(preached on February 26, 2012)
Are you tired of winter yet? Here we are at the end of February and we’ve
once again received a forecast of snow.
It is this season that is often leads folks to move from the northwest,
so dark, so wet for so long. Yet, how
much more joyous the spring when one has endured the winter faithfully?
On
Wednesday we entered a new church season, one that is like winter. On Wednesday we entered the season of Lent by
being marked with ashes and hearing the words, “From dust you were formed and
to dust you shall return.” Morbid
words? Yes, but true. For it is facing our mortality that welcome
life, not in running from it.
On
Wednesday, we mediated on Jesus invitation to ‘deny yourselves, take up your
cross daily and follow me.’ My
invitation was to enter this winter season by denying yourself something
(fasting), taking up your cross (doing a good work for someone in need), and
following Jesus (spending time in prayer or reading scripture). It is this last one which caught my attention
this morning. As I was preparing this
week I wondered, “How did Jesus prepare for Spring?”
We
know from each of the gospels that prior to his ministry and after his baptism
he went into the desert for 40 days where he ate nothing. It is from this 40 days that we take the
season of Lent which is also 40 days. And
I began to wonder, what, if anything, did Jesus take into this retreat? We assume he took nothing. Yet, we learn something from Jesus’ first
temptation. The devil tempts him to turn
a stone into bread but Jesus replies, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on
the every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Like a bear preparing for hibernation, Jesus
had been feasting on the word of God for 30 years. What was Jesus’ word? It was the Bible, but remember the New
Testament had not been written, so Jesus’ Bible was the 40 books of the Old
Testament. He ate all of it, but just
like us it appears that Jesus had his favorite foods as well. And it is one such favorite food to which we
turn today in the prophet Isaiah. As
much and if not more, the food from the book of Isaiah nourished and shaped
Jesus’ view of who he was and what he was to do. But even more specific than that, there is
strong evidence that four passages in particular were tastiest and most
influential. They are the passages which
have come to be known as the Songs of the Suffering Servant.
“How
unspeakably moving it is,’ writes Henri Blocher, ‘to imagine Jesus meditating
upon these passages and knowing that this was the Father’s will and way for
him, that this servant was none other than himself.’[1] Like Jesus, we will use these four songs to
feed us through the season of Lent. It
is my hope that they will not only sustain us, but also change us and shape us
to be more like the one read them 2000 years ago and concluded, “I am the
servant.”
Listen
now for the word of the Lord
Isaiah
42:1-9
"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope."
5 This is what God the LORD says-- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: 6 "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. 8 "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. 9 See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."
5 This is what God the LORD says-- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: 6 "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. 8 "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. 9 See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."
The way in…
“Here is my servant…” Thus begins the first song of the servant in
Isaiah. Three more times, Isaiah will
refer to this servant in his prophetic book.
Scholars have spilled much ink attempting to discern who this servant
was. Some claim it was Cyrus, the
Persian king who issued a decree that allowed the Israelites to return from
exile back to their homeland. Some claim
it referred to one of the prophets such as Moses or Isaiah himself. Some believe it referred to the nation of Israel. And of course Christians believe that it
refers to Jesus himself. These are not
mutually exclusive beliefs. They can all
be true. Ultimately, I am not as
concerned with who Isaiah intended the servant to be. Rather, I am interested to know who will
allow themselves to be this servant?
Certainly Jesus embraced this
identity, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve…” Mat. 20:28 But
so did the disciples. Paul’s letters
speak of the servant nature of Christ, especially in Philippians 2. In the first part of the book of Acts, Jesus
is called the servant 4 times over 2 chapters.
The servant was so prominent in the early church that some scholars
referred to Christology – the doctrine of Christ, as Paidology, which comes
from one of the Greek words for servant, paidh.[2]
Delight
It
is an interesting place to start, servant.
To be a servant, one must have a master.
Who is this master, what kind of person is he? Is he harsh like we tend to think of masters,
or is he something else? Listen how else
this master views his servant. “This is my servant, whom I uphold, whom I
have chosen in whom I delight.” The
affection of the master grows with each adjective. To uphold means to stand by and support. And to be chosen is to have one see enough in
you that they select you. We get an
image of this in verse 6 where God says, “I, the LORD, have called you in
righteousness, I will take hold of your hand…”
What kind of master is this who takes the hand of his servant?
But
then we come to the last descriptor. “…whom I have chosen in whom I delight.” Delight, what a wonderful and wonder-filled
word. Author David James Duncan says
this about wonder which can also be said about delight, “Wonder is my second
favorite condition to be in, after love, and I sometimes wonder if there is even
a difference. Maybe wonder aimed at a
beloved.”[3] I think this is a great definition for
delight, wonder aimed at a beloved.
When
was the last time you took delight in something or someone? I remember the first poem I wrote. It wasn’t very good, but I took great delight
in sharing it with others. I often
delight in my kids. Yesterday Erin put some pants on Benjamin that were too small and
turned out to be girl pants as well.
Benjamin proceeded to walk and squat like a sumo wrestler attempting, I
think to stretch them out. Watching him
was a delight; a mix of wonder and love.
When was the last time you felt delight?
When was the last time you felt like someone delighted in you? Here we start with a master who has not only
chosen to stand by his servant, but to delight in him.
Justice
Now that we’ve established the
nature of the servant and his relationship to God, the question becomes, “What
is the servant going to do?” Waiters
care for the customers, mechanics fix cars, maids clean rooms, teachers educate
children and politicians serve the public good (come on, don’t laugh), so what
was the task of this servant? “I will put my spirit on him and he will
bring justice to the nations.”
Justice to the nations, oh yeah, yeah that’s pretty simple. No big deal there. Justice just happens to be one of the biggest
themes in the Bible right next to righteousness which in fact is more like a
twin to justice. To be righteous is to
behave rightly. Sorry for the poor
definition. Justice is the communal
expression of this individual righteousness.
And so…we will have justice when everyone behaves rightly. So, ya know, no big deal there. We’ve almost got that one don’t we?
Every day over 10,000 children die
of hunger related illness. Over ½ the world
lives on less than $2 a day. Right now
in Syria
a ruthless dictator is systematically killing defenseless citizens. Two days ago a man was so sick that he chose
to shoot a state trooper for no apparent reason and just before that an 8 year
old boy brought a loaded handgun to school in Bremerton and accidently shot one of his
classmates. In a just world, none of
this would be the case. So, there you go
servant. The waiter serves the food, the
mechanic fixes the carburetor and your task is simply to fix the world. So, how you gonna do this?
Bruised reed and smoldering wick
Were this task given to me, I’d
begin with the media. Given how much
time people spend watching television and movies, I’d take to the digital
airwaves with a mass marketing plan to help reshape how they think about and
treat one another. How bout that? But, here’s what Isaiah says,
He won’t shout or cry out or raise
his voice in the streets. Okay, well there goes mass media as an avenue
of change. I guess this servant won’t be
renting any billboards or buying commercials for the super bowl. That certainly removes a big tool for
change.
Okay,
if not that, then I guess it’d be time to bring out the big guns. If people won’t be just to one another, then
perhaps we need to use a little force.
There’s nothing like a few bombs or tanks to get people’s
attention. Perhaps that’d get us to
justice. But what does Isaiah say?
A bruised reed he will not break and
a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
Now what,
you may be wondering, does that mean?
What is a bruised reed? What is a
smoldering wick? What do they have to do
with the servant and establishing justice?
I’ll admit up front that the answer is not perfectly clear. But after some searching here is my best guess.
A
reed is a type of plant that grew by the rivers and was about an inch in
diameter and grew 3-5 feet high. Some
people believe bruised reeds were simply those broken by the wind, like a
branch that has snapped but not separated from the tree. This makes some sense, but what makes more
sense is to think of what was often done with reeds. They were made into instruments. One of the oldest instruments, next to drums,
are wind instruments made of reeds; flutes and whistles. A bruised reed might refer to a partially
broken wind instrument. And what does a
person do with a bruised one? Well, if
you have a limitless supply of reeds down at the river, you might just snap it
and toss it away.
And
what about the smoldering wick. This one
is a bit easier. You may or may not know
that they did not have electricity in the first century. Yes, I know, big surprise. This means they didn’t have light bulbs, and
so to see they had lanterns with wicks that feed into oil. Eventually, the wick would burn down and
before going out would begin to smoke or smolder. When you get to this point, it is easiest to
just blow it out, feed more wick and relight the lantern. Just start over.
Do
you know any bruised reeds, any smoldering wicks? Our world is filled with them. These are the people who feel they have
nothing to offer. Many of these folks
come to our food bank; so broken they need help with food. Many of these folks meet here on Friday and
Monday evenings for Narcotics Anonymous; so broken they know they will likely
die if they stop coming to meetings.
Some of these folks will meet to worship this afternoon, first
generation and possibly illegal immigrants who are outsiders to the community
in so many ways. And what about us,
right now? Do we feel like broken reeds
and smoldering wicks? I can’t tell you
how many times I’ve felt useless and unable to help make a difference. I might even go so far as to say this church
itself is a bit of a broken reed or smoldering wick. Are we really bringing about jusice? Are we really making a difference in lives
and in the community? After 99 years, some would say and have even said that it
is time to go ahead and start over. Do
you ever feel like a bruised reed or a smoldering candle?
Both
of these examples are instruments. The
first provides sound. The second
provides sight. In both cases the
simplest thing to do when they are damaged is to just start over; out with the
old and in with the new. But is this the
path the servant takes? No, a bruised reed he will not break and a
smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
Apparently
a broken reed can be fixed with a little wax and attention. Apparently a wick can be coaxed back to a
flame with a little breath and attention.
What is the message here? The
servant doesn’t give up on broken things.
“He will not falter or be discouraged…”
We may falter, we may get discouraged.
Interestingly, falter is the same word as ‘bruised’ and discouraged is
the same word as ‘smolder.’ So this says
that the servant will not be bruised or smolder. We may be broken but the servant will be
strong. We may smolder, but the servant
will burn bright.
The way out…
The
words of a song come to mind here.
O Love that will not let me go.
I rest my weary soul in Thee,
I give Thee back, the life I owe
that in Thine oceans depths
its flow my richer fuller be.
O
light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be
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