Mar 20, 2013    6^th Wednesday in Lent    Isaiah 60:17

Sermon series by Dr. Reed Lessing

"Powerful Peace"

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 60:17 Isaiah 60:17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness. Laurie and I are renting a house here in Scottsboro. We are not good renters from our perspective. We are used to being homeowners and we want the house to be maintained to our standards. When we first saw the house it was a dark disaster with potential. We had a list a mile long of things that needed fixing or replaced but we were not in control of the list. There was so much to do the land lord started drawing the line so we had to negotiate and show them the unacceptable conditions. Needless to say the list is incomplete. There are still things that are either broken or just wrong but the land lord has spent too much money and will only do emergency repairs for a while. Granted, we took care of the important things so the things left are just irritating or require quite a bit of money. The house could be a jewel of a home, it just needs more work. It is frustrating to walk through the house and constantly see broken things I can’t fix, I feel hopeless that the house will ever reach its potential. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah had the same problem. His life was surrounded by a bunch of broken stuff that he couldn’t fix. He describes his mess throughout his book and much of it centers upon the city of Jerusalem. For example, the city is likened to a harlot whose silver has become dross and her wine was mixed with water. Jerusalem’s leaders chased after bribes instead of looking after the orphan and widow. In chapter 59 both Yahweh and the people lament over the lack of justice. Like a solar eclipse blotting out the sun, this rampant selfishness obscures any sense of God’s care and protection. A blanket of death enshrouds the people. Power, greed, and cunning manipulation are rampant; the dominant culture had seduced many to live only for themselves. The prophet points out the people’s massive failure and the community’s total depravity. They are a million miles away from implementing the justice and righteousness called for in Is 56:1. Satan is the chief source of this brokenness, for Isaiah and for us. His lies strip away the Father’s baptismal promises, Eucharistic joy, and gospel power. The devil’s temptations destroy marital fidelity, moral responsibility, and churchly civility. His deceptions lead us to whisper wicked words, lunge for lustful looks, hate with hard hearts, and go on in godless gossip. The end result is a house of brokenness just as the house we live in. But it makes us completely hopeless. However, tonight we embrace God’s good and perfect gift of powerful peace. Isaiah envisions the New Jerusalem as a city of peace. "I will make your overseers peace". Imagine that. Overseeing the new city are people marked by peace. This is powerful! The Hebrew word translated "peace" is shalom. Shalom doesn’t mean the absence of warfare; rather it denotes "to restore," "to make right," "to fix." God’s gift of shalom puts Humpty Dumpty back together again. Isaiah pins his hope on this gift of shalom. God will put his broken city back together again! After reading the sections of Isaiah 56-59 that announce divine judgment and wrath, we may wonder if Jerusalem has a future with Yahweh. Shouldn’t he terminate the city from his memory, forever? No! Jerusalem will be marked by Yahweh’s glory, his jubilee gifts, and new names. The promises in Isaiah 60-62 announce Zion’s future as a city flooded with shalom. The city’s broken bricks and busted beams will be rebuilt by the one who has the authority and power to make all things new as it says in Revelations. The greatest Overseer of peace is the one Isaiah calls the "the Prince Shalom". At Jacob’s well he conversed with a Samaritan woman, devastated by men’s empty promises. In Jericho he met Zacchaeus, who had been consumed by the world’s fleeting promises. Countless other times Jesus fixed torn, tattered, and twisted people. His goal was singular: put Humpty Dumpty back together again. But to do this our Savior had to be paraded outside of Jerusalem to a place called Golgotha where people were intentionally bent and broken, maimed and mauled, and then systematically thrown away. There Satan stalked him, took aim, shot straight, and killed. Alive on the third day, gives us powerful, resurrection peace. His shalom is delivered in concrete ways and in a specific place. At the Lord’s Supper we receive the true body and blood of Jesus Christ that completely forgives all of our sins. And this forgiveness begins to put our broken pieces back together again. In fact, the entire experience at the communion altar is one of shalom. After the consecration of the elements the pastor says, "The peace of the Lord be with you." The congregation then sings the Agnus Dei which includes the words, "O Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us your peace." After we taste and see that our Lord is so very good, we often sing the Nunc Dimittis or Simeon’s Song, "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace." And then we hear these words from the Aaronic benediction. Shalom is God’s final word: "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you shalom". And who is this for? Chapter 60 of Isaiah ends with the promise that shalom is for the smallest and the least. This is the central surprise of the Bible. Yahweh took Abraham and Sarah and greatly multiplied their offspring. Then there were some slaves in Egypt who saw Pharaoh and his hoards dead on the banks of the Red Sea. Unusual and unlooked for, God’s deliverance comes hidden in the small, the meek, and the discounted. "A little child shall lead them". David was the youngest of seven, not even deemed worthy to be presented before guests, and yet he was anointed king, a man after God’s own heart. And from a little town in Judah, Bethlehem Ephrathah, the King of Kings would be born. Indeed, one of the most prominent motifs in Isaiah 56–66 is Yahweh’s assurance to the marginalized group that their setbacks are not permanent. They will be reversed. His remnant people will enjoy the powerful peace pulsating through chapters 60–62. This overturning of the status quo is a hallmark of our Lord’s life and ministry. In his antagonistic context Jesus unsettled present power arrangements. He says: "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, "the last will be first and the first will be last", and "let the greatest among you become as the youngest and the one who rules like the one who serves". Jesus chooses fishermen instead of Pharisees, sinners instead of Sadducees, and whores instead of Herodians. Climactically he chooses thorns for his crown instead of silver and gold, and spit and blood instead sweetness and light. His choices lead to torment and torture and darkness and death. Through his body and blood, Jesus enters our lives to take what is faithless, hopeless, and lifeless and fixes us with a shalom that is fathomless. But on another day, in another place everything will be completely restored. This entire littered mess will be radically transformed into a new heaven and new earth. And in that place we will live a life that is deathless and absolutely endless! Amen.