The Familiar Story of the Bible
Isaiah 63:7-10 12/30/2007

7I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord,
   the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,
because of all that the Lord has done for us,
   and the great favour to the house of Israel
that he has shown them according to his mercy,
   according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
8For he said, ‘Surely they are my people,
   children who will not deal falsely’;
and he became their saviour
9   in all their distress.
It was no messenger or angel
   but his presence that saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
   he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
10But they rebelled
   and grieved his holy spirit;
therefore he became their enemy;
  he himself fought against them.

The  Scene

Many of the Jews have returned from exile after many years and all sorts of difficulties.  When they get back to their land they find that it is not what they had planned to find.  They desired to pick up with life the way it had been described by the old and elderly while in exile – a land of milk and honey.

What they found is a land destroyed for the most part and every day was a struggle to survive.  In fact, it would have been much easier to have stayed in Babylon, as some did, where they had jobs, food, shelter even if the people there did not worship their God.

Life was not what was expected.

Remember Who You Are and Whose You Are!

The prophet is praying a prayer that calls for God to remember these people that belong to God.  And a prayer that reminds people that they belong to God. 

It isn't that you have chosen God but that God has chosen you.  Keep in mind all God has done for you.

Brought You Out of Egypt

It was the angel of God that swept over Egypt and led the people out of slavery.  A people counted as nothing and then called “My People” by God the Creator of all that exists. 

Brought You Through the Wilderness

It was this very angel of God that brought you out of Egypt and led you through the decades in the desert.  God's angel made all the difference in your lives.

Gave Prophets, Priests and Kings

It is God that provides the leadership for you through prophets, priests and kings.  As you discovered you were different from other nations and wanted to be like them and God reluctantly provided what you asked.

God Has Been Your Savior

Isaiah makes it clear that God has provided all the love and care to the Chosen People.  It has been God who has been their savior and the result has been they turned away from God.  God is not what they expect and so they turn from God and toward satisfying their own desires.

Huge Change in “Chosen People” at This Point

Up until this time, the nation had been the Chosen People.  Now, there is a change that comes from the dissatisfaction and the responses to God.

When the people returned from Babylon, they brought with them men and women of other nationalities who joined them in their faith.  They became what we would call “believers” and were allowed to worship with the Jews.

This is a huge change because now the Chosen People are no longer defined as a nation but as a group of those who follow God.  This is a very significant change and it leads to what we would call denominations – Pharisees and Sadducees and some other Jewish break off groups.

What Makes All of this Old Testament Stuff So Important?

Well, it seems to me that we have just passed Christmas, a time when we believe God came to earth.  He has provided angels to lead and he had chosen great men and women to make the way and still people turn away.

He has now come to be one of us and we have to decide how we are going to respond to God.  Shall we do as our forefathers and foremothers did and turn away from God?  Or shall we turn toward God?

Don't Answer Too Quickly

I know that we want to think that we are always going to opt for turning toward God.  We consider ourselves persons who are acceptable to God and we do what we can to be in a good relationship with God.  But so did those folks returning to their promised land.  They were good folks in their own eyes but Isaiah is writing about them through the lens of God's eyes.

I think we too quickly think that if we will say the words, “I believe in Jesus,” we can go about or merry way and all is okay.

Bishop Willimon

In his weekly message the Bishop wrote:

“When I read the Christmas story, it is unfair for me to read myself into the places of Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, or even the wise men.  This was their home.  They were under the heel of the Empire, their lives jerked around by imperial decrees.

I live in Rome with Caesar Augustus, or maybe in Jerusalem up at the palace with that King Herod, lackey for the Roman overlords.  I'd rather see myself as one of the relatives of Mary and Joseph.  I wouldn't mind being one of the shepherds, out working the night shift, surprised when the heavens filled with angels.

But that is not my place in the story.  My place in the story is as a beneficiary of the Empire.  I am well fixed.  I don't live up in the palace, but I live in a home which – with its modern conveniences and security – the majority of the world's people would call a palace.  I have been the beneficiary of a great classical education, and I am a citizen of a country that has dominated other countries, often without even trying to dominate other countries.  We are the Empire.

I don't like my particular place in the story of the first Christmas.

So when you think about it, in our context, it is odd in a way that so many of us should flock to church on Christmas Eve.  It is a bit strange that we should think that, in Christmas, we hear such unadulteratedly good news, that we should feel such warm feelings, and think that we are closer to God now than at any other time of the year.

I guess we ought to be of the same frame of mind as our cousin, King Herod.  When he heard the word about the first Christmas, the Gospels say that he was filled with fear.  Give Herod credit.  He knew bad news when he heard it.  He knew that the songs that the angels sang meant an attack upon his world, God taking sides with those on the margins, the people in the night out in the fields, the oppressed and the lowly.

But for the people up at the palace, the well fixed, the people on top, the masters of the Empire, Christmas was bad news.  And many of them were perceptive enough to know it.

So maybe that is why we cover up Christmas with cheap sentimentally, turn it into a saccharine celebration.  Maybe, in our heart of hearts, we know that Christmas means that God may not be with the Empire, but rather the Empire may be on a shaky foundation, and that, if we told the story straight, as the Bible tells it, we might have reason, like Herod (when he heard about the first Christmas) to fear.”  (Weekly Message from Bishop Willimon 12.24.2007, northalabamaumc.org)

The Lens We Look Through

It seems so much to depend upon the lens we look through in Christianity.  We look pretty good compared to those who don't believe at all.  We look pretty good compared to those who believe but that's the end of their story.  We look pretty good to ourselves and those who are like us.

We wonder what is wrong with King Herod.  We might even think about what it would have been like had he been sincere and wanted to worship Jesus.  That's looking through our lens.

When we look through God's lens the story is very different.  When we compare ourselves to God, the story is different.  When we compare ourselves to Jesus, we want to make sure we call him divine rather than human.  Even comparing ourselves to Paul stops us in our tracks.

But I Intend to be Good

We Americans, perhaps all westerners, make a big deal out of intentions.  We are generally convinced that if we say, “I didn't mean to...” and say it sincerely, it changes whatever we did.  Or if we say, “But I had every intention to do it...” that takes care of whatever was supposed to take place.

MADD – Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Recently, I had a fellow tell me in no uncertain terms how bad MADD is for meddling in other people's business.  He shared how miserable they had made his life because of his being held accountable for driving while drunk. 

Men and women have not been held accountable after killing human beings while drunk because they said.  “I didn't know what I was doing. I was drunk.” 

Our eyes see things in the light of making everything okay for ourselves.  God’s lens sees our relationship to God, others and self.

Is All Lost

I think not.  I raise the dark side in order for us to take a look at ourselves.  We cannot change what we are unaware of in life.  We are to be aware and make the changes we can in our focus on Jesus our Lord.

The Is Still Good News

The birth of that little baby is Good News.  It tells us that God is still at work with all Creation – not just you and me.  “Do not be afraid; for see—I am brining you good news of great joy for all people:  To you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”  (Luke 1:10)

The angels from God sing that they are brining Good News to us and to All people.  Even those people who live in the Empire.  Even those people that miss the mark.  Even to those people who fool themselves as they try to fool others and even God.

I continue to believe that the real story is the one of God and God's radical, extravagant love for us and for them.  Surely, God could have been born in the palace with all the treats and pleasures that would go with it.  Instead, God was born in a smelly old cave amongst the animals.  Surely, God could have brought legions of angels and saved Jesus from the cross – Jesus said this was possible.  Instead, he paid the price of our sins.  Surely, God could have let the ax fall on our necks at any moment but instead, Jesus suffered our pains.

I am truly sorry that so many people are not very interested in experiencing this love of God.  It is the season to remember the love of God for us all.  It is the season to recount that number of times that God has taken the initiative to save his people.  Amen.