Bigger Fish to Fry--January 21, 2026

Bigger Fish to Fry--January 21, 2026

   "And now the LORD says,
  who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
 to bring Jacob back to him,
  and that Israel might be gathered to him,
 for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
  and my God has become my strength—
   he says,
 'It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
  to raise up the tribes of Jacob
  and to restore the survivors of Israel;
 I will give you as a light to the nations,
  that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth'.” (Isaiah 42:5-6)

It's not enough only to care about the good of your own little group--God's intention is to reach out everywhere, to everyone... even "to the end of the earth."

That much is absolutely clear from this passage from the book of Isaiah, which many of us heard in worship this past Sunday.  Once again we get the prophet describing a figure described as the "servant" of God, and this figure seems both to be a single individual (we Christians see this as pointing to Jesus) and also somehow the collective calling of the people of God picking up the pieces after exile.  This "servant of the LORD" is called to carry out God's purposes, which turns out to include restoring the fortunes of the exiles, and also to reach all peoples.  The servant is there to "raise up the tribes of Jacob," but his work doesn't stop at the border of Israel. He is mean to be "a light to the nations."  God isn't only interested in helping out the insiders who belong to the same group as the Servant, but in reaching everybody.

In fact, as Isaiah tells it to us, God even says explicitly to this "servant" that "it is too light a thing" only to care about the insiders, the "survivors of Israel." God says, in effect, "That's too small a task, too shortsighted a goal--I have bigger fish to fry, and so do you." And really, God seems to be saying through the prophet, "If you can only see as far as putting the needs of Me and My Group First, you don't understand my purposes in the world. That kind of thinking is too small, too shallow, too petty, and too parochial. I am always reaching further, to draw all people to myself."  If we want to be a part of the work God is up to, we will never be satisfied with the small-potatoes mindset of "Me and My Group First" thinking. We will always be led, alongside the Servant of God, to reach "the end of the earth."

This much seems obvious when you read these words from Isaiah. And of course, it shouldn't surprise us at all if we have been paying attention at all to the teachings of Jesus.  And yet it is mind-boggling how often in our own day we hear the voices of Respectable Religion insisting that God's will is that we need to look out for the interests of our own group over the needs of others.  "We have to protect ourselves, even at the cost of others' safety... we have to possess more, even if it means taking from others... we have to stand highest of all, even if it comes by way of stepping on other people." All of that is conventional wisdom among some loud voices, including religious ones--except the only trouble is that it just doesn't fit at all with the actual way God speaks here in Isaiah. 

So here's the question for us who want to be a part of God's work in the world--for us who would seek to serve God along the Servant of the Lord: will we let God stretch our vision wider, to include the well-being of everybody, or will we keep settling for too little and too light? Will we allow ourselves to hear God's Word to the Servant spoken to us as well: "It is too light a thing for you only to be sent to your own little group for your own narrow interests. I have sent you for the good of all people, including folks as far away as you can get." Could we recognize that as God's call to each of us?  And when we hear those other loud voices telling us we should only spend our time, our energy, our money, and our voices for "Me and My Group First," will we be willing to say, "No--that is not the way of our God?" Will we, as servants alongside the Servant, commit to a wider vision for the good of ALL? Because that's how wide God's vision is.

May God give us such courage in the face of short-sighted but loudmouthed voices to speak a different word, loud and clear, that God's will is to illuminate everything and everyone.

Lord God, we want to serve as Christ your Servant does. Give us a vision as wide as yours for the sake of the world.