A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his
roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of
the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the fear
of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall
judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of
the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod
of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall
kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt
around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his
loins.
6 The wolf shall live with the
lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling
together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the
ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over
the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand
on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 On that day the root of Jesse
shall stand as a signal to the peoples;
the nations shall inquire of him, and
his dwelling shall be glorious.
Year A
Second Sunday of Advent
December 4, 2016
Cross~Wind
December 5, 2010
Cross~Wind Ministries
Title: A Life-Giving Christmas of
Peace
Pre-Message: If peace were to
show up at your door, what would it look like?
Post-Message: “Peace is not
merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that
goal.” Martin Luther King Jr.
General Introduction on Peace
I have a confession to make. This
word is the most difficult of the four words for me. I have had to ask myself
why that is the case. I think the reason is that I am a realistic person. Peace
seems like something reserved for dreamers, for naïve people, and for wistful
thinking. If peace is to happen it will be in heaven. Yet, I also think of some
Scripture that challenges me. Philippians 4:7 refers to the peace of God that
passes all understanding, even while Paul is in prison. Romans 5:1 refers to us
having peace with God. Peace is one of the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus said God
will bless the peacemaker. Thus it seems like peace is more important for my
life now than what I what I imagine.
Some students of human behavior
suggest that the existence of language produces the possibility of peaceful
relation with the other. After all, we must welcome the other before we learn
how to communicate with the other. Language is the first ethical gesture. It
invites us reasonable discourse. Through language, we cooperate with others in
the use of power in order to bring about a proper ordering of life with nature
and our life together. The importance of peace and our longing for it is at the
heart of human relationships.
John Wesley had early Methodists in
England ask each other, “How is it with your soul?” The soul integrates mind,
will, and body. A healthy soul moves toward wholeness, integrity, and
authenticity. Faith, hope, and love will be present in a healthy soul. A
damaged soul will show itself in being at war that leads to haste, envy,
disappointment, and discouragement. In a healthy soul, peace will be present,
even in chaotic times. A healthy soul has a hopeful approach to the future. A
healthy soul is thankful.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Your
prayer for peace may relate to something in your personal life, for Cross~Wind,
for the community, for the nation, or for the world.
As
for me, my prayer related to peace is that any difficult circumstances I face
next year will not draw me toward warring with myself or with others, but will
rather bring me closer to peace. I pray for peace between the churches, so that
we can genuinely offer the peace of Christ to others. I pray for peace in our
nation so that voters can bless each other rather than stir up dissension and
suspicion between each other. I pray for peace between nations, and especially,
the peace of Jerusalem.
Introducing the passage
In the present context in Isaiah, his
prophesied destruction of Assyria in 10:33-34 leads to hopes centered in a new
Davidic king. It shows how God will fulfill the prophecy concerning Hezekiah in
9:2-7, where a great light will shine, deliverance will come, because a child
will be born for us, the government will rest on his shoulders, and he will
have the name Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince
of Peace. His government and peace will have unlimited growth. He will uphold
the throne of David with justice and righteousness. In the crisis Judah faces,
the Lord continues to offer assurances of the future reign of a righteous king.
Ahaz is the recipient of the prophecy. However, what makes the passage
memorable is the promised Davidic heir who would restore hope to the nation. The heart of the oracle, memorably
enough, is less the portrayal of the ideal Davidic ruler and more the depiction
of the harmonious state of nature. The image, often described as a form of
paradise, actually exceeds any description of Eden and is forward looking
rather than backward looking. We see here the grand vision of the peaceable
kingdom, one of the most enduring expressions of hope for the world.
What we learn is that the future king places little stock in
rank or station in life: He judges impartially and in fairness for the lowly
and marginalized of society. He is fiercely hostile to the wicked. So strong is
his spiritual presence that he wears righteousness and faithfulness like a
belt, keeping him in a constant state of battle readiness against the enemies
of justice.
Isaiah will remind us that regardless of how war-like this
present reality may become, we must not make forget that our destiny is to live
in peace with each other and with the nature. There will be no more struggles
for existence and therefore slaughter between people and beast.
Introduction
We often
work with children on their Christmas wish list. It is often a very material
type of list.
Is peace on
your wish list for this Christmas?
What is your
deepest prayer for peace this Christmas?
If peace were to show up at your
door, what would it look like?
We long for peace, at some level.
Yet, it seems so difficult for us to live it.
All of us gathered here probably
would like the world Isaiah describes in this passage. Yet, unlike that world, annoying
lions lunch on Zebras, wolf packs still gang up on sheep, snakes keep after
children. We do not seem wise enough or strong enough to figure out this. As
Woody Allen put it, the lamb may lay down with the lion, but the lamb will be
nervous.
What are you going to do? Peace is
difficult, after all. Companies can solve some scientific problems by simply
stating the problem on a web site a worldwide network of scientists can work on
it, and in one case give a $4,000 check for the solution.[6]
Too bad all problems cannot be
solved so easily for such relatively little money.
The world Isaiah describes is
clearly something God will do. That makes it what biblical scholars call
apocalyptic, an unveiling of the future. The point of this vision of the future
is that if we know where God is heading, we can get on board now.
If this is God’s vision of the
future, then that is the vision that God calls upon us to work for today.
First, to think apocalyptically is
to think imaginatively.
Emily Dickinson wrote a little
verse that highlights the importance of imagination. To understand it, I needed
to look up the word “reverie.” Reverie is a state of being pleasantly lost in
one's thoughts. It can be like a daydream. It can refer to an instrumental
piece suggesting a dreamy or musing state. It can mean a fanciful or
impractical idea or theory. Now, hear what Emily Dickinson wrote:
To make a prairie it takes clover and one bee
one clover, and a bee,
and reverie
the reverie alone will do,
if bees are few. - Emily Dickinson
We could use some people who get
lost in their thoughts of how to make peace a reality in their personal lives,
families, communities, congregations, nation, and the world. Reduced thought
leads to reduced lives. We could always
use some imagination, given the divisive nature of our time.
I came across a reference to a “human library.” It started in Denmark.
The idea was to set up a station with 75 people with various types of stories
to share. People of various religions, people struggling with various
handicaps, and people from differing work backgrounds. The idea was that for a
few days, you could “check out” a person for 30 minutes and talk with them. You
could find out from a real person with a real story what it was like to be that
person.
It made me think of what happen if people outside of the Christian
faith could check us out and “read” us. What would they find? Would they find a
strain of this vision for peace that, regardless of how imperfectly, we might
seek to write into our lives? To refer to politics, donkeys and elephants do
not get along well. In economics, bulls and bears seem incompatible. We have
many types of Christians today, leaning toward the progressive or the
conservative. Yet, I ask this seriously, do we not all have a longing for
peace? Isaiah is inviting us out of contentment with our divisiveness and to
get lost in the thought of peace.
Our tendency is to be satisfied
with too little.
Second, Christmas reminds us that
if God were to use coercion to bring the ideals of Christmas into reality,
something vital would be lost.
Money and power can solve many
problems. Human history shows it will not solve them all.
At least part of the message of this season is that God recognizes the
value of each of us. The path God chose in sending Jesus as a child to be one
of us reminds me that THE JOURNEY IT TAKES EACH OF US TO MAKE THE IDEALS OF
THIS SEASON A REALITY IS EVERY BIT AS IMPORTANT AS GETTING THERE.
One of the blockages many people have with Christmas is that it just
not make sense. Christmas invites us to think differently about our lives. It
will take a stretch of our minds to think so differently. That God, who is
Infinite and Eternal, would become human, is beyond anything our rationality
could imagine. God has chosen the weak and foolish things of the world to
confound the wise. We do not go to Washington DC or Wall Street to find our
answer to the longing for peace. We go to Bethlehem, to the stable, and the
manger where the babe lies. At some point, we may need to confess our
ignorance, and come to the babe in the lap of Mary.[7]
Third, Christmas reminds us of the path we need to take in our journey
of life.
In the story of Beauty and the
Beast, Presbyterian author Frederick Buechner observes, it is "only when
the Beast discovers that Beauty really loves him in all his ugliness that he
himself becomes beautiful." Only when we discover that God loves us in all
our unloveliness that we ourselves start to become godlike. The word for this
transformation is sanctification, and it is a long and painful change
"because with part of themselves sinners prefer their sin, just as with
part of himself the Beast prefers his glistening snout and curved tusks." However,
little by little, "The forgiven person starts to become a forgiving
person, the healed person to become a healing person, the loved person to
become a loving person. God does most of it." Moreover, the end of the
process is eternal life.[8]
Conclusion
How can we keep Jesus the main
character in Christmas? Imagine you are a stagehand for Jesus. Your only role
is to set things up for others to see, hear, and experience Jesus.[9]
A little child in the manger
reminds us of God's ways. It also reminds us of how distant we are from God's
way. It inspires us be on the path that will lead to the fulfillment of God's
vision for human destiny.
Truly, this is what we do in
worship. We set the stage for Christ to receive honor. We can extend this
mentality into our daily lives. The more we focus on Jesus, the more peace we
will find. The song, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” eloquently points to this
truth:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
look full in His wonderful face
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of his glory and grace
Reordering our lives
with that focus in preparation for Christmas and the coming year should include
intention for those things that make us both receivers and givers of peace.
I would have some
surprise if you did not think of this prayer attributed to St. Francis:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
During our time of communion, please come forward and place
your prayer for peace in the offering plate or on the altar.
Going deeper
Isaiah
11:1-9 has the theme of the shoot from the stump of Jessie. Many scholars think
it derives from 525-475 BC. In that case, it gives assurance for the
restoration of Davidic kingdom. Richard B. Hays says that we need to read the
Bible eschatologically, as a word of judgment and promise that places what is
on notice that it is a temporary arrangement. If we do, we will find our
priorities strangely re-arranged.[10] In the present context in Isaiah, the threat
of the destruction of Assyria in 10:33-34 leads to hopes centered in a new
Davidic king. It shows how God will fulfill the prophecy concerning Hezekiah in
9:2-7. In the crisis Judah faces, the Lord continues to offer assurances of the
future reign of a righteous king. Micah 5:2-4 is a parallel. In context, then,
Ahaz is the recipient of the prophecy. However, what makes the passage
memorable is the promised Davidic heir who would restore hope to the nation.
Isaiah 11:1-10 (NRSV)
A shoot
shall come out from the stump of Jesse, (the only time the Old Testament refers to the
father of David in this way)
and a
branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the
spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the
spirit of counsel (skill
in diplomacy) and
might,
the
spirit of knowledge and the fear (awe
and reverence) of the Lord.
[Pannenberg
points out that here is an occasion when “spirit,” which is usually a
mysterious force in the Old Testament, is here granting wisdom, knowledge, and
understanding.[11] For Karl Barth, this passage
emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit, who is the mystery of God's Trinitarian
essence attaining its full profundity and clarity. The Holy Spirit is both the
innermost secret of God, and in God's relationship with humanity the revelation
of the unity and diversity of the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the
commission of the Father and of the Son, the good-pleasure of the Father and
the glory of the Son, coinciding in the decree that is the intra-divine
beginning of all things. In that sense, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom
and so on in this passage.[12]]
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He
shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or
decide by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall judge
the poor,
and
decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he
shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, (a phrase unique to this
passage)
and
with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around
his waist,
and
faithfulness the belt around his loins.
[Pannenberg
suggests that this passage means the Holy Spirit has a role in judgment.
Righteousness and faithfulness shall be his belt.[13] What we have learned is that the
future king places little stock in rank or station in life: He judges impartially
and in fairness for the lowly and marginalized of society. He is fiercely
hostile to the wicked. So strong is his spiritual presence that he is said to
wear righteousness and faithfulness like a belt, keeping him in a constant
state of battle readiness against the enemies of justice. Clearly, expectations
run high for this new king. The socio-political realm will experience radical
change.]
[Next,
we find paradise elements and a new order.
The just social order affects the natural order.]
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the
leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the
calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a
little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their
young shall lie down together;
and the
lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the
hole of the asp,
and the
weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all
my holy mountain;
for the
earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord [Barth stresses that in verse 9,
with its emphasis upon the knowledge of God, such knowledge also brings a new
human action corresponding to the divine. Verse 9 reflects the alteration that
the knowledge of God brings.[14] We need to pay attention to the
result in this world when the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord.]
as the
waters cover the sea.
10 On that day the root of Jesse shall
stand as a signal to the peoples;
the
nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
[The
heart of the oracle, interestingly enough, is less the portrayal of the ideal
Davidic ruler and more the depiction of the harmonious state of nature. The
image, often described as "paradisiacal," actually exceeds any
description of Eden and is forward looking rather than backward looking. The
peace achieved by God's ideal ruler is eschatological rather than protological,
and its sweep encompasses not only human history but also all of creation. In
this, the vision establishes a trajectory of redemption that will assume
increasing importance in later apocalyptic writings. We see here the grand
vision of the peaceable kingdom, one of the most enduring expressions of hope
for the world.]
[Karl Barth, under the theme of respect for life, suggests
that the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 already establishes harmony
between creatures that sin disrupts. In the meantime, humanity lives under the
divine command to eat animals. However, he says, this present reality must not
make us forget that our destiny is to live in peace with other animals. There
will be no more struggle for existence and therefore slaughter between people
and beast. The animal can become the enemy of humanity, and vice versa, in this
age. Creation and consummation are the boundaries of history. In this interim
period, a time of human lordship over the animal, but also one in which animal
threatens humanity.[15] He also points out that this vision takes
evil seriously. The battle between wolf and lamb in verse 6 is not one in which
we can pretend to have a theodicy in which they are already, theoretically,
domesticated. The wolf is not the lamb, and thus, the struggle continues.[16]
He says that the killing of animals has its place in the sphere of sinful
humanity. We find in the command given by Noah that such sacrifice is ordered
by God. In what he refers to as the post-historical era, which is the goal of
history, God will bring redemption, perfection, and general peace, including
peace between humanity and beasts, in accord with the original intent of
creation.[17]]
[1] All of us gathered here probably would like the world Isaiah describes
in this passage. Yet, unlike that world, pesky lions lunch on Zebras, wolf
packs still gang up on sheep, snakes keep after children. We do not seem wise
enough or strong enough to figure this out.
Peace is difficult, after all.
Where
can we find true peace? Wolves still attack lambs. Living things still get sick
and die. Why can we not eliminate conflict? We cannot, because peace in this
world is unnatural. Wolves eat lambs. Lions eat antelopes. Human beings conduct
violence and wars against each other. We will need a godly leader to bring
peace, because peace requires our transformation.
[2] A favorite hymn of mine is “It is Well with my Soul,”
written in 1873
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Rivers can be peaceful. As Psalm 23 puts it so
beautifully and memorably, “He makes me
lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my
soul.” Yet, life has another, darker dimension to it. The sea of life can
indeed by rough, dangerous, and life-threatening. As I understand it, the waves
of the sea can be relentless, if one is caught in them. Life can feel that way.
Again, as Psalm 23 puts it, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley ...”
Now, the Christian has the assurance of the presence of God even then: “you are
with me. Your rod and your staff - they comfort me.” As Horatio G. Spafford
penned the words, “It is well with my soul.” The companion he had in good times
remains his companion when life is difficult.
Yet,
the writer of this hymn seems to know that this answer to human trials, as
meaningful as it is, needs more. The final verse of this hymn becomes
apocalyptic.
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Maranatha – Come, Lord Jesus.
I wonder if one can have genuine, vital faith, if that prayer is not in some
way powerful. “Haste the day” when the times that seem so out of joint now, the
times that are so ambiguous today, the times today when I can see no further
than the nose on my face, yes, haste the day when it shall all become clear. I
have pondered why it is that this hymn has affected me so powerfully for so
many years. It may be the possibility and hope I find in it. My life has had
its share of joys and sorrows, of everything moving easily and when life seems
burdensome. Clouds rolling back, trumpets sounding, and the Lord descending,
with all its “mythological” language, still speak to me. At times, when I
contemplate whatever such images may mean, “it is well with my soul.” I am not
sure that apocalyptic will make much sense to you, if some part of you does not
have that hope.
Peace refers to harmony. In terms of one’s
relationship with God, it refers to inner rest, harmony, peace, and freedom
from anxiety. It refers to a state of reconciliation with God. Such peace is
one of the fruits of the Spirit. Hebrew shalom refers to health and welfare, a
state of agreement between persons. Such peace exhibits love, gentleness, and
forgiveness. Such peace will bring unity. Paul emphasizes peace because he
longed for that which would bring Jew and Gentile together in one church.
[3] I came across a reference to a “human library.” It
started in Denmark. The idea was to set up a station with 75 people with
various types of stories to share. People of various religions, people
struggling with various handicaps, and people from differing work backgrounds.
The idea was that for a few days, you could “check out” a person for 30 minutes
and talk with them. You could find out from a real person with a real story
what it was like to be that person. It made me think, though, of what would
happen if people outside of the Christian faith could check us out and “read”
us. What would they find? Would they find a strain of this vision for peace
that, regardless of how imperfectly, we might seek to write into our lives? To
refer to politics, donkeys and elephants do not get along well. In economics,
bulls and bears seem incompatible. We have many types of Christians today,
leaning toward the progressive or the conservative. Yet, I ask this seriously,
do we not all have a longing for peace? Isaiah is inviting us out of
contentment with our divisiveness and to get lost in the thought of peace
[4] One of the blockages many people have with
Christmas is that it just not make sense. Christmas invites us to think
differently about our lives. It will take a stretch of our minds to think so
differently. That God, who is Infinite and Eternal, would become human, is
beyond anything our rationality could imagine. God has chosen the weak and
foolish things of the world to confound the wise. We do not go to Washington DC
or Wall Street to find our answer to the longing for peace. We go to Bethlehem,
to the stable, and the manger where the babe lies. At some point, we may need
to confess our ignorance, and come to the babe in the lap of Mary.
It is a ridiculous thing, that the one true God, the
high Majesty, should be made human ... Reason opposes this with all its
might. Here those wise thoughts with
which our reason soars up towards heaven to see God in His Majesty, and to
probe how God reigns there on high, are stripped from us. The goal is fixed elsewhere, so that I should
run from all the corners of the world to Bethlehem, to that stable and that
manger where the babe lies, ... Yes, that subdues reason ... there it comes
down before my eyes, so that I can see the babe there in His Mother's lap ...
Where, then, are the wise? Who could
ever have conceived this or thought it out?
Reason must bow, and must confess her ignorance in that she wants to
climb to heaven to fathom the Divine, while she cannot see what lies before her
eyes in the manger. - Martin Luther
[6] It would be nice to have an easier problem. I came across a news item
that suggested that Procter & Gamble farmed out a chemical synthesis
problem to a scientific community on the Internet called InnoCentive.com. Patent
attorney David Bridan, who studied organic chemistry in graduate school before
matriculating to law school, found a question on InnoCentive.com, and using a
simple pen and pad of paper method, produced a solution, and submitted it. A
few weeks later, he received an e-mail saying his solution was the best one
submitted. Since it was the best solution received, they sent him a $4,000
check that conveniently paid for his wife’s new terra cotta kitchen floor.
[7] Martin Luther gave a sermon
in 1533 in which he said:
It is a ridiculous thing, that the one true God, the
high Majesty, should be made human ... Reason opposes this with all its
might. Here those wise thoughts with
which our reason soars up towards heaven to see God in His Majesty, and to
probe how God reigns there on high, are stripped from us. The goal is fixed elsewhere, so that I should
run from all the corners of the world to Bethlehem, to that stable and that
manger where the babe lies, ... Yes, that subdues reason ... there it comes
down before my eyes, so that I can see the babe there in His Mother's lap ...
Where, then, are the wise? Who could
ever have conceived this or thought it out?
Reason must bow, and must confess her ignorance in that she wants to
climb to heaven to fathom the Divine, while she cannot see what lies before her
eyes in the manger. - Martin Luther
[8] (Wishful
Thinking: A Seeker's ABC [New York: HarperCollins, (1973) 1993], 104).
[9] What will you do? How will you focus the
spotlight? How will you elevate Jesus? What kind of mood will you create so
Jesus is best received? If we were to live as Jesus’ stagehands, how would we
build a “set” for peace? How would we live our lives as part of that “set”?
[10]
(Richard B. Hays, "The Future of Reading the Bible in the Church,"
The Circuit Rider, September 1999)
[11]
(Systematic Theology, Vol. 1)
[12]
(Church Dogmatics, III.1, 41.1)
[13]
(Systematic Theology, Vol. 3)
[14]
(IV.3, 69.3)
[15]
(Church Dogmatics III.4, 55.1)
[16]
(III.3, 50.3)
[17]
(III.1, 41.2)
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