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Assembly of Solemn Noises |
Isaiah 1: 1, 10-20
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© John Ewing Roberts |
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INTRODUCTION The first verse of Isaiah tells us that the prophet was a man of the capital city; from his writings we know that he was active in and around Jerusalem and the temple, a man who would have been politically astute and liturgically sophisticated. As such, he surely was interested in the interaction between worship and public affairs, between how one acted in the temple and how one acted the next day, or as we would put it, the connection between worship on Sunday and work on Monday. What if there is a split between words and deeds, creed and conduct? What if religion does not penetrate the hard realities of your life? Isaiah concluded that the Lord is more concerned with behavior in social relationships than with the niceties of formal worship.[1] Isaiah believed that worship and ethics connect in this way: reverence for the moral character of God, for God's holiness, corresponds with moral behavior by God's people.[2] Worshipping a righteous God means righteous living. If worship fails to make this connection, then it is evil since by it we deceive ourselves into thinking we are on the right course. COME NOW AND LET US REASON TOGETHER Verse 18 contains the famous quote, "Come now and let us reason together," words made famous as they were used by former President Lyndon Baines Johnson. He used to summon people to his office, tower over them, encircle them with a huge arm around the shoulder, get up in their face, and, as the most powerful man in the world, say, "Come, now and let us reason together." Those who were subjected to this treatment report that LBJ usually got his way. Perhaps his tactics inspired the book Winning by Intimidation. The Lord addressed in worship has more power than the president of the United States, but his ways are not our ways. The Lord wins us over by invitation, an invitation nevertheless backed up by power. The invitation in Isaiah 1: 18 has a legal setting, but, as Page Kelley wrote, it is not an invitation "to enter into debate with God but to stand at attention before him while he sums up his case against them and explains the alternatives open to them."[3] In Deuteronomy 30: 19-20 Moses explains the alternatives: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days... The consequences for picking the wrong alternative are grim. "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the word..."[4] Notice the word play: the obedient shall eat; the disobedient will be eaten! But there are other legal images here besides that of standing before a judge and weighing one's alternatives. Implicit in the text are probation, malpractice, and the delivery of a death sentence. "The Lord speaks as judge before whom Israel stands condemned. The guilt of the prisoner is certain, but he will receive from the judge a second chance as if he were an innocent man. He is on probation and must now make his own decision and choose his fate."[5] Correct practice in worship in the temple on the Sabbath is deadly if not followed by correct practice in the marketplace each day of the week. Isaiah sees a case of malpractice, not medical malpractice, not legal malpractice, but malpractice in worship and ethics. A rejected appeal to repent becomes a justification for judgment. In other words we have a "death sentence that is final and nonnegotiable." But there are occasions when the prophets are not announcing "disaster as a foregone conclusion," but warning "Israel that it is late in a dysfunctional relationship, but not too late...Israel has not yet reached a point of no return with Yahweh. Israel can turn and repent, re-embrace Yahweh, and so avert disaster." Israel has "a chance to alter its course and reengage Yahweh in dutiful obedience. This utterance offers hope to Israel, but it is hope that requires Israel to make a drastic change in its conduct."[6] There is a slight window of hope that the death sentence may still be appealed. The standard for judgment in this proceeding is nothing marginal, no slippery distinctions between mortal and venial sins. The standard for judgment is central, basic, non-negotiable, things like "Thou shalt not commit adultery...thou shalt not bear false witness...righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people...love does not rejoice in evil."[7] It is "word of the Lord" (v. 10), Torah, the Hebrew word for law, but so much more. Its root is in the verb meaning "to shoot." "In ancient times one frequently shot an arrow to indicate direction....The verb to shoot (meant)...in a figurative sense...to point out, to show the way, to instruct, or to teach."[8] SOLEMN ASSEMBLIES One thing God cannot endure is "solemn assemblies." Some years ago the sociologist Peter Berger wrote a book called The Noise of Solemn Assemblies, which was quickly parodied into An Assembly of Solemn Noises. Apparently the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention were not aware of Berger's important book, and more seriously, were ignorant of the frequent prophetic attacks on solemn assemblies when they decided to call a series of solemn assemblies to bring "peace" to Southern Baptists. However well-intended these leaders may have been, they should have recalled the most famous biblical reference to solemn assemblies, "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies...But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."[9] BLOODY HANDS To appreciate God's revulsion over the behavior of those who fail to connect worship with action, consider the shocking image of hands stretched out in the Jewish fashion for worship and prayer. To God's horror he sees hands actually filled with blood.[10] The only way I can think of for us to recover the impact of this image is to refer to Saving Private Ryan, the new Steven Spielberg film. It opens with a 25-minute sequence depicting American troops landing at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. Spielberg is not content to show us the blood shed that day; "he spurts it onto the camera lens...bodies fall and keep falling, piling up in the sand and washing to shore with schools of dead fish." The film is so realistic that military historian Stephen Ambrose "had to stop the film at a private screening in order to collect himself. The Department of Veterans Affairs is so worried that World War II veterans will experience flashbacks that it has set up a hot line...(There are images of relentless impact)"...men in flames, (Tom) Hanks pouring blood-reddened water out of his helmet, a dazed soldier picking up his own dismembered arm."[11] The sense of shock and revulsion created by these pictures is comparable to the image Isaiah uses: a man turns to pray; he lifts up his hands to God and bright, red blood oozes from his palms. There is a subtle double meaning in the charge, "your hands are full of blood" in verse 15: the blood of sacrificial animals and the blood spilled because of unspecified violent acts against people.[12] The word blood is plural in Hebrew, "hands full of bloods," a form usually suggesting blood shed violently, as in war or in murder.[13] "Wash yourselves" is a call for ritual purity; "make yourselves clean" is a summons to moral purity.[14] "Though your sins be as scarlet (those bloody hands), they shall be as white as snow."[15] After so grim a discourse, we need to pause to what I hope will be comic relief on the point of blood and snow symbolism. I am told that a certain Southern Baptist church in Tennessee built its baptistery with a big pane of clear glass at the top of the front side to reveal the candidate underwater at the most awkward moment of which should be a beautiful rite. Regrettably this feature seems to be the recommended approach by the Church Architecture folks. When a candidate for baptism, recently black with sin, enters the pool, the local equivalent of Bill Butler throws a switch and a black light under water turns the pool as black as sin. When the candidate goes down into the water, the black light goes off and a red light comes on, representing either scarlet sins or the blood of Jesus or both. As the candidate comes up out of the water, the red light yields to a bright white light since the person has now been washed "white as snow." Our Building Committee declined to pursue this option at Woodbrook. If you find it attractive, you may pursue the matter at the next business meeting. WORSHIP What is serious and wonderful here is the possibility of cleansing, even for a person with bloody hands. I have recalled this hopeful text when washing my hands at the great ablutions Fountain al-Kas outside the Dome of the Rock where one washes both hands and feet before entering the third holiest place in Islam. Isaiah must have held on to the hope for cleansing. In spite of the gap between worship and ethics, he never gave up on the temple. Remember he was in the temple when he had his great vision in Chapter 6 of the Lord of justice.[16] The Psalmist reminds us of the link between worship and action: "O Lord, who may abide in your tent?.....Those who walk blamelessly and do what is right." "Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully." [17] Worship changes hearts. Worship changes minds. Worship changes attitudes. Worship changes lives. When rightly engaged, worship elevates, worship reinvigorates for fresh acts of compassion and justice. "...worship that understands that beauty and pageantry, loud noises, and good feelings are not of value in themselves. They are of value only as they help us to `cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.'"[18] Let me recall William Temple's great statement about worship: To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. ACTION I want to explore his idea about "opening the heart to the love of God." Worship is the setting for the kind of interaction between us and God that we see in a famous painting by Holman Hunt. The Light of the World, shows Jesus holding a lantern in one hand while knocking with the other on a door. The background is Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me." "The message seems to be clear: Jesus wants to come into our hearts. There is no door knob -Jesus can't force his way inside; we have to invite him in; we have to open the door of our hearts, etc. We've heard all this many times before. But there is more here than all we've heard previously. When Jesus comes in, it is for a meal. A fresh interpretation of this meal comes from Father Robert Farrar Capon, an Episcopal priest who writes cook books and theology books. He paints a picture of Jesus standing at the door, not wanting to come in and ask us, "What's for supper?" or "May I have something to drink?" Instead, Father Capon sees Jesus as wanting to bring in a party, the Supper of the Lamb, all sorts of wonderful goodies, better than anything from the gourmet-to-go sections at Fresh Fields or Eddie's. It is as if Jesus says, "It's a hot evening; here, I brought you a nice seafood salad with chilled lobster, shrimp and backfin crab lumps. Ever had a quail egg? Save some room for the flourless, double-chocolate cake." [19] Yes, Jesus wants in to eat with us, but he brings carry-out to die for, or rather to live for. And that's "the larger message...Jesus wants in so that he can bring us out."[20] He feeds us to make us strong and ready to go out and share the bounty of all his delightful gifts. The blessings of God come into our lives that we may carry blessings into the world. Jesus is actually knocking on the door to invite us out, on mission in the world. In Vacation Bible School this past week the StarQuest explorers learned that our mission is to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to tell others about Him. In North Carolina two weeks ago our Youth learned in the Passport program that mission also means mission service projects, hands on activities for others in Jesus' name. Jesus not only stands at the door and knocks to come in and eat with us. He also said, "I am the door."[21] He is the doorway out into the world. He is the "way out of the closed-up, interior-focused, self-absorbed lives we lead....Jesus doesn't come into our hearts, into our lives, just to hang around like some eternal house guest...He makes it possible for us to walk outside ourselves, walk outside the protective walls we have built around ourselves, and step out into a world that needs the message of compassion and redemption that Jesus has given us. In other words, Jesus comes in to get us out. Note where Jesus is standing: in the garden. Christianity is an out-of-doors religion... "Under ancient Near Eastern law, orphans and widows had no rights. God's people were expected to care for those whom the law ignored. Such was and is the basis for a genuine approach to God. God reaches out to us who have no claim in him; we must do the same for others."[22] "To seek justice is to care for the powerless members of the society, the oppressed, the orphan and the widow."[23] I take these ideas to mean that Jesus wants us to come out of ourselves and do something for the most vulnerable in our society, the way the VBS kids gave school supplies for a boy too poor to have what he needed to do his school work. Jesus, at the door, Jesus, the door, says, "Come out from the seclusion of bitterness to risk forgiving those who've hurt you. "Come out from the seclusion of elitism that pulls away from those who don't agree with you. "Come out from the seclusion of fear that keeps you from trying anything new. "Come out from the seclusion of self that keeps you from seeing the needs of others." [24] "Come out for neighborhood clean-up day." "Come out for WEE work day." "Come out to work in Vacation Bible School." "Come out for Habitat for Humanity." "Come and bring your clothes for City Temple." "Come and bring your food for the Assistance Center." "Come out for a mission trip to Cuba." "Come and go on a missions trip for a week in North Carolina." Every leaf on the tree in the narthex, every piece in the puzzle in the sanctuary says, "Yes, I will open to Jesus, eat with him, delight in his blessings, and come out to go on mission." We conclude as the youth come forward to place their puzzle pieces, bearing witness that worship and work do go together. Somewhere old Isaiah is grinning, and there is surely joy in heaven. [This sermon is for circulation within the Woodbrook congregation and may not be reproduced without permission.] Notes: [1] R. B. Y. Scott, Isaiah, The Interpreter's Bible, George A. Buttrick, editor [New York: Abingdon Press] 1956, Vol. V, p. 170 [2] Scott, op. cit., p. 170 [3] Cate, op. cit., p. 142 [4] Isaiah 1: 19-20 [5] Scott, op. cit., p. 174 [6] Walter Brueggemann. Theology of the Old Testament - Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy [Minneapolis:Fortress Press] 1997, pp. 636-637 [7] Exodus 20: 14, 16; Proverbs 14: 34; I Corinthians 13: 6 [8] Page H. Kelley, Isaiah, The Broadman Bible Commentary, Clifton J. Allen, editor, Vol. 5 [Nashville: Broadman Press] 1971, p. 187 [9] Amos 5: 21, 24 [10] James L. Boyce, Proclamation 6, Series C - Pentecost 2 [Minneapolis: Fortress Press] 1997, p. 24 [11] Ann Hornaday, "Making a New Art of War," Sun, August 2, 1998, p. 6F [12] Hunter, op. cit., p. 182 [13] Kelley, op. cit., p. 188 [14] Hunter, op. cit., p. 183 [15] Isaiah 1: 28 [16] Tucker, op. cit., p. 364 [17] Psalm 15: 1-2; 24: 3-4 [18] McCann, op. cit., p. 462 [19] Robert Farrar Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching: Proclaiming the Gospel Against the Wisdom of the World [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans] 1998, pp. 118-119, 125-126, quoted by Sweet and Rennie, op. cit., p. 53 [20] Leonard I. Sweet and K. Elizabeth Rennie, "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are," Homiletics, July-August-September 1998, Vol. 10, No. 4, p. 49, [21] John 7: 9 [22] Cate, op. cit., pp. 141-142 [23] Gene M. Tucker, Preaching Through the Christian Year - Year C [Valley Forge: Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International] 1994, p. 364 [24] Sweet and Rennie, op. cit., p. 50 |