THE WAY: PART VIII
Back on the 15th of May, we began a sermon series based upon John 14:6. There Jesus says to his disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” From that simple statement theologian Eugene Peterson derived the following theory: “The Jesus way wedded to the Jesus truth brings about the Jesus life.” While countless battles – and even wars – have been fought over the Jesus truth, very seldom do we invest much energy in discerning the Jesus way. Well that is precisely what we are attempting to do in this series of sermons. The question thus becomes, “What is the Jesus way…and how do we go about following it?”
As we noted initially, the Jesus truth – in and of itself – is not enough to bring about the Jesus life. Jesus calls us to follow the Jesus way as well. Then we noted that the Jesus way is not a list of rules and regulations. The Jesus way cannot be codified, or simplified, or even summarized. The Jesus way is meant to be lived.
When we examined the life of Abraham, we discovered that the Jesus way involves testing and sacrifice. God has a way of sifting people when he wants to use them to accomplish great things for his kingdom. When we examined the life of Moses, we discovered that God has a unique purpose for our lives. What’s more, that purpose is subject to change from time to time and we have the responsibility of continuing to seek out God’s purpose for our lives in spite of whatever changes might take place. When we examined the life of David, we discovered that living a godly life in spite of all our imperfections is part and parcel to walking the Jesus way. God may not expect perfection from us, but God does expect noble intentions. When we examined the life of the prophet Elijah, we discovered that the Jesus way involves making choices. The question at the heart of the matter is this: Do we possess an insatiable desire to get our own needs fulfilled, or are we willing to simply be present to God? And finally, when we examined the life of Isaiah, we discovered that God’s primary work in us is not condemnation. God’s primary work in us is forgiveness. When we live our lives in light of God’s grace and mercy, what we find are the roots of holiness.
Today we come to part VIII in our sermon series on The Way. In our journey through the Old Testament we have examined the lives of Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah and Isaiah. Today we examine the life of a man we call Second Isaiah. If I were to come up with a subtitle for the sermon today it might be called: The Way of Second Isaiah or…The Way of Midrash. In any case, I invite you to come along with me as we seek to discern The Jesus Way.
I suppose the first thing we need to do is to answer the question of who Second Isaiah really was. Most of our Bibles record the book of Isaiah as one single unit. However, close examination of the text reveals that sections of the book of Isaiah come from different eras in Israel’s history. For example, First Isaiah – which consists of chapters 1 through 39 – discusses issues surrounding the Assyrian occupation of Jerusalem, which occurred around 700 B.C. Second Isaiah – which consists of chapters 40 through 55 – discusses issues surrounding the dispersion of the Hebrew people following Jerusalem’s conquest by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. Third Isaiah – which consists of chapters 56 through 66 – discusses something else altogether. Are you with me? Today we’re going to be examining the life of Second Isaiah – whose real identity is actually unknown – as he prophesied to the Hebrew people during a very difficult time in their history.
The Babylonian army, having defeated the Assyrian army that had threatened Jerusalem for so long, invaded the country and destroyed Jerusalem in 587 B.C. Jerusalem’s king – a man named Zedekiah – tried to escape. He was subsequently captured and forced to watch the execution of his sons, and then his eyes were put out. The execution of his sons was the last thing he ever saw. People could be pretty cruel in those days.
The so-called “movers and shakers” of Jerusalem were deported to the city of Babylon. The only people who were allowed to stay in Jerusalem were the poorest of the poor. The deported Hebrew people were not slaves in Babylon; in fact, some of them even prospered. Yet what they saw in Babylon was eye-opening indeed. Let me try to illustrate.
Imagine you were born and raised in Meadville. Never in your life did you venture outside of Meadville, and Meadville was all you knew. You’d be proud of that gleaming college up on the hill. You’d believe that there could be no finer football venue than Barco-Duratz field. And you would know in your heart that the sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church was the most glorious and beautiful and holy place imaginable.
Then Meadville gets overrun by Pittsburghers; kind of like Conneaut Lake in the summer. Sadly, you find yourself deported to Pittsburgh. There you come to realize that Meadville was not all you thought it was. You see the fabulous skyscrapers that dot the Pittsburgh sky-line. You sit in Heinz Field and watch the Steelers play. You worship in churches that are literally twice the size of the First Presbyterian Church of Meadville. You come to realize that your previous world view was really rather limited. And then you start to wonder about some of the other things in life you had always believed to be true.
Such was exactly the case with the Hebrew people who were deported from Jerusalem to Babylon. The glorious city they now inhabited made Jerusalem seem like an old cow town. It was then that they started to wonder about some of the other things in life they had always believed to be true. For example, could it be that their God was not as powerful as they had once believed him to be? The Babylonian god Marduk appeared to have defeated their God quite soundly. The life of faith, it seemed, was an exquisite but fragile flower that had been crushed by Babylonian boots. As far as they were concerned, their God had either failed them or abandoned them. A great many of the Hebrew people then signed on with Marduk, and the unrivaled prosperity and the unbridled militarism of Babylon. They bound themselves to the Babylonian culture…and their faith in God began to wane.
Perhaps we find ourselves mired in a Babylon of sorts today. For example, Public Policy Polling is an organization that conducts opinion polls. Recently the subject of one of their surveys was God. On the issue of God’s creation of the universe, 71% of the people surveyed approved. Believe it or not, 5% of the population disapproved of God’s creation of the universe, and 24% were unsure. Pertaining to God’s handling of natural disasters, 50% approved, 13% disapproved, and 37% were unsure. This left God with an overall approval rating of 52%. Only 52% of the population approves of the job God is doing! As an internet newspaper called The Huffington Post recently pointed out, God’s approval rating is still higher than all the members of Congress and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Alas, we find ourselves mired in Babylon. Like the Hebrew people before us, our faith in God has begun to wane. What do you suppose will come of that?
Here’s what has come of that. Between August 6th and August 10th, the London Riots occurred. Many London districts suffered widespread rioting, looting and arson. Perhaps an iconic scene was the 20-year-old college student in East London who was beaten for his bicycle, and fell bloody to the ground. His tormentors gently helped him back to his feet, then rifled through his backpack to get his phone and wallet.
A youth worker named Shaun Bailey wrote, “Young people have been looting the shops they like: sporting goods stores and mobile phone shops have been hit, yet bookstores have been left alone…This is criminality in raw form, not politics.” In other words, people are not robbing and looting food to feed their families, they are robbing and looting what we might call luxury items.
A doctor named Theodore Dalrymple believes that a degenerate British popular culture is at least in part to blame. He wrote, “A population thinks that it is entitled to a high standard of consumption, irrespective of its personal efforts. Therefore it regards the fact that it does not receive that high standard, by comparison with the rest of society, as a sign of injustice.” In other words, they think they should live in the lap of luxury, without lifting a finger to earn it. Much of what they have is provided by welfare programs, but they are not grateful. Dependency does not encourage gratitude, rather, dependency seems to encourage resentment.
Peggy Noonan writes in The Wall Street Journal that we’re starting to see the same kinds of things right here in the United States. Philadelphia recently began enforcing curfew laws due to “flash mobs.” Flash mobs occur when young people send out the word on a social media like
Facebook, and suddenly dozens or even hundreds of them hit a targeted store – steal everything on the shelves – then run…knowing that you can’t catch all of them.
Noonan points out that a lot of these young people come from broken and terror-filled homes. Many are raised in single-parent homes by overwhelmed mothers or beleaguered grandmothers. Far too many of them have suffered from physical and/or emotional abuse. The normal response is something like this: “The government has to do something! They need to start a program or create an agency.” But our governments are tapped out. They’re cutting back, doing everything they can just to avoid bankruptcy. Ladies and gentlemen, like the Hebrew people before us, we find ourselves mired in Babylon. Is there any way out? Is there any hope for the future of our nation?
Some twenty-five hundred years ago, the Hebrew people were mired in Babylon. They were questioning their world view, they were questioning their belief structure, and they were questioning God. And then, as if out of nowhere, there came a voice. It was a powerful, persuasive, convincing voice. It was the voice of the unknown prophet we refer to as Second Isaiah. He reminded the people of the glory of God. He prophesied of a coming Messiah who would set all things right. He was a powerful preacher who practiced an ancient art we call Midrash.
What is Midrash? Midrash refers to a particular way of reading and interpreting a biblical text. It is the activity of a person who seeks out the true meaning of the word of God. That is exactly what Second Isaiah did. He cried to the people in essence:
Did you think Creation was over and done when the mountains were carved, and the
rivers were set flowing, and the cedars of Lebanon were planted? Did you think that salvation was only a date in the history books and some stories you heard from your grandparents? The Creator is still creating, right here in Babylon! The Savior is still saving…right here in Babylon!
Second Isaiah restored the faith of the dispersed Hebrew people through the ancient art of Midrash. He interpreted the events of their lives in light of the Scriptures. He wove a pattern with his words that recreated a tapestry of faith. And the Hebrew people were inspired.
Midrash has to do with interpretation. A woman named Barbara Johnson was good at that. Barbara Johnson was the founder of Spatula Ministries and the author of a book called Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy. She once wrote:
Look at it this way: One family out of 5000 lost a son in Viet Nam. We are one of those families. One family out of every 800 has a child killed by a drunk driver. We experienced that, too. Statistics say that one family out of every ten will have a homosexual child. We know all about that. One out of every forty women will develop adult onset diabetes. This is something that is brand new in my life.
Barbara Johnson had every reason to suffer from depression. Barbara Johnson had every reason to be angry, to be bitter and to question her faith in God. Yet like I said, Midrash has to do with interpretation. Here’s how Barbara Johnson interpreted her situation. She wrote:
We can choose to gather to our hearts the thorns of disappointment, failure, loneliness and dismay due to our present situation. Or, we can gather the flowers of God’s grace, unbounding love, abiding presence and unmatched joy. I choose to gather the flowers.
Midrash has to do with interpretation. What do we see when we look at God? Do we see an angry, vindictive, judgmental God? Or do we see a loving, forgiving, grace-filled God? What do we see when we look at the world? Do we see a frightening place filled with nightmares and terrors around every corner or do we see a place filled with boundless potential and loving hearts just waiting to be unlocked? As 19th century Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle once said, “It’s not what we have, nor even what we do that gives us our kingdom. It’s what we are that gives us our peace.” What do we see when we look at the world around us? Every tree and every flower, every dog and every cat, every little girl’s beauty and every old man’s worn face…has a deeper meaning. There is always far more than meets the eye. Midrash is required to see all that stands before our eyes – to see the surface, but also to penetrate beneath the surface. Such was the gift Second Isaiah brought to the Hebrew people. He taught them to see the real beauty of the earth.
Ladies and gentlemen, sin is not redeemed by scrubbing it out of existence. Sin is redeemed when we see it as a sacrifice that Jesus Christ conquered on the cross. That, obviously, is what Jesus Christ did. But we are not Jesus Christ, are we? Yet perhaps we can participate in what Jesus did with the sin of the world. We can enter into the WAY of Jesus Christ…and become participants in God’s reconciliation. Perhaps salvation is not an escape from what is wrong, but rather, a deep and reconciling and transformational embrace of all that is wrong. I suspect…it’s all in how you look at it. Amen.
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