Sermon: Sustaining Word

Isaiah 50:4-9

These are powerful words. They have an effect on us when we hear them. And they’re thought-provoking too. They grab our attention. They’re words filled with imagery – some of it, difficult imagery to be honest. These words are filled with imagery of a faithful servant who intentionally listens and willfully speaks – intentionally listens – a servant whose ear is wakened morning by morning who willfully speaks – a servant who speaks a word to sustain the weary.

This servant intentionally listens and willfully speaks, but there is resistance. This servant is bold to speak a word to sustain the weary, but that word is met with antagonism, opposition, and abuse. That imagery is difficult for us to hear.

But thankfully in this passage, antagonism, opposition, and abuse don’t get the final say. They don’t even get the loudest say. This servant is also bold to proclaim that God sustains through it all. God vindicates, and though the resistance may be strong, it is in no way stronger than the God who loves; the God who calls; the God who forms, fashions, and transforms; the God who redeems; the God who opens up our ears morning by morning to hear a sustaining word – a word that we can also be bold to proclaim.

The author of our text tonight proclaims words that were incredibly powerful in their present-day context. They had an effect on the people when they heard them. And they were thought-provoking too. They grabbed their attention. The prophet who wrote these words spoke to a community that was truly weary. The prophet addressed a community of beaten-down exiles.

Scholars believe that chapters 40-55 of Isaiah were written toward the end of the exilic period – when the people of Judah lived forcibly as exiles in Babylon. So a quick history lesson here: In the 6th century BC, Babylon was a powerful force to be reckoned with - a nation that was quickly becoming an Empire by overthrowing other lands in war. After the death of Solomon, the second King of Israel, around 930 BC, the land of Israel had been split into two kingdoms. The northern land was known as the Kingdom of Israel, and the southern land was the Kingdom of Judah. In 587 BC, the people of Judah were defeated by Babylon in war. Babylon burned the temple in Jerusalem – the most holy place of Judaism -- and forcibly moved the people of Judah from their own land to exile in Babylon. It’s hard for us to wrap our minds around how cataclysmic this would be.

What if the United States were invaded, and the White House and the US Capitol obliterated– destroyed completely, burned to the ground – and what if we were forced not only to be defeated and live without our own leadership but what if we were also moved to a different land where we didn’t know the language or the customs? What if we were moved to a place where we were destined to live second or third-class human beings for no other reason than we didn’t really belong there? What if we were dispersed from our friends and our neighbors? What if our ways of being ourselves were destroyed? And what if we believed there was no hope for return?

It’s hard for us to wrap our minds around how cataclysmic this would be. We can’t really imagine the destruction of the White House or the US Capitol, buildings that serve as symbols of our nation. How much more cataclysmic would it be for the people of Judah to see the Temple destroyed, the place that not only represented the nation but represented a place where they believed God literally dwelled with them? It’s hard for us to understand this. We have many churches, but they had one holy temple. We may live apart from our friends or family but we can just call those people on our cell phones or skype them. It’s hard for us to imagine that level of displacement. It’s hard for us to understand how hopeless it would feel to not know if we would ever go back – and to know that if we did go back, it would never be the same.

And so, the prophet who spoke and wrote this text addressed people who were very weary. We could say that weary is an understatement. And in this context, we can see that the prophet’s words were incredibly empowering. In chapters 40-55, the prophet often speaks of a servant who glorifies God. Sometimes this servant is spoken of collectively; the servant seems to involve more than one person. This servant is Israel herself – the weary people who are more empowered than they recognize. At other times, the prophet seems to speak about the servant as an individual – a Messianic leader who will glorify God and unite Israel. It’s not surprising then that many Christians have also looked at these passages as beautiful expressions of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In our faith tradition, both interpretations are true for us. They are true expressions of how God has acted with us, through us, and for us.

So think about it. These weary people – these weary, defeated exiles - are being told that together, they are a beloved servant of God – and a powerful one. God has not abandoned them. Given all they’ve suffered, it’s not hard to imagine that they might question that. But God has not only remained faithful with them – God has empowered them and called them holy, beloved servants who will change this world! They will be empowered to intentionally listen. They will be empowered to willfully speak. And though their message will meet resistance, not even antagonism, opposition, and abuse will be able to thwart their message of love, their message of inclusion, their message of peace, their message of hope. God has not abandoned them. God will bring them back to their homeland, and God will use them to be proclaimers – back in their home and in this moment - even in this moment in a foreign land.

In the chapter that comes before our text tonight, the prophet proclaims God’s words about this faithful servant of Israel. They’re beautiful. They say this: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’

Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, ‘Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’

Powerful words for a people who have been disempowered. . . Powerful words for people God is continuously empowering. . . Isn’t the same true for us tonight? It’s obvious that we haven’t known exile in the way that the people of Judah knew exile – we can hardly wrap our minds around that - but I bet that we may look at ourselves in the mirror sometimes and think, “Uggh, what’s the big deal? I’m nobody special. I’m not very important.” And other times, we go even further, “I’m not talented enough. I’m not smart enough. I’m not beautiful enough. I’m not loveable enough. Not only am I nobody special – I’m pretty much a nobody altogether.”

We are held in exile by our sense of nobodiness. We are held in exile by our wrongful acts. We are held in exile by painful memories when others have committed wrongful acts toward us. We feel disempowered by all these things. But God’s message to us – if our ears will be wakened – is that we are precious, beloved children who are called to live in this world with imagination, with vitality, with purpose, with mission, with proclamation! We are the beloved servant of God. And we are called to open ourselves to hearing God and seeing God all around us, in one another – we are called to lay our ears to the ground that they might be awakened morning by morning to hear deeply and profoundly that God is at work in this world – around us, beyond us, in spite of us, and yes, in and through us. Even in and through us.

You are prophets. You are empowered prophets. Have you ever thought about that? You are prophets who are called to intentionally listen and then, with humility you are empowered by the grace of God to willfully speak. What word does God want you speak to this weary world? How might God use you to empower those who are daily disempowered?

Will you listen to God through those disempowered people? Will you come here to this church and listen to the clients who come here for food at the Micah 6 Pantry or on Tuesday mornings with assistance for rent and utilities? How will God waken your ears through them? And how will God empower you to speak words of hope to them? How might you – yes, even you – live as prophets toward them, speaking words that will sustain the weary?

Maybe you have a voice, Prophets, to add to the current debate on healthcare. The issue in our nation is a complex one – voices from both sides of the aisle ought to be heard – yours too. But wherever you fall politically, we can say this together: It is a Christian value to care for the health and wellbeing of others. Jesus was a healer, and we too are called value healing and wholeness – not just for some, but for all. Perhaps your prophetic voice needs to be heard too.

Or maybe you have a prophetic voice of inclusion to speak to one of other this semester. Maybe you can live – not as those who aren’t closed off - but as those who welcome people through these doors, who say ‘we are a community that has room for you’ – for your unique gifts, your unique talents, your unique backgrounds and personalities. Please, come be with us. Come let us learn from you.

You are prophets. You are called to speak a word to sustain the weary, and that will take many forms. How will you do that? Here ‘s a piece of wisdom from Israel: Rabbi Meshulam Zusia, a Polish Jew who lived in the 18th century, once said that someday, the angels will not ask him, “Zusia, why weren’t you Moses?” or “Zusia, why weren’t you Joshua?” Instead they will ask this difficult question, this question that will be much more difficult to answer: “Zusia, why weren’t you Zusia?”

You are prophets. No one in this room is Mother Theresa. No one is Ghandi. No one is Zusia. No one is Jesus himself. But you know who you are? You are beloved servants of God just like all of them. Who are you? You are Drew, Lauren, and Jeff. You are Patrick, Kathleen, and Karen. You are Libby, Walter, and Amy. You are God’s beloved children – you are prophets. So, how will you speak a word to sustain the weary?

-Renee Roederer, Campus Minister