In this regard, God does not anymore treat such a person as an average servant; rather he/she is being considered God’s colleague or friend on account of the immense task and mission handed to him/her in full confidence by God.

In antiquity, servanthood can be removed from anybody at one point. One way is through the process of manumission, which is the total removal of a slave’s obligations to his/her master. In effect, the slave becomes a free man/woman and may begin to own property and raise a family in liberty. Manumissions are dispensed by a person in authority, especially when the slave in question is found to possess a remarkable behavior and display loyalty and devotion. There is even the possibility that the master and the slave could become friends afterwards, being co-equals in the eyes of the Roman government. This resonates the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John during his supper with his disciples after washing individually their feet:

“I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father” (Jn 15:15).

In the Old Testament, Abraham, who was just as an ordinary herdsman who followed obediently the prodding of the Lord, was later referred to by biblical authors as a “friend of God”. Isaiah specifically pointed this out in a prophecy of the Lord: “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham my friend” (Isa 41:8; cf. 2 Chr 20:7; Jas 2:23). Abraham’s friendship with the Lord is well-documented, beginning from the former’s unfaltering confidence in the Lord’s command of “Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1) to his readiness of sacrificing his only son Isaac for the Lord’s delight (cf. Gen 22:1-19).

We are all God’s creatures, and, hence, his servants. But he created each of us from our mothers’ wombs and have given us our names (cf. Isa 49:1), hinting at our revered dignity as God’s friends and colleagues in the work of salvation. May we realize well this divine mission.

- Rex Fortes, CM