Isaiah 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice for ever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labour in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
Let us pray.
In this morning’s lectionary reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear the promises of God for the day when a complete transformation of creation, from top to bottom occurs. When every human and animal relationship is transformed into a reality beyond what we have the ability and creativity to imagine. And what a beautiful vision it is that is offered up by Isaiah, one full of God’s delight, health, enough provision of food and shelter, and peace among neighbors.
As I read and reread this text this week, I thought how wonderful it would be if there was such peace and delight among us. I thought about how hopeful it would be if there was prosperity and provision for folks around the world that live in war torn disaster zones, under the rule of foreign occupation forces, or displaced from their homes. Isaiah’s listeners would have known keenly the despair and anxiety of living in an ancient war zone, watching their rulers form alliances to deal with threats from Assyria and Egypt. They would know the pain of watching Jerusalem, the city of God, be burned to the ground, and its people exiled off to Babylon. They would know the despair and hopelessness that comes from living in a foreign land all the while yearning to return home, to work the family’s land again.
The prophet Isaiah offered counsel to kings and courts who were attempting to carve out existence for the kingdom of Judah even as the empires of Egypt and Assyria closed in around them. The pronouncements of curse and blessing, exhortation and warnings, were all offered amidst the most pressing social and political concerns of the day. Much earlier in the Book of Isaiah, there is a warning that to associate with the pro Egyptian alliance is to form a covenant with death. Isaiah calls on the king and the people of Judah, the southern kingdom, to place their hope in the everlasting God.
It is believed that the vast corpus of Isaiah was composed over several generations, including students and followers of Isaiah seeking to maintain his prophetic presence amidst God’s covenant people. This morning’s reading is believed to have been composed as people were beginning to return to Jerusalem and Judea after generations of folks were exiled off to Babylon. The first folks return to their homeland to replant vineyards, build new houses, and restore Jerusalem as God’s beloved city. To a people who have been beaten under the hammer of near constant war and occupation and exiled from their homeland, this Isaiac vision of God’s complete transformation of creation from top to bottom is good news indeed.
To a hope hungry world, the promise of newness and transformation is appealing. To a hope hungry world, the reality that God restored Jesus Christ to life over the power of death and evil is a demonstration of hope.
All around the world there are weary hope hungry folks who are grabbing at whatever might come their way to make life a bit better, a bit easier, and a bit less painful. There are blue collar workers in Michigan and coal miners in West Virginia that are hoping for economic revitalization in their industry so they can make ends meet. There are first generation Mexican Americans who are working and hoping to carve out a better existence for their kids than they had: one free of violence. There are Muslim families who have found refuge in Western Europe who only hope that their homeland will be recognizable when the bombs stop falling. There is a mother in Zimbabwe whose primary hope is that the mosquito nets will protect her children from a treatable disease, even though the local clinic rarely has enough medicine.
A story from Mr Mehio in Aleppo, Syria opens a glimpse into the dire conditions that create deep yearning for hope and transformation. “I’m 38 years old, married with four children, and before the revolution I was a football coach at al-Shortah Police sports club. Now I am head of the local council for my neighbourhood, and until this week director of logistics for two bakeries. One was bombed on Wednesday, so now I have to try to make bread for the same number of families from just one.
Normally I would get up early for the pre-dawn prayer, then have coffee with biscuits if we have any, before going to inspect the bakeries and help deliver loaves.
But on Wednesday I was woken around 3am by someone banging on our door. I ran to open it and outside was a colleague, breathless, gasping: “The bakery has been hit.” I threw on my clothes and jumped in the car.
We got to the site of the attack around an hour after the bomb hit. It was a terrible scene, with the White Helmets and paramedics trying to find survivors among the rubble. They had hit the middle of the bakery on purpose, we are sure, and eight people, including one of the owners, were killed.
Only his business partner and the head baker survived, and one of them has lost an eye. There was a terrible mess, and the van they use for bread deliveries was smashed as well, so I had to use my own car for getting out what bread we could save.
The bakery served two large neighbourhoods, feeding nearly 6,000 families. Now I am going to have to see if the smaller bakery, already feeding 4,000 families, can stretch to making bread for more than twice that number.
On a normal afternoon I dedicate myself to local council business. We try to do what we can for people, try to fix damaged electricity or water networks, distribute aid to vulnerable people and other things. We do our best these days even with the siege and continuous bombing and shelling.” (1 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/30/stories-from-inside-aleppo-it-feels-like-we-are-in-prison)
And when the yearning for hope and transformation of the current reality is so deep and overwhelming, fear and anxiety rests just below the surface. Fear of neighbors. Fear of other religious communities. Fear of someone whose job encroaches on our own. These realities are present and real and can drive our actions.
What I’m about to say may put you on the defensive or trouble you because it seems like I’m talking politics in the pulpit. I hope to open a door into our life with God with what is the biggest collective item before our community. My office door is always open and I invite you to come see me. I’m not taking sides in the election. It doesn’t matter to me who you voted for if you did it because you believe he or she was the best candidate to govern. What matters to me is what type of hope do you have in your heart? What fears do you have? Are you yearning for the transformation of the world so that it becomes the fulfillment of God’s vision? Are you doing harm to your neighbors? Are you growing in love of God in Jesus Christ and your neighbors? Does your life reflect the love of Christ to those around you or do those closest to you see the reflection of someone else? Those are the questions that were pertinent before the election and still after it.
There are times when social, political, and economic realities intersect with the gospel and the way God envisions the world. People of deep faith participate in social institutions and political processes to help make our communities and our world places of freedom, justice, and dignity. And the challenging work for everyone who ventures to follow Jesus Christ is to discern what is the way of the gospel and what is of another way. We’ve heard more than our fair share of vitriol that has no bearing in the gospel as of late.
I saw quite a number of friends and colleagues this past week grieve the reality that a man who has made racist and misogynistic comments publicly will be president in the country where their children will grow up. These friends spoke and wrote as if the platform of Hillary and the Democratic Party was the fulfillment of God’s ideal vision for society, seemingly unable or unwilling to distinguish the gospels from a party platform.
And evangelical friends suggested that the endorsements of Pat Roberston, Jerry Falwell Jr, and Franklin Graham show that God was on the side of Donald Trump to win the election and protect the moral integrity of American society.
Equating the Republican or Democratic ticket with the will of God and the fulfillment of God’s promises is dangerous territory. Let’s be discerning about where we look for the reign of God.
Each of our loyalties, perceptions of our neighbors, or course of action can be gauged by the Jesus we see on the move in the gospels. Is what I’m hearing reflective of Jesus Christ or is it antithetical to the gospel? I pray that you leave this place asking this question in your life often.
What I know to be true is there are people of deep faith who try everyday to live like Jesus Christ who voted for every candidate on the ticket and some who didn’t vote at all. They’re not bad people because they voted for a different candidate. Honestly, we have not been our best selves this past week-it doesn’t matter whether our candidate won or lost. We have an opportunity in front of us, and this opportunity will persist for some time to come for those who earnestly want to grow in love of God.
I think the church has a tremendous opportunity to show up with a witness that is distinct from the vitriol that is as thick as humid August air. If the church looks, sounds, and acts like the divisive atmosphere that already prevails then we rob neighbors of hope that is far greater than anything we can create on our own. Our commitment to grow in love of God and neighbor has an opening to help transform the communities in which we live, work, and play. Let’s show up with a witness that is deeply compassionate, zealous for the dignity of all people, and bathed in love. The world needs it.
Hear the vision that Isaiah gave to the people again:
“No more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labour in vain, or bear children for calamity;”
This is a promise of transformation that far exceeds what we are able to do on our own. This is God sized dreaming-no more suffering, long prosperous lives, and peace that abides. That prophetic vision is what is worthy of our hope in Jesus Christ.
“The Christian faith is what Archbishop Desmond Tutu calls God’s “dream”: that God is working in this world toward a day when “justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,” when “nations will not learn war any more,” and when we will see “the end of cruelty and suffering in the world.”[ 4] It is a dream of a whole new world where all people and even all of nature are filled with God’s love, God’s freedom, God’s joy, and God’s life.[ 5] This dream is difficult for us to imagine. As the prophet Isaiah put it, it will be something completely new and different from anything anybody could possibly envision. He said that God’s new world would be something that doesn’t even compare with the “former things” (Isa. 65:17; cf. also 43:18). It is nothing less than “the perfecting of the whole creation.”[ 6] While that may seem too utopian a dream to put much stock in, while it may seem like so much “pie in the sky” wishful thinking, the fact is that our faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ “calls us to hope for more than we have yet seen.” [7] ” (2 http://thewakingdreamer.blogspot.com/2010/04/whole-new-world-isa-6517-25-ps-118-1.html)
Go forth with hope for the promises of God seeking transformation throughout all of creation. Go worth with the assurance that God’s grace is sufficient in all things. Bless you in the name of the Everlasting God. Amen.