Proper 28 Sermon

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 forever

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 labor 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.

+ + + + + + + + + + 

            When I was a kid growing up one of my favorite memories was going to the lake with my grandparents.  Since my grandfather was a pastor, we would never miss church when we went out of town.  We’d usually visit this large nondenominational charismatic church.  I don’t remember much about this church, but three things still come to mind:  first was the lively worship, second was the way in which the preacher always managed to insert politics into his sermon, and third was a huge banner hanging to the side of the church just to the right as you entered the room.  It was a 5 by 15 foot banner with a picture of the world with an angel above it with a trumpet to its lips and the words from Isaiah 64:1 “O that thou would rend the heavens and come down.”

            The theology of this church was quite simple really.  We as human beings have messed up the world in such a major and unfixable way we need God to intervene in space and time and fix it all.  They were looking for a “rapture” a point where God would come and take all of the faithful Christians home.  It was the “Left Behind” sort of theology if you’ve ever read any of those books.  Just as an aside, there’s a reason that those books are in the “Christian Fiction” section of the library.

            What I think this church missed and a number of Christians miss is the danger of proof texting.  Of digging around in scripture and lining up verses that match what you believe or think rather than looking at the whole of scripture.             

            They also missed that God did intervene in space and time 2,000 years ago in the person of Jesus Christ.  Our reading this morning in Isaiah 65 is actually an answer to the People of Israel’s cry in Isaiah 63 and 64.  God says, do you want to see what the Reign of God looks like?  Do you want to see my dream for the human family?  Well, here it is.  A society built on justice.  A place where children don’t die of hunger.  A place where the old have everything they need to not only live long lives, but to thrive.  A place where people can live in safety and security.  Where opposites can exist together:  animals that once ate each other will lie down together.  Republicans and Democrats can live next door to each other and share a meal together. 

            Underlying the world of Isaiah 65 is the theme of justice.  That resources are equitably distributed.  That the poor have enough. 

            Now maybe I’m young and naïve enough to believe too much in the goodness and ability of human beings – but I believe our job as Christians isn’t to sit around and wait until God fixes our problems.  I believe that we are called as Christians to be actively involved in the world around us to try and bring in the Reign of God in any way we can.  Do I think we can create the world of Isaiah 65?  Probably not.  But it gives us something to reach towards.  A goal.  A direction.  If we can’t create this world, perhaps we could begin small and create an Isaiah 65 family.  Teaching our children and grandchildren to strive for justice to in a small way create a space where children don’t die in infancy and the old live long and prosperous lives. 

            As most of you know, before I became an Episcopalian I was a Methodist.  One of the things I loved about the Methodist Church was the way in which it was founded as a social reform movement.  John Wesley and his group of Methodists would go places that most people didn’t want to.  They visited people in prison.  In the hospitals.  Child labor would have never ended had it not been for the Wesleyan revivals.  One of John Wesley’s followers, William Wilberforce ended slavery.  I believe that these men were able to do great things because they had a deep life of prayer and they could see the world the way God saw it.  They saw the world through Isaiah 65 goggles.  They knew that those that were poor, marginalized, and in prison mattered.  As I was leaving the United Methodist Church to become an Episcopalian that was one of the hardest things I left behind – the strong social justice strand within Methodism.

            I believe one of the most dangerous things we do as Christians each and every week is to say the Lord’s Prayer.  Particularly those words “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  I wonder if we really mean those words.  Do we really want the Reign of God?  Are we willing to make sacrifices for it so that infants no longer die?  So that the old have the healthcare they need? 

            When I was in seminary, we had a number of students who were from Africa.  One day we were reflecting on our different practices surrounding Holy Week.  The African students were telling us that the churches in Africa are packed on Good Friday.  They know what pain and suffering look like.  But hardly anyone comes on Easter Sunday.  They rarely experience resurrection and good news in their daily lives.  Of course, here in the West it’s just the opposite.  Hardly anyone comes to church on Good Friday while the churches are packed on Easter Sunday.  It’s like we think we can skip the suffering and go straight to the resurrection.  That’s not the Christian message.  Just because you come to Jesus doesn’t mean that all of your problems go away.  But the good news is that there is a day when suffering ends. 

            So I invite you this week to take time to try and see the world through God’s eyes.  To put on your Isaiah 65 goggles and imagine what you can do in your corner of the world to help bring it into being.  Amen.