The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 21, 2011 Proper 16 A
St. Andrew’s Church
The Rev. M. Anthony Seel, Jr.
Isaiah 51:1-6
Listen and Look Back
That great American philosopher Woody Allen once said,
More than at any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads.
One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness; the other to
total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose
correctly. [“My Speech to the Graduates,” New York Times,
August 10, 1979]
That’s more that a bit pessimistic, but it could have been the general attitude of the Jewish people during their exile in Babylon. Jerusalem was attacked and destroyed in 586 BC; the Temple was reduced to rubble and ashes. The Jews were taken captive and deported to Babylon.
The Northern and Southern Kingdoms of divided Israel had suffered at the hands of the Assyrians before they suffered at the hands of the Babylonians, but exile from their homeland brought a whole new dimension to their anguish. Big changes lead to disorientation and confusion and that’s what God’s people experienced while in exile in Babylon. 700 miles separated Judah from Babylon and every step that took them further away from their homeland increased the sense of loss and remorse of the Jews.
Then came Cyrus, King of Persia. Isaiah prophesied that one would come who would deliver Judah from Babylonian control (Is. 44:28). In 539 BC, Cyrus defeated Babylon and began to repatriate the Jews. Moreover, he ordered that the temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt, he returned the temple vessels, and he funded the restoration work in Jerusalem.
Isaiah’s words in our first lesson are directed toward the Jewish people who are still living in Babylon, waiting for their deliverance.
1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.
Listen and look, says the prophet Isaiah. In v. 4, the prophet says,
4 “Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation;
Listen, look, give attention, give ear – this is important stuff! You don’t want to miss this!
“You who pursue righteousness…” Isaiah is speaking to those who are waking with God, who are walking in God’s ways.
“You who seek the Lord…” He is speaking to those who hunger for God.
“…look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. “
He appeals to his listeners to look back – to reach back to their ancestry and history.
2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.
Their story begins with Abraham and Sarah whom God called to leave their country and kin and travel to “the land that [God] will show [them]” (Gen. 12:1). God calls Abraham and Sarah to venture forth from the known to the unknown. Because of Abraham’s willingness to do so we now know him as the father of faith. Sarah and Abraham head out, having no idea where they are headed, but following God every step of the way.
Sarah is old and barren, yet God’s plan is dependent on her having a baby. In time, in a new land, Sarah gives birth to Isaac, the seed of Israel. From Isaac and Rebecca comes Jacob, the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. This story of faith begins with Abraham and Sarah, the rock from whom Israel was hewn. Abraham and Sarah are the quarry from which Israel was dug. From one man whom God called, and one woman, who was also faithful to God’s call, came the many that grew into the nation of Israel.
3 For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
What does God do for Israel? God comforts them while they are in exile. Jerusalem has been reduced to ruins. Judah, the southern kingdom of divided Israel where Jerusalem sits is now a wasteland. But God promises restoration.
In “My Speech to the Graduates,” Woody Allen follows his crossroads statement about despair and utter hopelessness or total extinction with this:
I speak, by the way, not with any sense of futility, but with a panicky
conviction of the absolute meaninglessness of existence which could
easily be misinterpreted as pessimism. It is not. It is merely a healthy
concern for the predicament of modern man.
Allen explains,
(modern man is here defined as any person born after Nietzsche’s
edict that “God is dead,” but before the hit recording “I Wanna
Hold Your Hand.”)
It is said that with his background, Woody Allen chooses to believe Nietzsche over the God of Israel. The God who delivered Israel from Egypt and Babylon appears to have not yet delivered Woody Allen from his pessimistic atheism.
To Judah trapped in Babylon, God through Isaiah offers a message of hope. Isaiah prophesies that Judah will blossom like the Garden of Eden. The Jewish homeland will flourish with fruit trees and green plants for food. Joy and gladness will return to Judah as God’s people reinhabit the Promised Land.
4 “Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
God again calls the people to listen attentively. The prophet explains that the return to Judah from Babylon will be a second exodus. Just as when Moses the law-giver led Israel to the Promised Land, God’s law and justice will be paramount in reestablishing Israel.
It is important for us to note that when God led Israel out of the slavery of Egypt he did not lead them into autonomous freedom. Autonomous freedom is an American value and it’s not one of our best national values. Freedom in America too often means that we can do whatever we want to do. The autonomous self is an American myth and a destructive one.
The exodus shows us the God who liberates His people from their bondage and who through Moses gives them a better future which includes a particular way of life. As Christians through our Savior we leave our bondage to sin, evil, and death and receive Jesus and His way of life. In Christ, we are given God’s Spirit in us to lead us into God’s purposes for our lives.
When we leave the Egypt of sin, evil, and death we bind ourselves to God and His ways. God’s ways shape our character and the direction of our lives. As in Psalm 67 last Sunday, God’s law and justice are a sign of God’s presence and reign to all nations. As we live according to God’s ways, God is honored among the people that observe our lives.
5 My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.
God’s righteousness, salvation, and judgment has gone out to all nations in the witness of Israel and in the witness of God’s people throughout the world. God through Isaiah says, My righteousness draws near,” just as Jesus said at the beginning of His earthly ministry, “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk. 1:15).
Some pagan nations will observe God’s ways and will be drawn to Him. Some pagan nations wait in hope for God’s light and salvation. Others stand defiantly against God and His people. They will receive the arm of God’s justice.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
According to Isaiah, the heavens and earth are not as permanent as they might appear. Fortunately, God promises a new heaven and a new earth. Turn to Revelation, chapter 21, beginning at verse one.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
God promises His people a new creation. As William Dumbrell writes, the “establishment of the universal and everlasting rule of the creator God, … this final vision of Revelation,… entails…the reversal of all sin, misery, futility and discord.” The End from the Beginning, p. 165.
That’s where history is headed. Judah’s deliverance from Babylon by King Cyrus and the Persians was a foretaste of this. Our deliverance by King Jesus from sin, evil, and death, is a foretaste of the blessings and bliss of the new creation, the new Jerusalem, in the age to come.
At the center of our first reading are Abraham and Sarah. Abraham, the father of faith, and Abraham and Sarah who began a people of faith that now includes us. Also at the center of our reading from Isaiah is Eden, the garden of the Lord. Binghamton has two rivers and Pittsburgh has three. The Garden of Eden is fed by four rivers that nourish trees and rich vegetation. Eden was a place of great beauty, abundance, and the satisfaction of every human need.
God planted the Garden of Eden and it was perfect in every respect. Before sin entered the garden, humanity, male and female, lived in perfect harmony with God, each other, and nature. Our English word “paradise” comes from a Persian word that means walled garden. Eden was paradise.
The Garden of Eden was also a place of testing for Adam and Eve. The forbidden fruit hung from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and when Adam and Eve at that fruit, paradise was lost. Fortunately for fallen humanity the story doesn’t end there. Nor does the story end for Israel in Babylon.
Before God leads Judah out of Babylon and back to the Promised Land, He asks them to do two things: listen and look back. Listen and remember.
The God who created all things including the perfect Garden of Eden will restore Israel. The God who called Abraham and Sarah and then Israel to Himself did so to bless and multiply them. God is still in the blessing and multiplying business.
God promises to take the barrenness of Israel in Babylon and transform that barrenness into prosperity in the Promised Land. God will return them to the Promised Land and turn it into a Garden of Eden where Israel will experience joy and gladness, thanksgiving and song.
What a promise!
Even Babylon should not be a place of pessimism for God’s people. Israel was a people of promise because they had a God who made great promises to them. We are a people of promise; we are a people of hope. In Christ, God has delivered on His promises and He has even greater things for us as we walk with Him. Like Abraham and Sarah, God has called us to a better future. To get to that greater future will involve risk. Abraham and Sarah have to leave their country and their kin. Are we willing to go where God leads us?
God doesn’t want us to simply learn how to cope, adapt, and endure the ways of this world. He has given us a better way and He wants us to live into it. To do so we need Jesus and His Spirit leading us. We need Abraham, the father of faith, as an example, and we need Moses, the giver of law, to help us to see the way. God doesn’t call us to simply cope, adapt, and endure in Babylon. That’s stoicism, not Christianity.
God doesn’t leave us in Babylon. He calls us out of Babylon and into a better future. Our promised land is the Kingdom of God that is only partially present in this world, but is fully present in the age to come. Even so, like Abraham and Sarah, God has something for us here in this life.
Will we step out in faith?
Will we trust God?
Will we accept the leading of God’s Spirit?
Will we?
Listen and look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Listen to Him. Follow Him wherever He leads. Jesus wants to bless us and multiply us. He has given us the tools of evangelism and discipleship to do so.
Will we listen to Him?
Will we trust Him?
Will we be obedient to His ways?
Jesus has a place for us. There will be a day when we are no longer in rented facilities. That day will be a time of joy and gladness, thanksgiving and song. Do you believe this? If not, look back at Abraham and Sarah and ask God to give them the measure of faith that He gave to them.
Listen and look back. Listen and remember. Faith was found in abundance in those who first followed Christ. Look back at their lives. Theirs was not an easy road. Ours is not an easy road either. But God is faithful. God is good. God will bless us as we diligently follow Him. Listen and look back. Listen and remember. Then, move forward in faith.
