Good News of Hope in Isaiah

Isaiah 51:1--6

Ps 138

Romans 112:1-8

Matthew 16:13-20

The Second Isaiah contains some of the most profound verse in all of Scripture. 

 Isaiah 51 compels us: Listen! Look! over and over.

He proclaims hope to a distressed and discouraged people. He calls them to trust God's promise with courage. He doesn't deny that things are bad, he just declares that God will make them better. 

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you that seek the Lord."

Verse 1, 4, 7 all begin with the word "shama"--listen, hear, obey--is a key word in the Hebrew Bible. It begins their prayer shema Israel, hear Israel. Listening, and obeying, is the love response to God's gift of salvation as Kingdom people.

"you that seek the Lord" In 45:9 the prophet says GOd did not say 'seek me in vain' and in 65:1 "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. Those who pursue a right relationship with God, who seek His face--they will find Him. Jesus Himself confirms this in the Sermon on the Mount.  

The prophet says--look at your ancestors--look to Abraham and Sarah. They were a solitary old couple who became a great nation, I can repair and renew my people in every age. 

The barren land (a reminder of exodus) feels uninhabitable. Yet YHWH God promises comfort (a root word for Noah's name). Human eyes look at a the desert waste, but the eyes of faith see a garden of Eden (Paradise).  Pay no attention to what worries you, says the Lord, be filled with joy and gladness, sing a song and give thanks. My salvation will be forever and my deliverance will never end.  Salvation (yeshuah in Hebrew--or Jesus) is forever. Focus on Jesus friends, not the problems of the world. 

Be brave. Be strong. Look at all the turmoil and remember the sky will vanish and the earth will disappear. What the materialist calls concrete reality is really a smoky vapor. Humanity is mortal, we die like a bug.  But YHWH's saving love in Jesus is forever.

We are a broken and wounded people. We too often forget our heritage, we are distracted by our worries and concerns. We fret about real life concerns, it is hard not to do, but we too easily forget the divine perspective. God doesn't see the next election or the status of Corona the way we do. God sees us.

I find comfort in Isaiah 51 because God says, "Hey! Listen to me. Look at me. Jesus salvation is forever, the desert is the Garden of Eden still under construction. Trust me, be brave, spend more time praising and thanking. Feel the hope, feel the joy."

I think we should do just that.  

insider and outsider

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8   Ps 67   Romans 11:1-2, 29-32   Mathew 15:(10-20) 21-28

It is hard to read our biblical texts about racial identity without thinking about our current societal debates. The heated arguments about identity politics and whose lives matter could easily drown out God's revelation. A disclaimer, in a world where one person's peaceful protest is another's riot, it is clear that we cannot seem to agree on much of anything, so listen to my words with a grain of salt.

I believe that since Eden, the world has consisted of insiders and outsiders. Adam and Eve could certainly testify how quickly that can change. Salvation, God's kingdom rule through our Lord Jesus, will hopefully free us from hatred and heal our brokenness and divisions. Until then, unfortunately, we will struggle to live in peace with one another.

I have consistently taught that sin is a heart condition, generated by sinful desires and false thoughts. In addition, I believe that we deeply wounded and more than a little afraid. The world is dark and corrupt since they left that Garden, and only repentance, confession and personal reform empowered by God's Holy Spirit can improve humanity. I believe Jesus teaches that until we are made whole and holy, our efforts to change the world will never make it better. (the mote in your eye)

Many progressive preachers will declare that the exchange between Jesus and the pagan woman illustrates Jesus' racism and sin. I reject that idea completely!

Reading Matthew, Jesus makes clear throughout that His mission is to Israel. He tells the disciples to focus only there. So when Jesus is confronted by the woman--a person who worshipped false gods--He tells a maschal (wisdom illustration or parable) about feeding children and not dogs. The comparison is obviously indelicate, but it is also accurate. Membership status matters. This is why the same people who would demand that the US have open borders remain steadfast in making sure that only certified convention delegates are on the floor. We will never let members of other denominations vote at our convention, or even members (!) if they are not delegates. And I would agree that they shouldn't. Identity requires boundaries. There really are insiders and outsiders, even in church.

So why does Jesus cross over to the fringe and heal the daughter? Because the mother's faith opened her to membership in God's people. The love and mercy of God are available to those of humble faith. When a pagan Canaanite addresses Jesus as Messiah and Lord, she has begun the process of personal conversion necessary to be a citizen of the Kingdom.  

At the end of the Gospel, we hear the rest of the story! Jesus will send His disciples to all the pagan nations. He will command them to make disciples and teach all that He has taught. The last judgement, the final declaration of who is inside and who is outside, is still in the future. It is for our Heavenly Father to determine. Our task is to bring the healing love of Jesus to everyone until that day.

Which brings us back to today's political conflicts. Whatever side you are on in all this, make sure you pray for the healing and salvation of those with whom you disagree. Love them with the heart of Jesus and recognize their humanity and need. That is a discipline which will go a long way to helping you repent and change your own heart.

The Whiner

I have a collection of characters which I have created to entertain my youngest son. Among them is "The Whiner." He, as you can imagine, is able to find something to complain about whatever the situation, and he is the eternal victim, grieving his maltreatment at the hands of everyone. 

The Whiner serves a purpose, he is a parable about the destructive forces at work in each of us. The message is--don't be a whiner. He is totally unappealing.

Unlike our hagiography, the Bible does not refrain from illustrating characters in all their good and bad. Too often, the saints were portrayed as heroes, their minor flaws generating great humility, and they were as otherworldly as comic book superheroes. The expression "I'm not a saint" was a declaration that no-one should expect much from us, we are ordinary. So, hagiography fails to inspire us, it only discourages us with figures too great to be understood.

Elijah the prophet had long stood against the corruption of King Ahab and his foreign wife, Queen Jezebel, who intensified the worship of Ba'al in Israel. Elijah and Ahab traded insults and accusations (it is almost comical at times), each blaming the other for the nation's troubles. Finally, during a horrible drought,  there is a showdown between Elijah and over eight hundred pagan priests. Elijah mocks their efforts to call down fire from the sky and ridicules their gods. Then Elijah calls on YHWH to bring flame upon his water drenched altar. YHWH consumes the wood and the area around the altar. THe  people of Israel, duly impressed, reconfirm their faith in God, and Elijah commands them to slaughter all the pagan priests. Immediately after, Elijah tells the king, the drought will end.

When Ahab returns home, he tells Jezebel what had happened and she vows revenge. Elijah, after these demonstrations of divine power, inexplicably flees. Like Moses before him, he prays for death. "It is enough, Lord..." Instead, God provides bread and water which sustains him during a forty day fast as he travels to Mount Horeb (Sinai) where Moses saw the bush, and later communed with God when he got the commandments.

God asks him, "What are you doing here?"

Many believe the question is intended negatively. Elijah makes his complaint, though much of the information is incorrect. The Israelites had not rejected God and Ahab & Jezebel was slaying the prophets, although we know six hundred had been hidden. Elijah is whining.

When YHWH commands him to stand in the presence of the Lord, we understand what the cave is. It is the place where Moses stood when the Lord "passed by" during the Exodus. Elijah will receive the same visitation, or will he?

The theophany--wind, fire, earthquake--associated with the Exodus story is repeated, but here we learn God is not in their destructive power. Instead, there is "a sound of silence," the word is used in another place to describe the quiet after a storm. I have sat high on a mountain in Spain where I heard this sound of silence. The scriptures would have us know that it is in silence that our Lord speaks.

God repeats His question, "Why are you here?" and Elijah whines again. Life is hard, things go poorly, I am all alone. God gives his answer, the men who will end the current monarchy, and the promise of 7,000 faithful in Israel, no doubt a symbolic number.

The great Elijah is portrayed as just another whiner. His lack of trust on full display. 

What are you doing here, Elijah?

It is easy, friends, to forget God has won the victory. It is easy to see ourselves, as victims, abused, battered, betrayed and left all alone. It is easy to seek God's voice in power and majesty, forgetting that in Jesus we learn God is found in the still silence.

Soon after this, Elijah will be caught up into heaven in chariots of fire. Jews believe he will prepare us for the Day of the Lord. He is, despite his flaws, God's man.

There is hope here. There is hope for us flawed, weak, imperfect humans--people who run away, afraid and depressed. When God asks you, "what are you doing here?" do not whine. Do not twist the truth to paint yourself a victim. Do not claim "I'm the only good one left." 

Rather listen in the silence. Trust God will deliver you, will deliver us. Grasp the faith and trust His power to deliver us, trust His desire to make us whole.

We aren't perfect, but neither were the saints of old. And that's okay, because God is perfect and He is on our side.