You, Me, Us

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

January 12, 2014

You, Me, Us

Isaiah 42:1

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

Who?

Who is God talking about –

talking about through the prophet Isaiah?

Who is this “servant” whom God upholds?

Who is God’s chosen in whom God delights?

Who is this servant in whom God has put his spirit?

Who is the servant who will bring forth

justice to the nations?

It is easy for us think it is Jesus,

that the prophet was pointing the way

to the one who was to come.

After all, don’t we read liberally from Isaiah

at Christmas time,

looking to the readings as prophecies?

The great Reformer John Calvin

had no doubt that this was the answer, writing,

“The prophet…speaks of Christ.”

But was Calvin right?

Was God speaking of Christ through Isaiah?

Was this a prophesy about the one to come?

Five hundred years after Calvin said yes, absolutely,

biblical scholars are not so sure.

These words date back 2500 years,

date back to the same time in history

as our lesson from last week,

the words we heard from God

through the prophet Jeremiah,

“For surely I know the plans I have for you,

says the Lord,

plans for your welfare and not for harm,

to give you a future with hope.”

If you remember the circumstances,

the children of Israel had been living in exile,

living more than thousand miles away

from their homeland,

living under the rule of the Babylonians,

the powerful force that had ravaged their country,

destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.

The Babylonians had taken most of the Israelites

back to their country,

to live under the sword and spear

of the King of Babylon,

not as slaves,

but no longer free.

God did not want his children to lose hope;

God wanted his children to look ahead to a new day,

a day when they would return to their land,

their homes.

God wanted his children to hold onto

their faith in him,

not lose their trust in him,

believe that he was with them,

looking after them,

caring for them.

Today’s lesson builds on God’s message of hope:

a new day, a bright future lay ahead.

God’s words spoken by the prophet Isaiah

make it sound like God will send

a deliverer to his children,

much as God sent Moses

to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt

a thousand years before.

Some scholars argue that the servant is Cyrus,

the Persian King who would lead his army

to rout the Babylonians and free the Israelites

after almost 70 years of captivity.

Cyrus would send the children of God

back to their land,

back to their homes.

He would even help them rebuild their Temple.

Other scholars argue that the reference is broader,

that it is all encompassing,

that it is a reference to all of Israel,

to the nation, all the people.

Where they had descended into faithlessness

before their exile,

in the future they would live in faith,

men and women filled with the Spirit,

all them a beacon of light and hope for all the world.

Still others, like Calvin,

say the only possible interpretation

is that it is God’s way of pointing to

the coming of Christ as Savior, as Redeemer,

as the hope of the world.

There is yet a fourth argument,

and it is the one I think is most compelling.

It is the argument that the reference to the servant

is a reference to each of God’s children,

to all God’s children,

then, and now.

It is a reference to Cyrus,

and a reference to all the Israelites,

and a reference to Jesus,

and, a reference to you, me, us.

It is you, me, us whom God upholds,

in whom God delights,

in whom God puts his Holy Spirit.

It is you, me, us called to lives of servanthood

and leadership

as we live our faith following our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is you, me, us who are called

to model our lives of servant leadership

on the one who led by serving.

The call to this life comes to us

as we emerge from the waters of baptism,

washed clean,

born anew,

born to new life,

and filled with God’s Holy Spirit.

Continue reading through chapter 42 in Isaiah

and the chapters that follow

and we learn how the servant will live

his life, her life:

how we are to live our lives, you, me, us,

lives marked by grace and love.

“A bruised reed he will not break,” we read;

“a dimly burning wick he will not quench.”

A bruised reed the servant will help restore to health;

a dimly burning wick

the servant will protect from wind and rain

until it is able to burn brightly on its own.

The servant is caring,

compassionate,

gentle, patient.

This is the life we are called to through baptism,

you, me, us, serving as we seek to bring justice

and righteousness to all the world.

It is not easy, our lives,

the work we are called to do;

 it is often at odds with what society teaches us,

with what is considered popular, cool.

But the promise is clear,

that God will be with us to give us courage,

to renew our strength by his Spirit:

We will run and not grow weary,

walk and not grow faint, says the Lord.

(Isaiah 40:29ff)

                                   

In the twelfth chapter of his letter to the Romans

Paul urged the Christian community in Rome to

“take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.”

(Romans 12:17)

I’ve always like the way the Reverend Eugene Peterson

paraphrases that verse in “The Message”:

“discover beauty in everyone”

is how Peterson puts Paul’s words.

“Discover beauty in everyone.”

I would expand that to include every thing as well,

all God’s creation:

“Discover beauty in everyone and everything.”

This is the life God’s servant is called to live.

It is how to bring light to the world,   

to live a life of grace,

the life of love we are called to live,

the new life we are born to in baptism.

It is the life we are called to help Jay learn;

help all the children of this church learn;

help one another learn.  

Imagine if all God’s children did that,

learned how to live in grace and love,

live as the prophet tells us the servant is to live.

Imagine if all God’s children lived with compassion

and concern for the bruised reed,

the flickering flame,

rather than living in competition with one another,

trying to find ways

to hold onto the keys to the kingdom for ourselves

while looking for ways to exclude and shut out others,

judging them unworthy.

Imagine if we understood that the Latin root

for the word “partisanship”

means to divide, not for the purposes of separating,

but for sharing  -

to divide so that all can share.

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my spirit upon him; upon her;

he, she, will bring forth justice to the nations.

The prophet speaks of Cyrus.

The prophet speaks of Israel.

The prophet speaks of Christ.

…. The prophet speaks of you, me us.

AMEN