When it comes to prophecy,
folks tend to take the words of people like Isaiah in one of two ways.
Either they:
turn them into nothing more than poetic greeting cards and aphorisms,
or they focus exclusively on them as predictions of the future.
The former robs them of their power,
the latter ignores that these words needed to mean something to the authors and
readers, in the moment.
Luckily for us,
Lutherans are a “Both/And” kind of people.
The words of Isaiah and his ilk both point to Christ,
and help the exiles come out of Babylon and into a new future
—they allow them to hope in the face of a nearly impossible task. These words both
inspire us now,
and are heavily seasoned with scriptures that came before.
Or, to move to a
slightly different metaphor—who here is familiar with Improv?
Think “Whose Line is it Anyway”
People are given a situation and props,
and start acting without a script
—the whole thing is improvised.
The best way to keep the scene flowing, is to cling to the philosophy of “Yes,
and.” As in,
“Yes, I am indeed a sea captain,
and I’m worried that those aren’t mermaids…”
When it comes to
prophecy, scripture can speak in a multivalent way—both/and, “Yes,
and.”
Let us pray.
To those exiles,
Isaiah’s words capture their sorrows and their humiliation
—they are a lost generation:
raised away from the faith,
away from their homeland,
in captivity,
kidnapped people forced to submit and be subsumed by the
Babylonians…
Exiles, so recently
freed, so recently returning home…
a home they have never known,
a place packed with promise…
promises they can barely make out and understand.
They lived with the
indignity of exile
—a short and bitter life,
far from home, laboring in homes of others
an uncertain future,
separation from not only the Temple, but from God!
So very aware that Babylonian peace was surely not the same as the Shalom-sort
of peace their scriptures speak of…
Isaiah’s words capture
their sorrow, through its opposite
—you are found, freed, a new life,
hope fills the gap created by uncertainty,
and the wide wholeness of peace will pour out beyond simply your tribe,
Pour out as a triumph of a peaceable kingdom,
even the animal world will submit to a new and renewed covenant—relationship—between
God and God’s people!
Yes he describes the exile, and…
There is a more universal chord
thrumming in the background
—one speaking about all humanity’s experience of curse and cure
—fall and redemption.
Isaiah writes of the
goodness of creation, experienced again.
I always remember back
to when I was 19 and first learning to read Biblical Hebrew,
and I came across the Prophet Zechariah’s description of God’s new acts as a reversal
and then re-unveiling of the days of creation (Chapter 14 for those
who are keeping score)
—Isaiah points to something like that here,
he’s riffing on the first three chapters of Genesis.
He describes God’s work
of creation
—a new heaven and a new earth
—it is good! It is joyous!
He remembers that fateful walk in the garden,
instead of, “Adam, why do you hide?”
“Before they call, I will answer.”
He BOTH acknowledges
the curse
—our labors will be hard,
childbirth too,
and we are alienated from God’s good creation…
AND he points to blessing instead
—wolf and lion, none hurt,
childbirth a blessing,
labor so very fruitful!
Yes
he’s promising a return to the blessings of a world created good and very good,
and…
His hope filled words
find fertile soil in Christian witness;
these hopes of Isaiah echo across time
and exist in God’s works in Jesus Christ.
Look, a new creation
—some call it the 8th day of the week
—six days of labor, one of rest, and then one of resurrection,
joy filled work, renewing God’s good world.
These descendants who
are blessed
—are we not all descendants of Christ,
we who are baptized into him,
adopted into the family of God?
The garden, called
before we cry out to him
—isn’t that how the incarnation works, God with us…
loving us, acting on our behalf,
while we were yet sinners?
This peace
—St. Augustine famously wrote,
“We are restless until we rest in him.”
Yes these words find flesh in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and…
These words still speak
to us today
—they still name our sorrows and our hopes,
our fears and our joys.
There is an Exile in us
all, stepping into freedom
—frightened and unfettered and focused on the future,
in need of hope!
There is a desire for
the Garden…
Alienation and Yearning,
“Lord we want to walk with you!”
There are restless
hearts…
finding ourself in Jesus our Lord.
He is our hope, our path, our joy, and our Rock.
Yes, and,
Both/and,
a brave wideness to Isaiah’s words…
blessed words, and as such,
please receive this blessing:
May we be a new creation;
May we notice and acknowledge your providence with joy and thanksgiving;
May our lives contain both a quantity of years and a quality
of goodness;
May we be delivered from all temptation, and find peace at
the last;
May all your children have a blessed future, united to you
and reconciled to your beloved world.
Amen.
