Jesus: Our Covenant
Isaiah 42:1-9
Aldersgate
1) Our world needs a new thing
a) A friend of mine from St. Matthew’s
i)
Involved at
Rosie’s Place in
(1) Shelter for homeless women
(2) Helped to provide new scarves, hats, mittens and
socks this Christmas
ii)
Said they have seen a fifty percent increase in
guests over the past year
(1) ! Now a for-profit company likes to experience this
kind of increase
(2) But a non-profit, social service agency would prefer
a decrease in business
(3) Eventually trying to go out of business
iii) The women who visit Rosie’s Place are desperately
looking for a new thing
b) Some who come here this morning are also looking for
a new thing or at least a new direction
i)
Perhaps you’re
discouraged by something at work?
ii)
Maybe you’re unhappy with a situation in your family?
iii) Or there’s a problem at school that you just don’t
know how to deal with?
iv) Or maybe you’ve lost hope in the leaders of the world
acting justly
c)
We want and need a new thing!
2) God wants to do a new thing
a) In this text from Isaiah, we hear that God has a
powerful resolve to do a new thing
i)
Introduces the
suffering servant
(1) First of four passages in Second Isaiah that refer to
this servant without giving an identity
(2) Because the servant is not identified
(a) we are free to decide for ourselves who this servant
is
(b) and we do not have to limit the identity of this
servant to just one person
(3) “The Servant, ancient or contemporary, is whoever it
is who does God’s transformative work in the world.” (Texts
for preaching, p. 92)
ii)
This text is not just about a new thing for the
people of ancient
b) Pay attention to verses 3 and 4 for they tell us
about the person and purpose this new thing
i)
there is a
parallel in these verses that does not come across in the English translation
(1) The root Hebrew word translated as bruised reed in
verse three shares the same root as the word translated as crushed in verse
four
(2) Similarly, the word translated as dimly burning wick
in verse three shares the same root as grow faint in verse four
(3) So we might read verse four in this way: He will burn
brightly and will not be bruised until he has established God’s justice upon
the earth.
(4) At the same time verse three tells us the manner in
which the servant will affect change
ii)
Sense of doing justice in parallel with teaching
justice
(1) Not easy to do justice at the same time as teaching
justice
(2) Yet, if we want people who learn about justice to
eventually incorporate the concepts into their lives then the teachers have to
be doers
c)
Story of birds in a storm
i)
man who had
spent nice warm December day
(1) enjoying nature
(2) refilling bird feeders in preparation for winter
ii)
suddenly in late afternoon
(1) weather changed
(2) snow squall moved in
iii) he went inside
(1) and stood at a picture window
(2) surprised by the speed at which weather changed
iv) as he turned away from the window
(1) attention drawn back by a soft thud
(2) look out again to see several birds
(a) looking for shelter
(b) had gathered just under the eves
(i) one had flown into the window
(ii) and was laying on the ground
v)
he watched the birds struggle as the storm got worse
(1) and then thought of his wide open barn
(2) the birds could take shelter there until the storm
passed!
(a) Went outside and open up the barn doors
(b) Then went around to front of house and tried to shoo
birds around the corner
vi) It was impossible
(1) Every time he moved them away from the eve
(2) As soon as he walked away they went back
(3) Next he tried creating a trail of bread crumbs
(a) But they ignored his efforts
(b) That were overshadowed by intensity of the snow storm
vii) By now he was cold himself in spite of his winter
clothing
(1) He went inside
(2) But continued to watch the birds huddle under the
eves
(3) He thought to himself, “If I could just become one of
them. Then I could fly out and show them
the way to the barn.
(4) Just then, off in the distance in the direction he
heard the bells of the little chapel in the village
(a) he realized that it was Christmas Eve
(b) and the bells were calling the people to services
(c) he finally knew what it meant for God to become
incarnate as a human being
d) “God’s justice is wrought gently, carefully,
caringly.
i)
“The servant has
respect for persons who are weak, fragile, and in jeopardy.
ii)
“His way of justice matches the goal of justice which
he enacts.
iii) “The means serve the end.
iv) “He will honor the weak, but he will be strong to do
his work.” (Texts for Preaching, p. 92)
3) This Isaiah passage is an announcement of good news
from God to people living in exile
a) Yes ancient
i)
but many people
throughout the ages have found themselves living in exile
ii)
we are in exile metaphorically
(1) when we discover that we do not know where to turn
(2) when we feel lost and alone
iii) as a nation we might be compared to
(1) it seems to me that we are a nation that has lost
direction
(2) that we are lost and unsure of where to turn next
b) Verses 1 and 4 in this prophecy warn against living
in isolation from the other nations of the world.
i)
They refer to a
relationship between ancient
ii)
Furthermore, verses 6-7 tell us that
(1) It is no accident that Jesus says, in Matthew 5:14 “You
are the light of the world.”
(a) In John
(b) But for Mathew, Jesus’ followers are seen as those
who fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy.
c)
The way of this new thing, this new covenant is Jesus
Christ; Jesus is our covenant
i)
First covenant
promise made to Noah
(1) Remember the story
(a) perhaps from the song: “The Lord said to Noah
(b) or maybe more familiar with Bill Cosby monologue,
“Noah”
(2) Flood came about because of human sin
(a) Human beings were not giving God their best, their
glory
(b) “So rise and shine and give God your glory, glory …
(c) God promised to never again destroy the earth
ii)
God made a second covenant with Abraham and Sarah
(1) They too struggled to live up to their side of the
covenant
(2) Not trusting God’s promise of children
iii) Third covenant was the Torah, the rules of life laid
out in Ten Commandments
(1) At first the commandments led to harmony in community
(a) They provided the way for people to live together
(b) They were closely tied to the very foundation of
community
(c) They allowed for full and fruitful living for all
people
(d) Torah for Hebrew people is loved and adored
(i) as a sign of God’s
1.
covenant with the people
2.
and God’s love for them
(2) But by the time of Jesus, these laws were compromised
by years and years of definition
(a) They excluded those who were the working class Jews
of the Biblical world
(b) only wealthy scholars were able to live according to
the Law
(c) the poor, the orphaned, the widow were compromised
(i) first because they could not follow the detail of the
law
(ii) second they were betrayed by wealthy who did not care
for them as the Law provided
4) Jesus came and taught the way, he is the new thing of
this prophecy
a) First Jesus proclaimed that the Law was not meant to
exclude Jews on the fringes of society
i)
Torah was
created for humanity to live in community
ii)
Caring for each other and living in harmony
b) Secondly Jesus extended that inclusion to the
Gentiles of the ancient world
c)
Jesus fulfilled Torah, the law, by becoming our
covenant
i)
Visit to
synagogue
(1) Several years ago as leader of confirmation class
(2) Visited a synagogue in
(3) Had set up before hand with a rabbi
(4) Entered their sanctuary
(5) Sat with the youth
(6) Looked around as I had instructed them
(7) At first puzzled by two sculpted tablets on wall over
the bema (the altar area in a synagogue)
(8) Then realized, even thought in Hebrew they were the
ten commandments
(9) In the place of the cross was the ten commandments
ii)
But actually it should have been the other way around
(1) The synagogue is first
(2) In the place of the Ten Commandments in a Christian
sanctuary is the cross
iii) In his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus becomes our
new covenant
(1) He is the promise of hope
(2) He is the promise of justice
(3) He is the promise of love
(4) He is the promise of grace
iv) “[God] intends that the creation should be
rehabilitated to full, fruitful function.” (Texts for Preaching, p. 92)
through the incarnation of Jesus Christ in human life.
d) The church as body of Christ in this world is the
evidence of that covenant
i)
continuing to do
that new thing
ii)
continuing to show others the way
iii) Barbara Wendland and
Stanley Menking put it this way in their book God’s
Partner: Lay Christians at Work (Valley Forge, Penn.: Judson Press, 1993)
2, 54.
(1) “God coming to you in Jesus gives you the freedom to
be who you are: God’s partner …
(2) God’s coming to you in Jesus, however, is not a
demand. It is an invitation.
(3) God doesn’t tell you, “This is what you must be!”
(4) God says instead, [This is who I am, and] This is what you can be!”
(5) So when you encounter Jesus, you can say not only,
“There God is,” but also, “There I am.”
e) Through Jesus: our new covenant,
i)
The one who shows
us the way
ii)
Through this One “Deliverance is promised
(1) to those who are ‘prisoners,’
(2) to those who ‘sit in darkness’ –
(a) offering hope
(b) and mercy to those … languishing in exile.” (www.Homileticsonline.com,
(3) May you see and accept Jesus as your covenant
(4) And as you see him, may you also see yourself
(a) as beloved child of God
(b) and partner in God’s work. Amen