November 18, 2007
Isaiah 65:17-25
“Possibilities And Probabilities (And Necessities)”

For what do you give thanks?

Do you give thanks for illness, homelessness, unemployment, and war?  Of course not.  It sounds absurd to even think that, let alone say it.  But, my beloved, some seem to pray for that very thing!  Some folks think that it is not just a possibility, nor even a probability that bad things will happen in our world: but a God-ordained necessity.  Some Christians this Thanksgiving will be praying for war to break out with Iran.  Some Christians this Thanksgiving will pray that there be just enough poverty, just enough pain, just enough heartache in the world so that Jesus will come to save us.  I find this sickening, and frightening.

In a Bill Moyers Journal episode which aired on Public Television on October 5, 2007 he looked at several organizations that support the nation of Israel, not because they want to be good interfaith neighbors, but because they misinterpret the Bible to say that the only way for Christians to be saved is to support Israel, when eventually God will allow Christians to use Jews as footstools to step into paradise.  They are called “dispensationalists,” and they base this wretched view of world events on distortions of so-called Biblical Prophecy

Moyers says, “For true believers… it will be a day of deliverance… They will have been raptured - literally lifted into the air - to join their Lord in the heavens.  [Such believers] agree that the times call for urgent action - even military action… Some of them believe war - and rumors of war - are part of God's plan.(1)

Understandable, I guess, if one reads the Bible simplistically and manipulates it irresponsibly.  Look at today's Gospel Lesson in the lectionary: Luke 21…  Certainly one could understand why some Christians see the necessity for conflict and war.  Many people of faith refer to the book of Daniel or the Revelation of John to come up with an “End Times” theology, and then twist it to infer certain political perspectives - and policies and actions - that fit their own particular way of thinking.  The focus at the current time is to imply that a full-blown war with Iran, to protect Israel, is not only possible, not only probable, but necessary.

But it doesn't take a very long historical memory to recall other “bogeymen” who fit a manipulated biblical prophecy.  In another segment of the same show, Dr. Timothy Weber, evangelical author and teacher, said,
It's easy to make that connection and to see that.  As an historian, I'm struck by the fact that in previous attempts to understand Bible prophecy Iran did not show up on anybody's radar screen.  As history takes these unexpected turns the Bible teachers, the preachers, the dispensational theologians, they adjust the scenario to fit. In some ways, Iran is playing the role that the former Soviet Union used to play as the great evil empire in the world.  In short, dispensationalists know how to change the subject, when it's necessary. (2)
    
But this is simply not right.  It is God's intentions that we should live in a world of abundance and peace.  This abundance and peace is NOT built on the back of famine, illness, and war.  This is not to say the Bible is wrong, it is just misinterpreted, sometimes by people with very good intentions.  Someone needs this Thanksgiving to say “Stop!”  In the name of God, stop offering to God thanksgivings for such horrible things as disease, poverty, and war.  We must rather understand the Bible in the way in which it was intended, that such ominous words such as Jesus' sayings in Luke 21 and the apocalyptic writings of Daniel and Revelation are descriptive rather than prescriptive. 

That is to say, God's word coming through the prophets and Jesus helps us to better understand our own selves, human nature, and that it is a possibility, a probability, but never a necessity that we will behave badly, that we will hoard and squander resources in such a way that some will be poor; that we will fail to allocate resources in such a way that natural disasters will have more terrible consequences than they would otherwise - think levees in New Orleans, and we would have grievances with our neighbors on this planet such that wars would be common.  NO!  Jesus was helping us be prepared for the consequences of our own nature, not prescribing what we should do to bring about God's kingdom, or kindom.  God's great commonwealth of love, the beloved community will come because God is in charge of making it so, not us.

It sounds absurd when you say it that way, but some people are approaching Thanksgiving 2007 with just such a distorted understanding of God's word.  Many of them have the ear of very important people in very powerful positions in our country and world.  We must look at the entirety of scripture, and certainly the depth and breadth of Jesus' birth, life, teachings, death, and resurrection to see that we are called to understand God's intentions more fully.  Isaiah 65 is a fantastic snapshot of exactly what God intends…

The Rev. Tony Campolo, evangelical author, pastor, and professor, in a sermon entitled “The Victory Of Justice,” preaches,
When we go to the Bible, it says this in the 65th chapter, starting at the 17th verse: The kingdom of God, the New Jerusalem, the new society that God wants to create, will be marked by justice. It will be justice in this sense: everybody will have a decent house to live in, everybody will have a good job and have a good opportunity to earn a decent living in the vineyards of this world, children will not die in infancy, old people will live out their lives in perfect health and not have to worry about who's going to take care of them. Read the chapter. It's fantastic. It says when boys and girls are growing up, parents aren't going to worry that their sons and daughters are going to end, “in calamity.” Girls getting pregnant before their time and boys being blown away in gang warfare. It even ends on an environmental note. It says when the Kingdom comes people will not hurt the Earth any more. It's all there. It's all there. (3)

This is what God intends for us: an end to sorrow as neighbor cares for neighbor; universal healthcare that serves us from birth to death; good, decent, and affordable housing for every person; abundant food and water that is available to all the earth's people, living wages; children that are born healthy and into families who want them and can care for them; strong education for every person at the level of which they are capable; a passionate concern for the environment; and a complete and abiding peace amongst all the peoples of the planet. 

But his passage is more than about the renewing of the world, it is about the joy God and all of us will have in the creation of “a new heaven and a new earth.”  All these ills which will be no more were part of the corruption of the earth described at the start of the flood story (Genesis 6-9).  All that has prevented creation from being what God intended will finally be removed.  The disasters we see in the world about us every day are not what will determine the future of God's creation.  Neither terrorist activity nor the exercise of military power will hold sway in God's order of things.  Political deception will have no place, nor will abuse within the family or workplace.  The selfish exploitation and neglect of nature will be recognized.  And the suffering that these things bring, as well as that which seems to come by chance in illness or accident, will pass away.  All that is evil will be seen for what it is, and all that is hurtful will be banished.  This is what the writer of Isaiah 65 looks toward.  Furthermore, we are called to look not just to the making new of the physical world, as to the renewing of the relationships and interconnections within the world of all humans and living creatures.  That is the Christian hope for Thanksgiving. (4)

In the words of Isaiah 65 there is embodied already Jesus' resurrection.  In that event we see not only the promise of what is to be in the coming of God's commonwealth, but the first and foundational act of newness in it.  What we celebrated at Easter has its outcome in the celebration of the love of Christ over all, a love of life over death, a preference for love over all that seeks to destroy it.  What we celebrate now as we approach the end of Christian year, is the coming to fullness in creation of that resurrection event.  So our reading today not only causes us to look back to the beginning and intent of creation, peace, but to that one event within creation that holds for Christians the ultimate peace - the resurrection of Jesus. (5)

That is what we pray for, and that is what we celebrate each Thanksgiving when glimpses of this beloved community break out into our world.  And they do!  Peace is not only possible.  Peace is probably.   But Isaiah 65 - even all of scripture - indicates more.  Not only is peace possible, and probably, peace is necessary; for peace is the ultimate will of God.

Let this be our Thanksgiving prayer.

(1)     Bill Moyers Journal, on PBS, October 5, 2007, Christians United For Israel, at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10052007/transcript1.html
(2)     Ibid, Interview with Rabbi Michael Lerner and Dr. Timothy Weber, at  http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10052007/transcript2.html
(3)     “The Victory Of Justice,” Tony Campolo, 30 Good Minutes, originally aired October 30, 2005.  http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/campolo_4905.htm
(4)     http://hwallace.unitingchurch.org.au/WebOTcomments/OrdinaryC/Pent25Isa65.html
(5) Ibid

Isaiah 65:17-25

17For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. 19I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.

20No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. 21They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord- and their descendants as well.

24Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent-its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

Luke 21:5-19

5When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6“As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” 7They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them. 9“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 12“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17You will be hated by all because of my name. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Rev. Allen V. Harris
Franklin Circle Christian Church
www.FranklinCircleChurch.org


 

Copyright 2007 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096