“Premeditated Grace”
Isaiah 65:17-25
Allen Huff
Jonesborough Presbyterian Church
11/13/16
Most of
Isaiah’s audience knows nothing but exile. For those Hebrews born and raised in
Babylon, distinguishing between exile life and “normal” life is probably splitting
hairs because Babylonians manage to be relatively progressive captors. After
vanquishing and dispersing their enemies with a heavy hand, the Babylonians
offer the vanquished at least the chance for a semblance of autonomy. Instead
of treating the Hebrews like Pharaoh did in Egypt, or like our white ancestors
treated slaves in the old South, and African-Americans in the new South, the
Babylonians allow the Hebrews to practice their native religion and, to some
extent, flourish economically and culturally. Such treatment both increases the
benefit and diminishes the threat of keeping a conquered people around.
So their
stories remain. Stories about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Stories about another exile
and an exodus. Stories about Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and David. Stories about
Hebron and Jerusalem. These are stories about identity and redemption – and
home. And in the pit of their collective stomach, the Hebrews know that Babylon
is not home.
Isaiah’s job
in Babylon is to make the Hebrews homesick, to make them long for Israel. So God calls the prophet to plant seeds of both
discontent and hope. Through Isaiah, God says to Israelite exiles, “I am about
to create new heavens and a new earth.” And God will rejoice over and delight
in this re-imagined creation, a place in which everyone has enough, and where
no one “shall hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.” The reference is to Mt.
Zion. Jerusalem. Home. And remember, Israel represents more than herself. Being
the specific people who represent God’s specific desire to be in relationship
with all creation, Israel symbolizes all
that God creates.
Given Israel’s current
circumstances, the future proclaimed by Isaiah seems to lie beyond the realm of
possibility. That’s why God says, “Before they call, I will answer.” The new
thing God is doing will come as an act of unilateral, premeditated grace. Isaiah’s
prophecy flies in the face of Solomon’s much earlier, conditional prophecy that
has been so hallowed and so hollowed by revivalists: “If my people…pray, [if they] seek my face, and [if
they] turn from their wicked ways, then
I will hear…forgive...and heal.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
No, says Isaiah. By
definition, grace is unconditional. No ifs.
God is already committing all that God is to redeeming Israel. God is filling
out, signing, and turning in a pledge card on behalf of the creation.
In Babylon, things
could be worse for Israel. But they’re still in exile. Surely, Isaiah’s beautiful day prophecy meets some sharp
skepticism.
Since early last Wednesday
morning, some of us feel exhilarated and hopeful. Others of us feel shattered
and anxious. The truth is, had the national election gone differently, things
would have been pretty much the same, just in reverse. We were not going to
escape this brokenness. Either way, some of us were going to feel victorious
and purposed, and in here, Isaiah’s
words would feel descriptive of our experience. And some of us were going to
feel exiled and apprehensive, making Isaiah’s prophecy feel rather empty.
Regardless of how we feel
about the world right now, Isaiah challenges us to find our place in God’s
vision. And God’s vision of grace – whether articulated in the words of Isaiah,
or in the promise after the flood, or in the prayers of David, or in the life
of Jesus, or in the groanings of all creation as we await our “adoption” and “redemption”
– God’s vision declares a creation of shalom, a creation of peace, wholeness,
and well-being for all. In God’s vision, you and I are aware of, in love with,
and eager to celebrate God’s grace by choosing, each and every day, to live in
harmony with our neighbors and the earth around us.
Like you, I’m hearing
repeated calls to “unity” right now. That’s good. I’m all for unity. And it
seems to me that the unity that matters, the unity that lasts comes not when we
simply lay aside critical differences and try to make nice. The unity that
matters and lasts comes when we take up our passion for God’s vision. The unity
that matters and lasts is the gift of solidarity with those who suffer, those
who have no voice, those who are marginalized and threatened by power.
In his first sermon, Jesus reads
from Isaiah, the prophet to exiles. “‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’” Then Jesus says,
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:18-19,
21)
The Gospel reveals that God’s vision
eclipses any one town and any one nation. It transcends any one generation or religious
tradition. It transcends our own species itself. According to Isaiah, God envisions
a renewed Universe. So, smugness in victory and despair in defeat both lead to
the same denial of this vision, because it is in process “Today.”
When committing
ourselves to the work of a particular church, we commit ourselves to
participating in God’s ongoing work of redeeming the world and re-creating it
as a place in which God’s Shalom defines
us and guides us.
I will be honest with
you. Between the events of the last eighteen months and the events of last four
days, I’m one of those who feels acutely anxious right now. And I won’t pretend
to feel otherwise. Now, I’m no archetype of virtue, but my response to what I
feel in my gut is to pledge myself to living as a more visible example of what
I believe God’s vision in Isaiah calls me to do, and what God’s presence in
Jesus empowers me to be. While Marianne and I will increase our financial
pledge, I will increase the energy I commit to participating more boldly in
God’s Love, and in advocacy for things I consider consistent with following Jesus
in this world.
When you fill out your
pledge form to support the mission of Jonesborough Presbyterian Church, I
challenge you to look again at Isaiah 65. Remember, too, the Beatitudes and the
rest of Jesus’ revolutionary Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. I challenge us all
to commit ourselves to God’s vision for a whole and holy creation. When that
vision is hard to see or imagine, perhaps our decisions and actions are masking
God’s vision. Maybe we even impede it for a time by choosing to commit
ourselves to things that run contrary to God’s call to us in Christ. In the
end, however, as Rob Bell says, “Love Wins.” Love is our home.
Jonesborough Presbyterian needs
your financial commitments to fulfill its own commitments and calling. So on
behalf of the Session, I ask you to give generously.
I also ask you to consider deepening
your personal Christian service in the coming year. The relational, hands-on
mission to which God calls us is more important than ever. Writing to the
Colossians, Paul reminds us that the success of our collective witness depends
on how gratefully and fearlessly we, “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
clothe [ourselves] with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…[and
how we] bear with one another and…forgive each other.” (Colossians 3:12-13)
This morning we consecrate far more
than money. We consecrate ourselves.
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