The title for today's sermon could well be "If you keep on doing what you are doing, you will keep on getting what you are getting." Today we learn in Isaiah that God is trying something new, a new approach, in dealing with the people of Israel.
Let's look at the setting for a moment. We are in the book of the prophet Isaiah-only there is not a single prophet who is the author of this book of the Bible. Today we read from what is commonly called Second Isaiah-chapters 40-55. Scholars have commonly agreed that the author of these chapters was an anonymous prophet, probably a disciple or student of Isaiah and his prophecies, who preached to the Jewish exiles in Babylon just before their capture by Cyrus in 539 BC. Cyrus, an agent of God, restores the people of God to their homeland. Throughout Second Isaiah, there is an overwhelming feeling of expectancy and excitement coming from the anticipation of exiles who will soon be returned to the land that God gave them. This is no ordinary book of prophecy.
When we look back at what Second Isaiah has given us thus far, it is a message of hope, of comfort. In chapter 40, the prophet says, "Comfort, comfort my people-speak tenderly-her penalty is paid-prepare the way of the Lord." At the end of the chapter the prophet asks, "Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood?-Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength."
And in Chapter 42 we are given the first Servant Song, now interpreted to be a description of the Messiah who will bring justice-the keeper of the covenant, a light to the nations filled with the Spirit of God. As the chapter continues, we get a preview of what we read today, "The former things have come to pass and new things I now declare."" From what we have read so far, we cannot help but feel that the message of Second Isaiah is something big, something really different than what God has shared previously.
So what is this "new thing"? Just what is the prophet revealing in our reading for today in Second Isaiah?
My favorite Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann says that the "new thing" is "God's active intervention that transforms circumstances." That makes sense. God is intervening in history here. God is about to move the heart of Cyrus and return the exiles to their homes. Through the prophet the people of God are told to have hope in restoration, to have hope in God and what God will do in their lives-to believe that their circumstances will be transformed. It is quite a message.
What always gets me about this passage is that God says to forget the past. "Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old" God tells the people. Even God will forget what has happened in the past, "I will not remember your sins," God says. This is a huge change! What we have always heard from God before is that sins must be paid for, that the sins of the father will be passed on throughout generations-but no more. God has made quite a change here. I want you to forget what has happened in the past and I will do the same, says God. Instead, I am doing a new thing. Can't you see it all around you? Can't you feel it in the air?
In Israel's history, no matter how many times God has made promises and kept them, the people have always broken their part of the covenant. And they were punished. But now God wants different results-and so God does something new, because if you keep on doing what you are doing, you will keep on getting what you are getting-God wants something new to happen.
The transformation that God offers here is truly an act of creation. According to Brueggemann, what was formerly judgment is now promise. What was exile is now homecoming. What was abrasion was reconciliation. And, what was death is life. God will not judge as before, sins are not remembered. This is truly a new thing that God has created.
With the new thing that God has done here, a new world has been opened to God's people. There is now the possibility of change. There is the chance to begin anew. God has created this chance-but how will humanity respond?
The question for us is, will we keep on doing what we are doing and expect to get different results, or will we follow God's lead and do things differently? Will we embrace the possibility of change?
I think that the most difficult thing for us to wrap our minds around is the idea of the past being forgotten. We have difficulty forgiving and forgetting. We find it nearly impossible to move forward in a relationship after trust has been broken. And yet God says that our sins will not be remembered. Even though they have been a burden thus far to God. The iniquities of humankind have wearied God! But, all of that is forgotten. God is doing a new thing.
What the prophet is telling us here, is that if we are to move on with God, in the same direction, toward this new thing, this new creation, we must do the same. Do a new thing. Forget the past, don't even consider what the relationship was like before. Start over. This is the beginning. Do you want to keep on getting what you have been getting, my anger and punishment, or do you want something new from me? Are you open to the possibility of change? Can you imagine a new relationship?
What an amazing message this must have been to the people of Second Isaiah! A God that does not remember their sins! A God that is willing to start over! A God that is filled with grace!
Grace. That is exactly what this passage is about. God, who created us for Himself, wants things to be different and therefore takes a different approach. God loves us through the creation of this new thing, this new beginning. All we have to do is believe it and join God on the journey. Like those in the Babylonian exile, God intervenes in our lives and transforms our circumstances. God makes us new through divine grace. God sees who we can be, not remembering who we are. May our faith lead us to do the same. Amen.
Peace,
Rev. Cynthia Bacon
Minister
You may email at:
cbacon@heritagemadison.org
Return to the top of the page.
Back to the Sermon Archives
Back to the Heritage home page.
Certified Web Author and Publisher: R. Dan Nelson
rnelson@madison.k12.wi.us
This page was last updated on March 2, 2003.