Feb 13, 2013    Ash Wednesday    Isaiah 56:7-8

Sermon series by Dr. Reed Lessing

"Good and Perfect Gifts."

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text for today’s meditation is Isaiah 57:7-8 "these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." 8 The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, "I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered."" During the summer of 2005 I spent ten days hiking with Joshua and a small group of Boy Scouts at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. We hiked over 100 miles during those ten days while carrying a 50 pound pack. Sometime around day 3 or 4 of the hike I started falling behind. I kept getting slower and slower. Finally, going up a pretty good sized hill I hit the wall. I couldn’t go any more; I had no gas left in the tank. I couldn’t take another step so I sat down. I was with 10 young scouts and two other adults older than I and they were ready to get to the next camp so the day would be done. Other than Joshua, there wasn’t a whole lot of sympathy coming my way. Sometimes the journey gets long, doesn’t it? The hike gets tough. The going gets really, really, really rough. And so we stop walking. We sit down and refuse to budge. "What’s the use," we mutter to ourselves. During this Lent we are going to walk through passages from Isaiah 56–66 under the theme "Good and Perfect Gifts." And tonight, as we gather to observe Ash Wednesday, we do so under the theme of God’s good and perfect gift of a loving embrace. The word "house" or "home" appears three times in Isaiah 56:7, while the word "gather" appears three times in Isaiah 56:8. The message is clear, God wants to gather us into his arms and bring us home. Why? Because we are so far away from him and his home. And so are the foreigners and eunuchs in our text. The term "foreigner" may denote someone who is not part of a family but more frequently it defines a non-Israelite, implying that he is an idolater. A eunuch was a man who had been castrated. A text in Deuteronomy indicates that eunuchs were never allowed in God’s house. In Isaiah 56:3 the eunuch laments, "I am a dry tree." A "dry tree" produces no fruit just as a eunuch can produce no children. The foreigner and eunuch are far away from God’s home. There hike is going nowhere, fast. You and I know that feeling. Ash Wednesday is when we confess that we are possessed by our past, mired in our moral ill-being, and taunted by our transgressions and sins. We are so far away from our Father’s home. We may say there is so much more I want to be but, "I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin and death". There is so much more I want to say … but, "I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin". There is so much more I want our church to become but, "I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there beside me". And so we sit on the trail, moaning and groaning. And woe to the traveler who challenges us to resume the journey. Woe to the people who dares to point out our justifications and rationalizations. Woe to the hiker who reminds us that we haven’t budged for months, even years. We would rather sit around the campfire singing, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people." Please, don’t be fooled. On the outside I keep up my normal routine, but on the inside it’s easy for me to stop hiking. I often settle for sameness, safety, and the status quo. Comfort, complacency, and convenience are my watchwords. And before I know it, I get stuck in a tight radius of don’ts, wont’s, cant’s, and quits. I certainly knew that feeling as I was sitting beside that trail. Joshua began to encourage me. He tried to motivate me by telling me we were close to the next camp and the end of the day. He cranked up all the encouragement he had! So did Yahweh. Verse 7 says, "These (the foreigner and the eunuch) I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples". And why should this shock us? Yahweh’s promise to Abram was that "all the families of the ground will be blessed in you". A mixed multitude joins Israel in leaving Egypt, Moses takes a Cushite for his wife, and he indicates that non-Israelites who believe in Yahweh are invited to offer sacrifices so that "you and the alien shall be the same before Yahweh". Jethro, a Midianite priest, Rahab a Canaanite prostitute, as well as some Gibeonites all acknowledge Yahweh’s greatness. Caleb, who alone matches the prophet Joshua’s faith, is a Kenizzite and Gentile nations are viewed as partakers of Yahweh’s salvation in all three sections of Isaiah. My son Joshua’s encouragement wasn’t enough, I needed more. My body had used up all its energy and there was no more. The leader of the trek knew I wasn’t in great shape and he knew I stood the chance of hitting the wall sometime during the hike. Before we flew to New Mexico he advised me to buy something called "GU." Joshua reached into my pack and pulled out a packet of "gu." It’s a protein paste that tastes as good as its name but it almost immediately regenerates the energy in the body. I tore it open and squezzed it into my mouth like a tube of toothpaste. When you and I are stuck we need something to help us get through our present pain in order to see our future deliverance. That’s why Yahweh pulls out his big guns. Our Lord loves with reckless lack of inhibition, saying "I will gather yet others besides those already gathered". Who are the additional ones that will be gathered? Are they Israelites or those among the nations? The use of "yet" signals an addition to what has already been gathered. This, along with the fact that later in the book of Isaiah Yahweh gathers all the nations, points to his assembling of Gentiles in verse 8. Yahweh gathering from all nations is a continual theme in Isaiah. Yahweh longs to assemble outsiders. A loving embrace of universal scope is coming soon! All of this will be ours on that day, and so much more, because when Christ began his journey, he continued steadfast all the way to the end. The Son finished, in spite of his disciple’s kiss of betrayal, his friends running for cover, and his countrymen clamoring for his death. Look. The sky is dark. Two criminals are slowly dying, one on his right and one on his left. Jesus is in the middle, taking a deep breath and speaking his last word. John records it, "It is finished". The veil split. The blood poured. The curse removed. The sacrifice complete. Death is defeated. And paradise is restored, forevermore! Was "It is finished" a cry of defeat? By no means! Had it not been for the nails, I dare say that Christ’s triumphant fist would have lifted toward the sky. By the way, I finally made it to the next camp. I can still remember how proud I was that I made it, I told Joshua "I did it! I did it!" Joshua didn’t say anything. Do you know why he didn’t say anything? Because at any time he could get the same treatment, and so could you. When you are paralyzed by discouragement and every bone in your body wants to quit, Jesus finds you on the trail, fills you with "gu’ (His word, the Gospel), and gathers you close to his heart. After all, he is the greatest Gatherer. Jesus bids all who are weak and burdened to come to him. Christ promises, "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also". Through the appointed means of grace, the Spirit and the Bride join in the chorus and say, "Come". Let all who hear swell the ranks and say, "‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life". I’m glad to report I made the rest of the hike at the same speed and even faster at times than the rest of the group. The 16 mile day toward the end of the ten days was my best day; we were heading home. Listen again to the gift of our God’s loving embrace. "I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples". Why does the prophet write this? So we pick up the pace, bring others with us, and fall into our heavenly Father’s arms ... now. Amen.