The Book of Isaiah: The struggle of faith in new times
February 17, 2013 | Anita Retzlaff | Isaiah 6:9-12, 42:1-4, 43:1-3a, 55:1-5,12
Grace to you and peace from God the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the Christ. From the beauty of love poetry of the Song of Solomon last Sunday we journey into a different kind of beauty: the passion and poetry of Isaiah. The Song of Solomon expresses urgency in the sensuous call of lovers to each other whereas the passionate call of Isaiah is directed to all of God’s people who are fast losing memory of a relationship with their God. Isaiah’s is love poetry too but it is love poetry of a different order. It is about the holiness of God being matched with the obedience of a people; a fierce love relationship based upon promises, memory and thanksgiving.
The book of Isaiah is a significant volume – 66 chapters that span about 200 years! It is a story of struggle, of repentance and of finding home again however different that home will be. As with most of us and the drama of our lives, the story encountered in Isaiah is one of looming disaster, then exile and finally return. Our own stories often follow a cycle of mounting stress, then a crisis and eventually a solution or at least a peaceful interlude before it all begins again. The story in Isaiah is one that is built on a totally different scale; it involves an entire nation and its dislocation, a Holy God who will not be ignored and the push and pull of that covenantal promise. It is at times a very desolate story, hopeless and sad. Yet throughout the whole drama of Isaiah, even in the bleakest of moments, there are glimmers of hope and a remnant of the faithful who never totally give up on the promise of better days or forget their God.
And so over these 66 chapters we hear familiar poetic phrases: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light”; “for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” from chapter 9. And the 11th chapter: “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Chapter 40: “Comfort, comfort ye my people says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid.” Many of these phrases are familiar to us from the great work of Handel’s Messiah and others are used in our advent readings as we await the birth of Jesus. “How beautiful are the feet of them who preach the gospel of peace.” (ch. 52) Evocative poetry that stirs up great emotion within us: these are formative texts of the faith. And they are set within a love story of God with his people.
The story, however, begins with very bad news. Isaiah’s commission is a stark one. The “word” that he receives from God has to be the toughest kind of ministry that I can imagine. Isaiah is to announce disaster to the people. The situation of alienation has gone on so long and is so deeply entrenched that there is no way back to fixing what once was. The only way now, is to move ahead, full tilt into the disaster that has been building. Destruction is upon the people of Israel, their temple is destroyed and they become captives of the Babylonians. Everything is lost.
Geraldine – Isaiah 6:9-12
God has determined that it is too late! Isaiah’s call is to harden hearts completely, to prevent repentance and to await the totality of judgment. Why is it too late? Doesn’t God always pronounce forgiveness when we ask? This is tough for us moderns to interpret and accept. The ancient mind acknowledges the events of history as pronouncement by the gods. The message throughout Isaiah is that the people have forgotten Yahweh God and worshipped other gods, have turned their backs upon justice: ignoring the widow and the poor. Therefore it is a no-brainer that foreigners move in and destroy everything that Israel has built up; temple, tradition and homeland. God punishes the people. There is no way to avert disaster. The moment has come and Israel can only slog through it. They brought it upon themselves. That’s the story.
Yet just as surely as there is destruction all around, that disorientation and displacement find Israel exiled and alien, there springs forth that turn, the hint of hope. When will God restore our fortunes and return to us? When will God let up on us and speak love once again? This is a profound moment in the story. It is a pivotal moment in any relationship. From within the caverns of despair there is longing for closeness again, a deep desire to restore intimacy and safety. But how?
By means of a servant, and intermediary, the one who sacrifices in order that others be drawn together again. The servant becomes a bridge between destruction and new possibilities.
Geraldine – Isaiah 42: 1-4
There have been many servants of this nature throughout the biblical story of Israel. Leaders showcased in Hebrew history often functioned out of the servant mode. They relinquished their own will in order to absorb and then communicate the will of God, the Holy One of Israel. Abraham was a servant and so was Joseph; the judges and the kings were ideally to function as servants though they often fell far short of the calling. Perseverance in the face of hostility, patience with the people, self-sacrifice and often silence in the face of opposition were the qualifications of these suffering servants of God. Through them the larger population listened, learned and were saved. The servant reminds God’s people that they must do justice and reach out to the coastlands, the foreigners who yearn for a God like Yahweh. Salvation for Israel is the recognition that action is required; do justice, love God and bring the nations to the light. The faithful are to concern themselves with poverty and with outreach; that is salvation in the eyes of God, the Holy One of Israel.
Because of the sacrificial love of the servant described in Isaiah Israel begins to find its way back. They are not cut off forever and the God, the Holy One awaits their return. The servant makes this transition possible. In my mind, this description of the servant is a wonderful image of the work of Jesus and what we might consider salvation. Jesus is the bridge between our alienation from what is good and desirable and the heart of God that waits for us. Jesus did the work of caring for the poor and reaching out to those who yearn for peace. It is what Jesus instructs all of his disciples to be about; the work of healing and feeding and comforting.
Such is salvation and restoration in the face of God’s holiness. This is the key to the love relationship that God has with his people Israel.
Geraldine: Isaiah 43: 1-3a
Through extreme trials, through flood and fire, God waits on the other side. Though Israel has passed through the waters of the Red Sea in the Exodus from Egypt and now has traveled through the exile to Babylon God has not allowed the people to be swept away forever. The sea has not overwhelmed them and the redeemed have reached the safe shore. Fire also has not obliterated the nation Israel. The remnant has survived the punishment; the great chasm that once existed between them and God has been bridged. In other words, death does not get the final word. When neither flood nor fire ultimately destroys the love relationship of God to his people it is announced that judgment does not last forever. “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” Even the deepest alienation, even death does not sever ties between God and us. Eternity links us forever.
The great reversal has taken place. Israel can hear again: the people are listening. And with their eyes they are able to see again. “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” (60:1-3) The relationship has been restored. Desolation is now past and all Israel takes on the work of the servant. Their work of outreach to the nations, of invitation to those who are far off, begins again.
Geraldine: Isaiah 55:1-5, 12
The exiles have returned home and the high drama is ended – for now. God is always making things new and God’s people continue to struggle with being faithful in new times. Hear the words of Eugene Peterson:
“The more hours we spend pondering the words of Isaiah, the more the word “holy” changes in our understanding. If “holy” was ever a pious, pastel-tinted word in our vocabularies, the Isaiah-preaching quickly turns it into something blazing. Holiness is the most attractive quality, the most intense experience we ever get of sheer life-authentic, firsthand living, not life looked at and enjoyed from a distance. We find ourselves in on the operations of God himself, not talking about them or reading about them. Holiness is the furnace that transforms the men and women who enter it. “Holy, Holy, Holy” is not needlepoint. It is the banner of a revolution, the revolution.
The book of Isaiah is expansive, dealing with virtually everything that is involved in being a people of God on this planet Earth. The impressive art of Isaiah involves taking the stuff of our ordinary and often disappointing human experience and showing us how it is the very stuff that God uses to create and save and give hope. As this vast panorama opens up before us, it turns out that nothing is unusable by God. He uses everything and everybody as material for his work, which is the remaking of the mess we have made of our lives.” (p. 912-13 The Message)
This is the love story of God with his people. Through the mouthpiece Isaiah, in his fiery rhetoric and call to the people, the kingdom of God is come on earth. Over and over again in the bible, the story is heard of how the people struggle yet again with faith in new times. God is always making things new. Today we are a new people charged with making sense of our faith and our world in new times. We are disciples who because we love God strive to do justice, care for the poor, reach out to strangers and invite them in. This we have promised God. And so God waits on us. Thanks be to the Holy One of Israel who loves us, expects much from us and never leaves us. AMEN
