It was around 600 BC when a dystopian 1930’s-like dictator named Nebuchadnezzar was on a mission to make Babylon great again by building and renovating tall buildings. His armies invaded and occupied Assyria, Egypt, and Palestine, destroying Jerusalem. Judah had three kings during Nebuchadnezzar’s reign who were either taken as hostages or killed. The entire territory was desolated, and the Jewish people were exiled.
I imagine it was difficult, if not impossible, for those in exile to see any light in the darkness. And it was easy for them to resign themselves to the belief that things could not and would not get any better, to acquiesce to despair.
It is in this fearful time and dark place that a prophet named Isaiah reminds people of faith that they are called to speak out proclaiming words of courage to those with fearful hearts (Isaiah 35:4).
The phrase “those with fearful hearts” only scratches the surface in describing the people’s despair. Anathea Portier-Young, Professor of Old Testament at Duke Divinity School, points out that a more literal reading the Hebrew language is: “ones whose hearts are racing.” Isaiah calls people to proclaim a word of hope to people “whose hearts are racing.”
Perhaps we have all experienced something of what this professor describes when she writes:
The heart races. A hormone we call adrenaline or epinephrine courses through the bloodstream. It stimulates muscles, directs blood-flow, and accelerates metabolism. At the same time, it causes the senses to close in — the field of vision narrows and the world becomes strangely quiet. It is a stress response. It might energize the body for battle, or to run away. Or it might mimic paralysis.[i]
The Jewish people who had been terrorized by Nebuchadnezzar and forced into exile certainly knew something about this.
And today, the students and faculty of Apalachee High School, along with their families and friends in Georgia, tragically know something about this, along with every child in our country who has experienced active shooter drills teaching them to first run, then to hide, and then to fight, when someone with a gun comes to the school.
Every parent who has a school-aged child and every person who has a heart, knows something about a racing heart every time we are alerted with breaking news of another senseless school shooting.
And, like the Jewish people in exile, it has become difficult, if not impossible, to see any light in the darkness. We acquiesce to the despair, calling it “the new normal.” Even people of faith have no faith that things in this life can be any better, thus many have placed all of their faith and hope in an afterlife.
The only reason many folks are in church this morning is to make preparations to leave this God-forsaken earth for heaven, not to be inspired to do something to bring heaven to earth.
So today, perhaps more than ever, we need to hear a prophetic word, at least as much as the Jews in exile needed such a word. We need to hear someone like Isaiah calling faithful people to stand up to proclaim some prophetic good news to those today whose hearts are racing.
To understand the prophetic word that people of faith are called to proclaim today, it might be helpful talk about what the prophet does not say we are to proclaim.
Isaiah does not say: “Tell those with racing hearts that you are sending them your thoughts and prayers.”
Isaiah does not say: “Tell those with racing hearts that you hate what happened, but such evil is just ‘a fact of life.’”
Isaiah does not say: “Tell those with racing hearts that we live in a dangerous world full of ‘sick and deranged monsters,’ and instead of making common-sense laws to prevent them from attaining weapons of war, we actually need to make such weapons more accessible, even to our children, to protect us from the danger.”
The prophet doesn’t say: “Tell them that this is just the way it is, and things are not going to get any better, so we just need to accept it. Gun violence will always be the number one cause of childhood death in our country. We had 1,708 mass shootings last year, and we can expect more next year. This is the new normal, and there’s really nothing we can do about it, except to arm ourselves, lock our doors, continue to put our children through active shooter drills, maybe get them some bullet-proof back-packs, and display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.”
And Isaiah doesn’t say anything close to: “Tell the people that the reason they live in so much fear is because they have taken God out of their schools.”
In fact, the prophet says the exact opposite.
The prophet says:
Have courage and take heart because God is here, right here. God is coming to put things right and redress all wrongs. (Isaiah 35:4 The Message).
What bothers me the most about the state of the church today is not that the church has a difficult time articulating the prophetic good-news. It is not that it has clouded or even lost the message. What troubles me the most is that the church often proclaims a message that is the exact opposite of the good news that we are called to share, the antithesis of everything that the prophets proclaimed and Jesus taught, modeled and embodied.
Instead of loving our neighbors, we preach take care of yourself.
Instead of welcoming the stranger, we preach building a wall.
Instead of healing the sick, we preach denying their healthcare.
Instead of forgiving the sinner, we preach throwing rocks.
Instead of treating the poor like they are blessed, we preach treating them like they are cursed.
Instead of standing up for the marginalized, we preach calling them abominations.
We choose to favor the rich over the poor, greed over generosity, judgment over forgiveness, selfishness over sacrifice. We choose to embrace a lie and reject the truth. We choose the arrogant, the proud, the condescending and the self-important, while rejecting anyone who comes close to embracing a way of service and humility.
And instead of protecting our children, we’d rather protect our second amendment right.
Instead of sharing hope in God’s restorative justice, we’d rather share gloom and doom, hell, fire, and brimstone.
The message we proclaim is the exact opposite of the message of the prophets and Jesus. And this is why I don’t hesitate to say that the message that is proclaimed by many churches today is “anti-Christ.”
Anne chose to read this prophetic passage this morning using The Message translation of the Hebrew, because the NRSV translation we usually read translates the Hebrew word naqam into the English word “vengeance.” Verse 4 reads in the NRSV: “God will come with vengeance.”
Like Anne, I have a difficult time linking “vengeance” with the good news of God’s presence. To be honest, I almost chose not to preach this passage this morning when I first read it in the NRSV, as I choose to believe that God’s dealings with creation is restorative, rather than retributive.
This is why it is always good to take a close look at the original language when studying scripture. Biblical scholar Hendrik Peels points out that the Hebrew word translated “vengeance” in the NRSV literally means “the restoration of justice.” Thus, the meaning of the word is closer to what we call “restorative justice.” It means setting things right.
Isaiah is calling faithful people to proclaim to those with racing hearts: “Have hope for God has not abandoned you. This world is not God-forsaken. God is here with you, and God’s restorative justice is on its way. God is here working in our world, creating and recreating. God is addressing and redressing everything that is wrong in the world making it right.
Isaiah is saying to tell the people with fearful, racing hearts: “Be greatly encouraged for violence is not the new normal. Resignation to despair is not a fact of life. It does not have to be this way! For God is here! Justice has arrived! Love is coming, and love will win!”
With rich poetic language, the prophet says to the people with racing hearts: “Eyes that have been blinded will be opened.”
I hear:
Eyes that have been blinded by selfishness and greed will be opened! because I know that some of God’s people, some faithful disciples, who are shining a light.
Deaf ears that are unable to hear voices of mercy and peace will be unstopped! because I know some of God’s people who are proclaiming the truth.”
People who are feel paralyzed and powerless to bring about change will leap like deer all the way to the ballot box! because I know some disciples who are out in the streets preaching hope.”
Tell the people with racing hearts that those whose voices have been silenced by the loudness of hate, fear and privilege will break into song! Because followers of Jesus are going to be louder. Voices will be raised demanding that legislators enact common sense laws to protect all people society, especially those who are most vulnerable.
Tell the people with racing hearts that justice is coming like springs of water bursting forth in a wilderness! Streams of justice will flow in the desert!” because people are answering the call to heed the message of the prophets and to follow the non-violent, peace-making way of Jesus. People are speaking out passionately and prophetically with beautiful words of hope and transformation.
We are prophetically proclaiming to the people that when the scriptures talk about being born again, it applies to the entire creation!
“Hot sands will become a cool oasis and thirsty ground a splashing fountain, and even the jackals, even creatures regarded as lowliest of creatures, will have fresh water to drink. Barren grasslands will even flourish richly!”
Because no matter how bad things seem, we will never give out while working as God’s prophetic agents of restorative justice in this world. We will never give in to the darkness that surrounds us, and we will never give up on love and the power that it has to transform the world!
[i] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-23-2/commentary-on-isaiah-354-7a-3
Just Love 