August 18, 2013
Pentecost 13
Isaiah 5:1-7
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
(prayer)
If you were in church here last week, you might remember that the author of the letter to the Hebrews made the case that people in the church can follow historical examples of faith – “faith” being the assurance of things hoped for and the confidence of things unseen -even if a fulfillment of these hopes is not realized right away.
The early part of Hebrews chapter eleven spoke about: Abel (Adam and Eve’s son); Enoch (Noah’s great grandfather), Noah; Abraham and his son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob.
Each of these heroes of history were said to have lived ‘by faith’.
In today’s reading, the Hebrews author writes a list of others who he could go into detail about, but doesn’t think he has to: Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah (jef-tah), David, Samuel and the prophets.
There was one last detailed description did come at the start of today’s reading from Hebrews.
Rahab (rA-hab), a resident of Jericho, who was spared when the walled city was attacked by Joshua and the Israelites because she had helped the Hebrew scouts who had come earlier to spy on the city’s defences.
What makes Rahab different from the others we read about last week is that she is not Hebrew and not only that, she is a prostitute: a foreigner engaging in defiantly distasteful behaviour. But those distinctions don’t matter, by faith she survived the invasion.
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Faith – for the author of Hebrews – is not about status, nationality, gendre; but is about a state of mind and heart > an openness to a mysterious God, who has ways and means beyond our understanding.
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The early Christians (at the time Hebrews was written) were experiencing hardship, even persecution for what they professed. The message to them was that they could endure “by faith”.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been reading a book by Reza Aslan called “Zealot”. In it, he attempts to tell (in basically chronological order) the context of Jesus’ life and how his teachings and actions fit into the time of the early first century. Aslan actually begins several decades before Jesus’ life to help the reader understand the world that Jesus was born into. And Aslan, goes on to describe the development of Christian thought and theology through the later years of first century after Jesus death and resurrection. One of the theses of Reza Aslan’s book is that Jesus could be seen alongside other Hebrew charismatic teachers who promoted the revolutionary idea that Judea and Galilee should be free from the rule of the Roman Empire – that the throne of David should be restored - that God was their sovereign, not Caesar.
As you may have heard me preach on Good Friday (and at other times), Jesus’ death came as a result of him being convicted as an enemy of the empire – his crucifixion was punishment for the fact that he challenged the authority of Caesar, even taking on (passively or explicitly) the radical title: King of the Jews. The word “Messiah” (Christ) means “anointed one” – it was a royal reference - referring to coronation rite of anointing the leader with oil. Aslan makes the same point in this book (as I have here before) that Jesus was executed for sedition/treason.
All of the conversations about blasphemy with the high priest and the Sanhedrin are a side show. Clearly the religious leaders did not like Jesus or the anti-temple content of his teachings, but Jesus died as a revolutionary traitor of the empire.
As I mentioned, Aslan does a really nice job recounting the history of others around Jesus’ time who could be said to have has messianic aspirations – tried to lead a popular uprising against Rome to re-establish Hebrew self-rule. Many of these co-called messiahs are known by name; some are even mentioned in the Bible. But most of us know little or nothing about Theudas (thA-dus), or someone called “The Egyptian”, or Athronges, or another messianic leader simply known as “The Samaritan”, or Hezekiah the bandit theif, Judas the Galilean, Menahem (me-nah-hem), Simon son of Giora (gE-or-ah), or Simon son of Kochba (kok-ba). We don’t know about them because when the authorities finally saw fit to stop them, that was it. A messiah who fails to establish the kingdom was a failed (false) messiah.
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What makes the Jesus movement different is that, even though Jesus also failed in a mission to rout the Romans and re-establish Hebrew self-rule, his followers had a conviction that was unique – they maintained their belief that Jesus was messiah.
You see, to the early followers of Jesus, (as the author of Hebrews expressed) ‘faith’ included the conviction of hopes not yet realized.
One of the things I really liked about the book, Zealot, is that the early Christians adjusted what freedom and liberty meant - even in the context of empire, oppression and suffering. Even without realized justice in the here and now, the church was encouraged to hold to a faith that - true freedom and liberty was known in the realm of the spirit and the soul. Even Caesar had trouble dousing that fire.
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And so how does that inform us as we live today in a world, where there is an expectation that everything we might desire in the moment must be ‘in stock’, on the shelves. Our box store, drive-through, 4G/LTE mentality is making patience hard to come by.
Did you hear the story out of Edmonton about the man who had his car seized by police because over the past eight years he has been convicted or charged with eight counts of ‘road rage’. The law they are using is usually reserved for the vehicles of criminal gangs and drug lords.
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Patience seems to be a scarce commodity in the world of today.
We want easy answers; we want quick answers; we want results… now!
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I don’t want to suggest that we lose our desire to make real the practical justice demanded by Jesus’ mission of compassion and love. In fact, I believe that our scriptures point us to enduring even when change is slow and elusive.
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‘Slow and steady’ is a tried and true way of working toward a goal.
The challenge is to not let frustration or apathy win the day.
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Many of those who are commended for their faith by the author of Hebrews did not receive a full fulfillment of what was promised.
Their example for us is not the ‘receiving’ but in the ‘persevering’. Because we are part of a long lineage of faithful people - a cloud of witnesses (as Hebrews puts it), we are encouraged to move forward... in faith.
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This is very similar to what the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: 5:2Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Suffering > Endurance > Character > Hope
Not that we are to go out of our way to find suffering so that we can know hope. But, being able to suffer through the difficulties that lie between us and our goal is a characteristic that the early church leaders wanted the followers of Jesus’ Way to develop.
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In light of this discussion, let’s have a look at the passage from Isaiah - a parable about an unfruitful vineyard. At first glance, it is describing a vineyard owner who gives up on the land which is not producing good fruit.
It seemed to the vineyard owner that he had done everything right - the land was fertile, it was cleared of stones and choice vines were planted, he build a protective wall and planted a hedge - and yet the fruit was bitter (no better than wild grapes). “What more could I have done?”
The vineyard owner is ready to give up - let the weeds and briers overtake the land and choke out the worthless plants. This plot doesn’t even deserve any rain.
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Isaiah chapter five is a harsh bit of scripture. Especially when we read that there is no mystery what the metaphor of the unfruitful vineyard refers to: the vineyard is the house of Israel and the people of Judah!
Is God ready to give up on the people and let other nations come and do with the land as they choose?
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As the book of Isaiah begins, Uzziah is the king of Judah. According to accounts in the books of 2nd Kings and 2nd Chronicles, he was a vigorous and able ruler and did what was right in the sight of God. At least that was the description early in his reign (he became king at age 16 and reigned for 52 years). In Isaiah’s time, Uzziah had run afoul of the Temple high priest for taking upon himself to burn incense at the alter - a task reserved only for the priests - not even the kings was allowed to perform such sacred rituals.
It is the waning years of Uzziah’s kingdom that has the prophet Isaiah’s attention as we read chapter five. To the prophet, the vineyard of God has become unfruitful as the kingdom of Judah has become unfaithful.
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In this song of the vineyard, is the call to return to faithfulness.
It is the same theme that John the Baptist would preach: repent, for the Kingdom of God is near. Jesus borrowed those same words as he began his ministry - repent [return to faith], God’s kingdom is in your midst.
In Isaiah 5, what sounds like a condemnation, is really a promise about the presence of the Holy in the here and now. And there is the call to appreciate and enjoy that.
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So, for us today from these scriptures are two promises - well it’s really one promise, known in two different ways:
The promise is (as we will profess as we come to the table in a few minutes for communion)... WE ARE NOT ALONE.
We are part of a long lineage of faith and action - a veritable cloud of witnesses, who are our guides and inspiration along the Way.
And... the realm of God is in our midst. For the writer’s of the gospels, this was two-fold - God is our true sovereign, not Caesar and Jesus, in the flesh, was a manifestation of God - even if that was not fully appreciated at the time Jesus lived and moved and had his being in this world.
God is in our midst. We are not alone, we live in God’s world!
Now, most times when we look at the world, we might call that proclamation into question - there is much that works against the compassion and justice that Jesus preached.
Sometimes, all we want is to understand a world that seems to defy explanation. We want all of the answers and we want them now. We don’t want to be patience. We don’t want to have to persevere. We don’t want to have to hope. We want the easy quick understanding.
But, the experience of that cloud of witnesses tells us that - even among the most faithful of our kind - that has never been the case.
The best we can do might be to let go of the things that weigh us down (the distractions, the unfixable worries) and simply “be” - to move ahead on this path of life and faith (i.e. persevere) looking at the example of Jesus, who did not avoid difficulty when it came to proclaiming his message of compassion and justice - a message that is now ours to live out and followers of Jesus’ Way.
Slow and steady is a means of faithful living - it is a spiritual discipline.
Let us pray:
God, sometimes faith is hard; easy answers and clear understanding would be so much easier. But I’ll try. I’ll move ahead in faith. In Jesus’ name, I pray, AMEN.
***offering***
