Toiling In Vain

For anyone who is committed to social justice, working in education, working in human service fields, etc. there can be times when it really feels like nothing has changed. I was at a gathering recently where an elder Black woman in her 70’s was saying that she had seen a lot of progress in her lifetime but that since 2016 she feels like “we have really gone backwards. I fear that my kids and grandkids will not get to enjoy the progress that we fought so hard for.”

A lot of us may be feeling various forms of that these days.

Our writer in Isaiah 49 shares this sentiment when we read, “I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly spent my strength.” 

This is never a good feeling.

The writer goes on to affirm that “God is my strength,” but the sentiment that we are doing a lot for nothing can be very defeating.

Jesus picks up on this theme in John 13. He is with his followers for some of his last days. He knows that certain people in society are out to get him. But he also knows (or at least suspects) that there are people INSIDE his closest group who are cooperating with them.

Being betrayed by someone is one thing. But being betrayed by someone who is close to you – someone who said that they were your friend, confidant, or trusted other – well, this just cuts us to the core.

Jesus is in the midst of this pain and is talking with his friends about what is coming his way. He sees the net closing in on him and the inevitability of what might be coming.

So he says to his friends, “Where I am going you can’t follow me now.” Of course Peter – ever confident of his own abilities – says to Jesus, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

We all know how this story goes. Peter will not, in fact, lay down his life for Jesus (yet). Peter will deny even knowing Jesus in just a very short time.

Why I love these readings is because they are just so darn real. In the time of Jesus and now, people are flawed characters. We betray people. We make promises we can’t keep. We talk behind people’s backs. We act selfishly and with cruelty. Sometimes we do it on purpose. Sometimes we don’t mean to do it. But either way, human beings can do a lot of hurtful things to each other.

Yet Jesus does not give up on us, and he invites us not to give up on one another.

I often return to the series of sayings that hung on a wall in Mother Theresa’s orphanage. Many thought that she authored them, but it was a man named Kent Keith who wrote the “paradoxical commandments” that she helped to make famous. In them he said:

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway

I can imagine that the author of Isaiah 49 and Jesus would resonate with these sayings. I can imagine that we do too.

Part of the journey of Lent is squarely facing our disappointments in life. Part of the journey of Lent is facing the times when others have let us down (in big and small ways). Part of the journey of Lent is recognizing that we, too, have been the source of another’s discouragement and disappointment.

And part of the journey of Lent is trying to release all of this woundedness and keep loving anyway. May we take these words with us as we move forward through this Holy Week.