ADVENT 3

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: ADVENT 3
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 15, 2002


TEXT: Isaiah: 17-25 – For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. . . . The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent - its food shall be dust!

ISSUE: Isaiah’s passage is one of great joy and hope. It tells of a new creation that is to come. New joys will come among God’s people in a rebuilt Jerusalem, and the people shall all know peace and long life. What a hope that was! The very order of things shall be changed when the wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The serpent shall eat the dust, as in the first creation. Evil and Satan will be trampled under foot, and the Kingdom of God shall rise.
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There are several stories in the Hebrew Scriptures that are Creation Stories. We are, of course, most familiar with the story of the world being created in those very special seven days in the 1st Chapter of Genesis. This story is the one in which God makes all things, including, human beings. It says that God’s Creation is very good. A second creation story begins with the 5th verse of the 2nd Chapter of Genesis. In this story Adam gets created from the clay, and Eve is created from Adam’s rib, and the two are placed in the wonderful and beautiful Garden of Eden. Shortly after this creation story, the serpent encourages Eve to eat from the one forbidden tree, and she in turn invites Adam to join her for supper. It’s all down hill from there. They two are cast out of the garden, and their own two sons get into an argument, and Cain kills Abel. The Fall of Adam and Eve expresses the need for human redemption. The stories portray the fact that human beings (symbolized by Adam and Eve, and the kids), who have it all, are never quite satisfied and try to take things into their own hands. It’s all down hill from there.
Then there comes still another creation story, or at least a redemption story of Noah and the Ark. The world is a mess. So God determines to start all over again. He selects the one righteous man, Noah, and has Noah build an Ark of Salvation for himself, and his family, and male and female of all living creatures. And so after the flood, new life begins and abounds with a whole new cleaned up creation. Barely had the rainbow faded away, when Noah’s youngest son, Ham, dishonors his father, and the process of sin continues. Men attempt to build the Towers of Babylon and storm heaven and make themselves like God and so it goes. What is important to appreciate is that when God’s people have gotten themselves into trouble, eventually, God goes after them, and redeems them. So much of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are like the Prodigal Son Parable. God takes back the lost and wayward, and starts over again. There other instances of Creation, or at least renew stories in the Scriptures: Moses Leadership across the Sea of Reeds, Ezekiel’s Vision of Dry Bones, Jesus’ Baptism, etc.)
Notice in the Isaiah (65:17-25) for today, the prophet is proclaiming that God is about to create a new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. (Sounds a little like Auld Lang Syne.) Again, this hope of a new creation is being pronounced, proclaimed, and given to a people who had been all but spiritually and materially devastated by foreign conquerors, but now a new hope comes to them. The central city of Jerusalem shall no longer be a place of hopeless despair, but the Holy City, the city that signified Israel and Judah’s unity will become a place of joy. The temple will be rebuilt, and there will be no more weeping and cries of distress. People’s lives will not be subject to evil foreign powers and death. The death rate of little children, children suffer most in war, plague, and pestilence, will be extended. The mortality rate shall be much longer, and the person who doesn’t live to be at least an hundred years old will be considered accursed. There will be no more homes destroyed by foreign invasion; and the planted vineyards will not be trampled by warriors. What the farmer plants will be eaten by the farmer and his family, it will not be taken away and destroyed. There will be a prevailing peace in the land. And it will be as if the very nature of human nature and of animal nature shall be changed. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent – the dreaded serpent – will eat dust. Evil will be trampled down under God’s feet! The heavens will be clear and crisp, no longer blackened by war’s devastation.
Once again, from the Hebrew Scriptures, we have a profound and beautiful vision and image of a new creation, and a world of hope.
Notice how the Christian Scripture from John’s Gospel picks up this theme of hope. John the Baptist, the dipper, is also a herald or prophet proclaiming the coming of a Messiah, a new hope, a new creation is coming. He calls the people to readiness and preparation. They are baptized, immersed in cleansing waters that symbolize a new birth. John makes it clear that he makes no claim to be that messiah. He is only the messenger. His honor and status must decrease while the honor and status of the one to come increases. We know from the story that Jesus himself comes to be baptized by John, and the heavens open, and the voice of God is heard: “This is my beloved Son, the one with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
What comes from the life, ministry, and teaching of Jesus is the raising up, the lifting up of his creation. He teaches justice and peace. He teaches love for God, and for one another. The early Christian Church from what I understand, up until the 3rd Century was quite pacifist. Christians sought the end of war and hatred. Also for the early church, and certainly for St. Paul, Jesus Christ was seen as the New Adam. In Christ there is a new creation that calls human beings back into the image of what they were meant to be as the servants and people of God in the Garden of Eden.
Some may think that this vision is pretty idealistic, pie in the sky. Wolves will never feed with lambs, and lions will never eat straw like the ox. And, Satan will never be ultimately trampled down under our feet. It is so hard in our human nature that prevents us from having these kinds of hope. Our world is sometimes so overwhelming with hatred, prejudice, fundamentalist radicals, impending war. But to allow ourselves to live without hope, dreams, visions, is to let Satan and evil win. That is not our story. It is not the story of the Jews, and it is not the story of the Christian church. The powers of evil, and the corruption of human nature are truly deeply rooted in our human condition. But basically, God said about the creation. It is good. He saw that it was good. And when we look at the Messiah; when we look at Jesus Christ the new Adam, we see what is good, - love, forgiveness, the yearning for and pointing towards God.
We are now in a season that looks for the coming of the new creation, heavens and earth restored to peace and hope. We look for us to be forgiven and to forgive, to be pardoned, and to pardon. We look to lay down our lives for one another as Christ laid down his life for us. We see in Jesus Christ a truly human potential for good, and for hopefulness. Will we a times fail? It’s likely, but then in Christ we begin anew.
Both the role of Isaiah, the prophet - and what a prophetic orator and writer he was – and the prophet Isaiah, that voice in the wilderness, turns people in their sins, weaknesses around. These men down through the ages have challenged hopelessness and despair. They call us to dramatic change demanding we embrace the image and vision of the new man, the new Adam, the new Eve, Jesus Christ.
It had been said that world was flat, and that it was the center of the universe. Anyone who thought differently was condemned. Thank God there were those who let the spirit of God lead them into truth. There are those who thought over the ages there would be no cures for diseases. Thank God for those who persisted in their research. Many things we thought could never be have come to pass: pictures and words sent electronically through the air, the overwhelming resources and information available to us through the Internet. People of hope and expectation, who have never doubted that so many things are possible with God, by God and through God has God has given us our talents, skills, and abilities. Men and women of Goodwill have had visions and dreamed dreams. As we are on the verge of a new creation with the God of Love and King of Peace, may we never for a moment set our hopes and dreams for a new creation aside.