Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Isaiah 49:1-12

This is a particularly sensitive week to be talking about restoration of exiles. As I write this, thousands of people, mostly women and children have fled from their homes in Northern Nigeria. Even more have been butchered and left unburied in the villages where they were slaughtered by the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram. More refugees flee in Northern Iraq and in Syria. The story of the exile of the People of Israel has been repeated over and over again in every war before and since. It is an old story, and a tragic one. When governments talk of the ‘glory’ of war, these are the images that now dominate our media. The true face of war shows itself on every screen of every social media device.

This is also a week when people are noting the 70^th anniversary of the freeing of the concentration camps in Nazi Germany just after the Second World War. I am following the story of a Holocaust survivor who will be participate in recreating a photograph of herself and several other children who survived the horrors of death camps in their youth. In the face of all these stories of mass murder and wholesale genocide, it is understandable that the prophet Isaiah feels that his life has been a waste.

V4 “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all.”

The prophet struggles, but realizes that he has been selected for this task from the time he was in his mother’s womb. He remembers that he is not required to do this task on his own strength. God is his strength in his mission. I find it refreshing that Isaiah has his moments when he seems overwhelmed by the path God has laid out for him. Certainly we have an echo of that kind of humanity when Jesus struggles in the Garden, just before his arrest.

Isaiah’s vision, or his ‘word’ from the Lord goes much farther in this passage. In verse 6, he outlines a broader mission God has in mind, than simply restoring Israel which he calls a ‘small thing’. God’s vision in this passage is to bring salvation to the entire earth, all of creation, and all the living things within creation, including other races and tribes.

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob

and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

The suffering servant is comforted that the promise is that captives will be freed, and those who sit in darkness will see the light. These verses have been the subject of much attention by Christians, artists and composers for many years. They are among the most beautiful and hopeful lines in the Bible.

“They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.

10 They will neither hunger nor thirst nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.

He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

11 I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up.

I read stories of prisoners in death camps reading or quoting Bible verses to each other as they go to what they know is certain death. Certainly, such activity happens at executions, and there is much use of the words of faith in refugee camps. The alternative is an empty, godless despair. I imagine that for strong believers, such words are a tremendous comfort. Clearly, Isaiah means the beginning verses of Chapter 49 to be a great comfort, not only to himself but also to those to whom he is preaching. And the paintings and music that have been derived from Isaiah’s words have lifted people for generations.

Timing is everything. We live in such a fast-paced culture that if we do not have instant answers or instant satisfaction, we are distressed. My work with senior citizens has shown me people who have learned to be comfortable with silence, to simply wait upon the Lord. They are in contrast to the young people I see at the mall, over-talking each other, thumbing madly at their cell phones as they text each other. Those young people are more like song birds who constantly chirp to see if the others are there, nearby in the trees.

Isaiah says this: 

“This is what the Lord says: In the time of my favor I will answer you,

and in the day of salvation I will help you.”

Peter Mansell Epiphany, 2015