The reading
Isaiah 42:1-9
1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my
soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to
the nations. 2 He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the
street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will
not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 He will not grow faint or
be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands
wait for his teaching. 5 Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and
stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives
breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6 I am the
Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept
you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, 7 to
open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from
the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am the Lord, that is my name; my
glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. 9 See, the former things have
come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell
you of them.
The message
Today, we are more and more aware of how important is it to
ask “who was this written by”, “who was this written for”, “who paid for this
research”, “what is the source” of a particular fact or article, whose
perspective is it written from. We are becoming more suspicious of things we
hear and more critical of what is presented or said to us. There are scams, there is misleading
information, there are stories that appear to be news but really were created solely
to convince you of something.
This is not new. The
prophets faced this criticism, People like Isaiah, Micah, Habbakuk and Jeremiah
had to face the question, “are you really a prophet, are you really sharing
God’s message, did someone else, not God, put you up to this. This challenging of the prophetic authority
is especially true when they were called to say things that were unpopular or
critical of people’s lives. (that covers
a lot of what the prophets said). As we
look at today’s reading, we have to keep those 2 things in mind, we have to ask
questions about who said these words, when were they said, who inspired them,
how did people react and how do they fit into the 3 or so months we have spent
with the Old Testament. .
Today’s reading is from a part of the book of Isaiah known
as Second Isaiah. That means these words were originally shared with the people
of Israel enduring life and anxiety in the Babylonian exile. This is the same
time period as last week’s reading from the book of Esther, where God acts
quietly but powerfully. The exile was
the time immediately after Israel tried to revolt against what they thought was
a weakened Babylonian empire only to be defeated. In 586 BC, the temple in
Jerusalem is destroyed. To prevent regrouping and another revolt, the people of
Israel are scattered to other lands, they are disconnected from their history
and community.
This group of Israelites in exile saw their homes destroyed,
their families killed, friends and relatives being taken in chains to new, unknown
places they were not welcome. in Their wealth was stolen or destroyed, the land
that was belonged with their families for many generations, that land they and
their ancestors fought for, was taken away.
Relationships between the people were torn apart and forgotten. It
seemed like the covenant, that the relationship between the people and God was
gone. The land that was a sign of the
covenant was no longer theirs. They watched the temple, the house of God,
destroyed. People felt like God abandoned them, got frustrated and walked away or
was never there to begin with. People carried a deep sense of personal failure,
they could not protect their children, their families or their lands. People
entered a conflict with a distracted babloyon that they felt sure to win but
lost everything.
There were philosophical struggles as well, where do they
fit in the world, what of God’s promises now, where are the answers. Prayers
then were little more then What now O God, why Lord did this happen. That is
who these words from God through Isaiah were first spoken to. Victims of trauma, people with what we could
call PTSD, extreme depression brought on by failure and loss, people in the
midst of spiritual, emotional and physical crisis, people who wanted vengeance
on their enemies and restoration of what was theirs. .
The people of Israel wanted revenge, to hurt back, to attack
the enemy, punish the other, make it right, catch the criminal, abuse the
offender, get justice, repay death with more death, destruction with more
destruction. The prophets words were not
what the people wanted to hear. The
writer of Isaiah 42 offers none of that. Instead, it is an invitation. See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.
This will be bigger than one nation, one war, or one moment in time.
Instead of vengeance, the prophet talks of peace, instead of
regrouping and winning back the land, the prophet speaks of a place for all
people, Instead of recreating a great
nation, the people are told they will be a light to all nations, including
their enemies. There would be a savior for all the earth, for all of creation, a
place that included their oppressors. There would be an unstoppable force for
justice, but it would not be violent or vengeance seeking and it would be only
for a certain people.
The savior is described as not breaking a bruised reed or
not putting out a dim candle. That means
a stick that’s broken already won’t even fall apart the rest of the way when
the savior passes or a candle low on wax
or wick, that a little breeze could extinguish, would not be put out when the
savior passes. That’s not exactly
violent. Well, at least, not in the way the people wanted. This promised savior
would not attack others, he would attack the things that divide people. He
would not kill, he would attack death, he would not start another war, he would
attack the causes of war. The savior
would wipe out sin, the stuff that separates us from God. This is the new vision spoken to people in
distress and suffering. This is another defeat, this is good news for all
people, After this, there is Advent, there is quiet waiting for these things to
be.
Today’s reading from the book of Isaiah, is our last Old
Testament reading before Christmas. We
have heard a lot so far, moments of great drama, anxiety, victory and defeat,
help from the Lord and God being silent, tremendous successful and dismal
failure. We have seen what God has done before, a cycle of God’s law, people’s disobedience, punishment,
forgiveness, restoration and repeat. We
started with the book of Genesis in early September and we end the Old
Testament part of our year with words of hope, with God’s promise to do
something new.
As Christians we look
at this passage as one of the 4 servant songs, that speak to the Messiah, that
are fulfilled by Jesus. There are other interpretations as well but that is how
the words of the prophet spoke to the first Christians and how they speak to
us. The first followers of Jesus had to figure out how could the savior, the
messiah, be born when and where he was and for what work, to quote my favorite
Christmas Carol, How Jesus the savior could be born for to die? How could the expected, promised one come and
not restore Israel’s empire or destroy Israel’s enemies. How could Jesus not destroy Rome, be crowned
the king of an independent Israel. From death, there is life for all.
This is why we have spent so long in Advent, almost a third
of a year with the Old Testament in Chronological order. To get to this promise: I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open
the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the
prison those who sit in darkness.
After today, we start our journey through the Gospel of
Matthew that will bring us to Easter, we will see God keeping this promise in
the most unexpected ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment