Reading: Isaiah 49
Isaiah 49 is from a part of the Book of Isaiah written in the middle of the sixth century BCE, when the people of Israel are beginning their journey home after too many years of scattered, disheartening exile in Babylon.
Exile was one of the most fruitful times in their history, for deepening their experience of God’s love and good purpose in the midst of the hard realities of life and of human weakness. In their exile, many came to think God had abandoned them, and that all they had tried to do and be as God’s people in the world had come to nothing. Some wondered why they should even go back to start again.
Isaiah knows all they feel. But … he also sees something they don’t, and he preaches it to them.
Isaiah 49:1-18 (paraphrased)
Listen up, all you who are all over the place!
Listen, and recognize your true self in this story.
Before I, Israel, was born into history,
the Lord had his eye on me for special service.
He gave me meaningful things to say that cut right to the truth,
and the Lord protected me while I did it.
I was an arrow of truth that the Lord sent into the world
for all the people to see God’s goodness.
Recently I have come to say, “I have worked,
but how hopeless it’s all turned out to be.
I am worn out, and nothing good or lasting has come of it.”
Still, I trust God to bring something good
out of what has happened to me.
And the Lord now says unto me,
“I have an even greater task for you, my servant.
Not only will the survivors of the exile be brought back
to be my special people again set apart from the rest of the world,
but I will now make you a light to all people of the world
about their calling as well,
so, all people – not just my chosen ones, may be saved.”
Israel’s holy God says
to the servant who is despised and hated by others,
“Those in power will see you miraculously set free from oppression,
and they will show you respect;
the haves will see have-nots raised up,
and those on high will learn to bow low to them, and honour them.”
So, the Lord says to his people,
“When the time comes, I will answer your cries for help;
through you I will reveal the way I work on Earth.
I will bring you back to your land,
and you shall be as prisoners set free,
coming into the light;
you shall be as sheep that graze on the hills,
never to hunger or thirst, and led by a shepherd who loves them.”
Sing, o heavens! Shout for joy, o Earth!
The Lord will have compassion on his people.
We have thought and said,
“The Lord has abandoned and forgotten us!”
But can a woman forget her nursing child,
and show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even if a mother should forget, I will never forget you.
O my people, I can never forget you!
I have inscribed your names on the palms of my hand;
and those who will help you rebuild are coming soon.”
Reflection
Today is Labour Day weekend, and today’s Scripture was chosen with that in mind.
Not because of the image in it of God as divine mother who labours to bring us to birth, who bears the marks of our life as scars in her own body, and can do nothing but love us evermore because of it.
The image rings true, of course. We’ve experienced how God labours over us and with us over and over again, through birth and new birth and rebirth again, always to new stages of life, awareness, and engagement with the world. Bit it isn’t the repeated labour that God goes through with us, that led to the choice of this reading for this weekend.
The reading was chosen because it’s all about going back. It comes from a time when the people of Israel are going back – going back home. It’s something they’ve waited for and prayed for, for a long time. And now that the opportunity has come, they have mixed feelings about it. They need help to understand what it means, what it offers them, and what it calls them to. And Isaiah, a prophet of God, helps them see what they need to see, to do it well.
And with this weekend being a time of going back for us as well, maybe what Isaiah tells the people of his time, is also of some help to us in ours. As we go back. Back to school. Back to work. Back to church. Back to seeing people, and doing things, and engaging in activities we love. Back to real life. Back to routine. Back to normal.
Except, what’s normal? And what are we going back to?
A neighbour of mine, in “the old days” – just a couple of years ago, was a leader of a number of spiritual growth and recovery groups. It was something he had grown into for some time, and it was a work he found extremely fulfilling and satisfying – being a facilitator of spiritual growth for others. It gave his life purpose, and made all he’d been through himself worthwhile.
He had to stop, though, and not just because the pandemic cut into the ways the groups could meet. He also suffered a concussion in a sports accident. The after-effects were quite severe and appeared off and on for quite a while. Because of it he had to step back from group leadership, and over time he’s felt increasingly frustrated and even a bit angry about it.
Physically he’s doing better now and with the re-opening of group meeting places, he’s ready and anxious – impatient even, to step back into group leadership. He knows it’ll do him a world of good to get back to it, and be of use again.
His own advisor, though, has cautioned him there’s really no “back” for him to get to – at least not the way he imagines it. For one thing, both he and the others in the groups, as well as the groups as a whole have changed and been changed a lot since he last was a leader; things will not be the same.
For another thing, what was “back” there was never really as good and totally life-giving as he imagines it in hindsight to have been. He was often upset as a leader, frustrated sometimes at the way the groups went, even angry at not being able to help others or do as much good as he wanted to. And his healing and happiness in it came not from how “good” the old days were, but from the ways he worked through the challenges of those days.
In other words, going “back” to “the good old days” is not possible, not honest, and not the cure to our present distress. More helpful and healthy, is to remember and recognize that all we have at any time – whether back then or today, is “now” – whatever the present moment is, and includes, and offers – all the joys, companions and opportunities, as well as the frustrations, fears and challenges that the present situations brings us.
And the question – always the question, of what we will make of what is. What relationships we will forge right now. What covenants we will make, and with whom. What new and appropriate goals we will set, and how we will work together towards them. In this present moment – this inescapable “now” – what we will commit to, with whom, and by what agreed-upon rules – ideally, for the good and the well-being of all.
As I mentioned, Isaiah 49 was written at a time when the people of Israel are going back from long years of lonely, disheartened exile in Babylon, to repopulate their land, rebuild their city and temple, and restart their life as God’s people in the world.
In verses 1-4 Isaiah begins by lamenting with the people, the effect that their losses and sorrows have had on their psyche, their morale, and their faith. It’s been a hard time being in exile. Having suffered such a sudden change in their fortunes, and having lost all they were and all they had been given by God, they have come to wonder if it really meant anything at all.
But then, beyond the sorrow and anguish, in verses 5-7 the prophet says, “Do not fear.” For now – the all-important “now” – God is once again stirring the pot, turning a corner, and creating a time of blessing even better than what was before. Because now, more than just being God’s special people set apart from others in the world, to be holier than them, now you are about to be set apart and lifted up for others, to bring light to all people and nations, and bring to light how all the world is included and embraced as you are in God’s good will. You will be a sign not of what the world isn’t, but of what all the world really is, in the eyes and good will of God.
The way the prophet puts it, in verse
6, is this:
It is too light a thing if all you do now as my servant
is just regather the people, and just bring back together
those who have survived the time away.
Rather, I give you as a light to the nations –
to the rest of the world around you, in new ways,
that my healing, my gathering, my promise of new life
may reach to the ends of the earth.
We’re very aware the world has changed during the time of the pandemic. The world has been swept over by a number of massive waves – the Me Too movement, Black Lives Matter, Every Child Counts, new awareness of the Climate Change Crisis. And other things too that were always kind of known but not given much attention, have now grown in our attention – like the state of long-term care, the effects of loneliness and isolation on mental health, the benefits of real community among neighbours, and the need to build bridges and lines of connection between different social and economic classes if any of us are really going to be well.
The social and cultural landscape has changed. The political agenda is different than it was ten years ago – even five or two years ago. And the mission God has for his church is now different too.
We’re not going back to what was, because there’s really no “back” to go to. There is only what’s now – the present moment, and all it includes and offers – all the joys, companions and opportunities we will find … all the frustrations, fears and challenges we will face … and the question, what we will make of what is, with the help of God and others around us.
The cure to our pandemic exile, the solution to our time apart, the easing of the losses we have suffered is not just to come back together. It’s to come back together to face the challenges and move into the opportunities of the present day, because this really has always been – both back then, and now – the way of real happiness.
And … the best news of all, tagged on at the end? Those who will help do all this … help us be the church for the present day, are coming to us and are nearer than we think. I wonder who they are. I have no doubt we may be surprised. I pray we are open to them as they show up.
It’s a wonderful time, really, to be a church. There are all kinds of new reasons for us to be here. And by the grace of God, we are.
Even though there’s no “back” for us to go to, it’s good to “be back”, being God’s people for good in this part of the world.
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