Death's destruction
Commentary
In most churches, All Saints' Day is the annual occasion for remembering the dead. We know, of course, that "saints" in the biblical sense can refer to living, breathing Christians, even to ones who do not always behave in ways we would call "saintly." Paul calls most of the Christians to whom he writes "saints," implying that he links that status more to justification than to observable behavioral transformation. This thinking lies behind the alliterative translation of Luther's simul justus et peccator as "simultaneously saints and sinners."
Still, the popular notion of saints as "good people" is not to be lost. The root of the English word is that which stands behind "sanctification" not "justification." We can recognize that all are sinners and still thank God for the good influences and examples that others have brought into our lives.
An old sermon illustration tells of a girl who visited a cathedral with a friend and was struck by the beautiful stained-glass windows. She asked who the people in the windows were, and her friend said, "Oh, those are the saints." Later, at home, she reported, "I learned who the saints are today. They are people who let the light shine through them."
All of the lessons for today pick up on the theme of death and its eventual destruction by God. All three of them mention "weeping" as an expression of the sorrow of death. Thus, they provide a focus for remembering those who have gone before us, for extolling the legitimate grief we experience through separation from them, and for inspiring hope in that day when God will destroy death and wipe away all tears.
Isaiah 25:6-9
Family reunions usually involve a meal. At this time of year, some folks might already be making plans for such a gathering at Thanksgiving. In my experiences, at least, the meals at these events usually include all sorts of savory items that I would have to refrain from eating on a regular basis.
Isaiah describes the greatest family reunion of all time -- the great banquet that God intends to throw to celebrate the reuniting of all humankind. The NRSV describes the menu provocatively as "rich foods." The Hebrew word is a variety of the root term, "fat." Ancient Israelites, like modern Americans, liked food that was "high in fat."
The meal is actually presented as an inaugural banquet to mark the beginning of God's reign over all the earth. Such banquets were commonplace in the ancient Near East whenever a king was crowned, but this one is described with a twist. Typically, the meal would be prepared for the king and he would be presented with the choicest (i.e., the fattiest) portions. This time, Isaiah says, the Lord God will prepare the meal and the people themselves will be served the royal fare. It is a sign of God's kingdom that the humble are thus exalted.
But God will not go hungry, either. While we are feasting on delicacies, God will devour the shroud of death so that all cause of sorrow may cease. This is a powerful image, but the character of God is developed even further by the next line: "and he will wipe away the tears from all faces" (v. 7). So God is not only voracious, but also tender.
The salvation promised here is universal, but not vaguely so. People are not saved by believing in any one of a variety of religions; rather, all are saved by the God of Israel. In fact, this salvation "takes away the disgrace" of Israel, proving to all that their religion was the right and true one.
Some families I am told -- mine has been spared this -- actually engage in "turf wars" over their planned reunions. "Whose house will it be at this year?" Lest there be such controversy among the family of humankind, Isaiah makes clear from the first verse where the eschatological reunion will take place: "on this mountain," that is, Mount Zion. In other words, God provides for the salvation of all humanity, but the invitation is to come to God on Israel's "turf." That's where it happens.
Revelation 21:1-6a
This passage presents the climax of a series of visions that began with 19:11 and, in some sense, the climax of the entire book of Revelation. It is the first time in the book that God has spoken since the beginning at 1:8. Some also point out that the text offers us the last words of God recorded in the Bible, a counterpart to (and possibly the ultimate fulfillment of) God's first words in Genesis 1:3.
The image of "a new heaven and a new earth" is radically anti-gnostic and in that sense as pertinent today as ever. Gnostic ideology construed heaven and earth as antithetical. Salvation meant escaping from the material world and entering the spiritual realm. Many Christians today still think this way, as is evident from the popular conception of an afterlife filled with angels floating about on clouds.
At the end of the ages, according to the Bible, we will not go to heaven to live with God, but God will come to earth to live with us (v. 3). According to Paul (1 Corinthians 15:50-54), we will still have bodies -- imperishable ones that do not suffer decay or, I assume, yield to the effects of all that rich food mentioned in our first lesson. Heaven and earth, as well as our bodies, will be "made new," transformed into some superior status that we cannot yet understand. But these transformations are not to be construed as disparagement of the good world God has already given us.
Consider this: The descriptions of Paradise offered here and elsewhere in the Bible do not include addition of new delights but rather subtraction of those things that might spoil what we already have. Death must be removed, as well as sin, disease, and any other cause of sorrow (verse 4 here is almost a direct quote from Isaiah 25:7-8). When these things are taken away, we will be able to enjoy God's creation in its fullness. The new earth will be like the present one, minus the effects of the Fall.
One thing that the text says must go is "the sea" (v. 1). Ocean lovers may take comfort in recognition that this is an obvious metaphor. In the Old Testament, the sea is a symbol for chaos and destruction. Remember the stories of Noah, the exodus, and Jonah.
Similarly, the image of "the new Jerusalem" being decked out as a bride (v. 2) must be interpreted in light of early Christian identification of the church as the bride of Christ (Mark 1:19-20; Ephesians 5:31-32). The church's relationship to Christ is one marked by love, intimacy, and faithfulness.
John 11:32-44
The theme of death's destruction is dramatized poignantly in this account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Two points are worth noting.
First, theologians will insist that what happens here is "a resuscitation" not "a resurrection." The first word may not be helpful if it implies the sort of recovery brought about today through CPR or other explicable means. The point of insisting that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days is to forestall any notion that he wasn't really completely dead. Jesus did not simply revive him.
Rather, the significance of the above distinction is that Jesus raises Lazarus to resume his temporal life on earth, not to begin already his life in the kingdom described in our other two lessons. If, as Martin Luther and many modern scholars have believed, Lazarus is "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (cf. 11:36), then failure to make such a distinction would help to explain the rumor in the early church that he would never die (21:23). In our own day, the distinction is pertinent lest we confuse extension of this present life with the ultimate hope. Every time cancer goes into remission or a bypass operation is successful, we rejoice, as well we should, for the gift of more time. The raising of Lazarus is such a moment. But even for Lazarus, as for us and for our loved ones, the time for no more resuscitation will come. Contrary to the views expressed in verses 32 and 37, such moments do not represent an absence or failure of Christ.
Secondly, Jesus weeps. He knows all that has just been said better than we could ever know it, and still he weeps. Hope in life eternal does not remove present sorrow or grief. The day when God will wipe away all tears is still in the future, even for Jesus.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
(Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier, Adjunct Professor of Bible and Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary, is known throughout the United States and Canada as a preacher, lecturer, and writer.)
Isaiah 25:6-9
We all perhaps remember news photos of Jackie Kennedy and of Coretta Scott King at the funerals of their husbands. They both wore veils over their faces, not only to hide their tears from a curious public, but also as a sign of their mourning for their lost loved ones. Perhaps some of you women have also worn such veils.
This passage from Isaiah tells us that there will come a time when mourning veils will no longer be necessary, for God will do away with death forever. Never again will we need to weep over the passing of someone dear to our hearts. Never again will we feel the pain and sorrow that death's separation brings with it. Never again will there be missing from our lives some loved and familiar face. God will banish death from the earth and all our reasons for tears.
When will that time come? Our passage says only that it will happen "on that day." But that phrase found throughout the Bible has always pointed to the future when God brings in his kingdom -- his kingdom for which we pray every Sunday in the Lord's Prayer.
The Scriptures give us lots of pictures of the kingdom, but very often they portray it in terms of a joyful banquet. "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son," taught Jesus (Matthew 22:2) -- a marriage feast with all of its celebration and music, its dancing and sumptuous food. And here, too, in our Isaiah passage, the kingdom is compared to a feast, when God provides every succulent dish in overflowing abundance.
Can you believe that we in the church already have a little foretaste of that feast? The church has always affirmed that every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we partly participate in that coming banquet. For at the Supper we are participating in the life of Christ. And he is the one who overcame death forever. In Christ's resurrection God defeated the powers of the grave, and when we eat our Lord's bread and drink his cup we inherit his triumph over death. We have a foretaste of that final kingdom, promised here in Isaiah, when death is swallowed up in victory and God has wiped every tear from our eyes.
Indeed, because we participate in the risen life of Jesus Christ, we are reunited with our departed loved ones. If they were among the faithful, they now live eternally with Christ, and when we are united with Christ in the Supper, we are reunited with them also in one great fellowship that stretches across all the ages. Eating and drinking with us at the Lord's table are those relatives and friends we have lost, those children so tragically snatched away, and yes, even every departed saint of the church -- all those faithful souls who put their trust in Jesus Christ. All make up that one great communion of the saints that we celebrate on this Sunday.
We should note, however, that the kingdom's feast is a feast for all people, according to our passage from Isaiah. It is not just a banquet for those whom we have loved or liked. And it is not just a meal for those whom we have considered to be among the faithful. No. God has his own judgment as to who has loved him and who has not, as to who has been his trusting servant and who has gone astray from his will. So maybe we should expect to find at the final banquet in the kingdom persons who surprise us with their presence.
But always in the Scriptures, table fellowship is a sign of friendship and peace. And the picture that Isaiah gives us is of a universal banquet, when persons of every race and circumstance, every background and status and condition, eat and drink together in celebration of their fellowship with one another and with our God. Can you believe it? That there will come a day when nations no longer war with one another; when violence has turned into quiet security and injustice into ordered right? Indeed, will you believe that there will come a time when even you and I can get along with those neighbors and relatives whom we do not like, and every grudge and every dispute has ended in friendship and respect? Deep down within our hearts do we not long for that blessed communion? And Isaiah promises us here that such a time will come.
Isaiah also tells us that all this will come upon those who have waited for their Lord to save them. And that means that you and I must not only rely on God and work to establish his ways in our world. We must also believe that God will keep this promise that the prophet Isaiah gives us.
Yes, of course it is hard to wait for God to fulfill this prophetic word. It is hard to wait for the final banishment of death when we stand beside the grave of a loved one. It is hard to wait for God's peace and justice when violence and wrong saturate our world. It is hard to wait for "one great fellowship of love" when there seems to be so little love given anyone. We cry out, as those faithful in the Scriptures cried out, "How long, O Lord, how long?"
But God is faithful, good Christians. He always keeps his promises, and he has given us his promise here in the preaching of Isaiah. As another prophet says, "If the (vision) seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come" (Habakkuk 2:3). God's kingdom will surely come on earth, even as it is in heaven. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has made the coming of the kingdom sure, for that kingdom began to come when Christ appeared and conquered death. And so you and I and all the faithful can join in the song of the Psalmist: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yea, wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:13-14).
Still, the popular notion of saints as "good people" is not to be lost. The root of the English word is that which stands behind "sanctification" not "justification." We can recognize that all are sinners and still thank God for the good influences and examples that others have brought into our lives.
An old sermon illustration tells of a girl who visited a cathedral with a friend and was struck by the beautiful stained-glass windows. She asked who the people in the windows were, and her friend said, "Oh, those are the saints." Later, at home, she reported, "I learned who the saints are today. They are people who let the light shine through them."
All of the lessons for today pick up on the theme of death and its eventual destruction by God. All three of them mention "weeping" as an expression of the sorrow of death. Thus, they provide a focus for remembering those who have gone before us, for extolling the legitimate grief we experience through separation from them, and for inspiring hope in that day when God will destroy death and wipe away all tears.
Isaiah 25:6-9
Family reunions usually involve a meal. At this time of year, some folks might already be making plans for such a gathering at Thanksgiving. In my experiences, at least, the meals at these events usually include all sorts of savory items that I would have to refrain from eating on a regular basis.
Isaiah describes the greatest family reunion of all time -- the great banquet that God intends to throw to celebrate the reuniting of all humankind. The NRSV describes the menu provocatively as "rich foods." The Hebrew word is a variety of the root term, "fat." Ancient Israelites, like modern Americans, liked food that was "high in fat."
The meal is actually presented as an inaugural banquet to mark the beginning of God's reign over all the earth. Such banquets were commonplace in the ancient Near East whenever a king was crowned, but this one is described with a twist. Typically, the meal would be prepared for the king and he would be presented with the choicest (i.e., the fattiest) portions. This time, Isaiah says, the Lord God will prepare the meal and the people themselves will be served the royal fare. It is a sign of God's kingdom that the humble are thus exalted.
But God will not go hungry, either. While we are feasting on delicacies, God will devour the shroud of death so that all cause of sorrow may cease. This is a powerful image, but the character of God is developed even further by the next line: "and he will wipe away the tears from all faces" (v. 7). So God is not only voracious, but also tender.
The salvation promised here is universal, but not vaguely so. People are not saved by believing in any one of a variety of religions; rather, all are saved by the God of Israel. In fact, this salvation "takes away the disgrace" of Israel, proving to all that their religion was the right and true one.
Some families I am told -- mine has been spared this -- actually engage in "turf wars" over their planned reunions. "Whose house will it be at this year?" Lest there be such controversy among the family of humankind, Isaiah makes clear from the first verse where the eschatological reunion will take place: "on this mountain," that is, Mount Zion. In other words, God provides for the salvation of all humanity, but the invitation is to come to God on Israel's "turf." That's where it happens.
Revelation 21:1-6a
This passage presents the climax of a series of visions that began with 19:11 and, in some sense, the climax of the entire book of Revelation. It is the first time in the book that God has spoken since the beginning at 1:8. Some also point out that the text offers us the last words of God recorded in the Bible, a counterpart to (and possibly the ultimate fulfillment of) God's first words in Genesis 1:3.
The image of "a new heaven and a new earth" is radically anti-gnostic and in that sense as pertinent today as ever. Gnostic ideology construed heaven and earth as antithetical. Salvation meant escaping from the material world and entering the spiritual realm. Many Christians today still think this way, as is evident from the popular conception of an afterlife filled with angels floating about on clouds.
At the end of the ages, according to the Bible, we will not go to heaven to live with God, but God will come to earth to live with us (v. 3). According to Paul (1 Corinthians 15:50-54), we will still have bodies -- imperishable ones that do not suffer decay or, I assume, yield to the effects of all that rich food mentioned in our first lesson. Heaven and earth, as well as our bodies, will be "made new," transformed into some superior status that we cannot yet understand. But these transformations are not to be construed as disparagement of the good world God has already given us.
Consider this: The descriptions of Paradise offered here and elsewhere in the Bible do not include addition of new delights but rather subtraction of those things that might spoil what we already have. Death must be removed, as well as sin, disease, and any other cause of sorrow (verse 4 here is almost a direct quote from Isaiah 25:7-8). When these things are taken away, we will be able to enjoy God's creation in its fullness. The new earth will be like the present one, minus the effects of the Fall.
One thing that the text says must go is "the sea" (v. 1). Ocean lovers may take comfort in recognition that this is an obvious metaphor. In the Old Testament, the sea is a symbol for chaos and destruction. Remember the stories of Noah, the exodus, and Jonah.
Similarly, the image of "the new Jerusalem" being decked out as a bride (v. 2) must be interpreted in light of early Christian identification of the church as the bride of Christ (Mark 1:19-20; Ephesians 5:31-32). The church's relationship to Christ is one marked by love, intimacy, and faithfulness.
John 11:32-44
The theme of death's destruction is dramatized poignantly in this account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Two points are worth noting.
First, theologians will insist that what happens here is "a resuscitation" not "a resurrection." The first word may not be helpful if it implies the sort of recovery brought about today through CPR or other explicable means. The point of insisting that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days is to forestall any notion that he wasn't really completely dead. Jesus did not simply revive him.
Rather, the significance of the above distinction is that Jesus raises Lazarus to resume his temporal life on earth, not to begin already his life in the kingdom described in our other two lessons. If, as Martin Luther and many modern scholars have believed, Lazarus is "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (cf. 11:36), then failure to make such a distinction would help to explain the rumor in the early church that he would never die (21:23). In our own day, the distinction is pertinent lest we confuse extension of this present life with the ultimate hope. Every time cancer goes into remission or a bypass operation is successful, we rejoice, as well we should, for the gift of more time. The raising of Lazarus is such a moment. But even for Lazarus, as for us and for our loved ones, the time for no more resuscitation will come. Contrary to the views expressed in verses 32 and 37, such moments do not represent an absence or failure of Christ.
Secondly, Jesus weeps. He knows all that has just been said better than we could ever know it, and still he weeps. Hope in life eternal does not remove present sorrow or grief. The day when God will wipe away all tears is still in the future, even for Jesus.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
(Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier, Adjunct Professor of Bible and Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary, is known throughout the United States and Canada as a preacher, lecturer, and writer.)
Isaiah 25:6-9
We all perhaps remember news photos of Jackie Kennedy and of Coretta Scott King at the funerals of their husbands. They both wore veils over their faces, not only to hide their tears from a curious public, but also as a sign of their mourning for their lost loved ones. Perhaps some of you women have also worn such veils.
This passage from Isaiah tells us that there will come a time when mourning veils will no longer be necessary, for God will do away with death forever. Never again will we need to weep over the passing of someone dear to our hearts. Never again will we feel the pain and sorrow that death's separation brings with it. Never again will there be missing from our lives some loved and familiar face. God will banish death from the earth and all our reasons for tears.
When will that time come? Our passage says only that it will happen "on that day." But that phrase found throughout the Bible has always pointed to the future when God brings in his kingdom -- his kingdom for which we pray every Sunday in the Lord's Prayer.
The Scriptures give us lots of pictures of the kingdom, but very often they portray it in terms of a joyful banquet. "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son," taught Jesus (Matthew 22:2) -- a marriage feast with all of its celebration and music, its dancing and sumptuous food. And here, too, in our Isaiah passage, the kingdom is compared to a feast, when God provides every succulent dish in overflowing abundance.
Can you believe that we in the church already have a little foretaste of that feast? The church has always affirmed that every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we partly participate in that coming banquet. For at the Supper we are participating in the life of Christ. And he is the one who overcame death forever. In Christ's resurrection God defeated the powers of the grave, and when we eat our Lord's bread and drink his cup we inherit his triumph over death. We have a foretaste of that final kingdom, promised here in Isaiah, when death is swallowed up in victory and God has wiped every tear from our eyes.
Indeed, because we participate in the risen life of Jesus Christ, we are reunited with our departed loved ones. If they were among the faithful, they now live eternally with Christ, and when we are united with Christ in the Supper, we are reunited with them also in one great fellowship that stretches across all the ages. Eating and drinking with us at the Lord's table are those relatives and friends we have lost, those children so tragically snatched away, and yes, even every departed saint of the church -- all those faithful souls who put their trust in Jesus Christ. All make up that one great communion of the saints that we celebrate on this Sunday.
We should note, however, that the kingdom's feast is a feast for all people, according to our passage from Isaiah. It is not just a banquet for those whom we have loved or liked. And it is not just a meal for those whom we have considered to be among the faithful. No. God has his own judgment as to who has loved him and who has not, as to who has been his trusting servant and who has gone astray from his will. So maybe we should expect to find at the final banquet in the kingdom persons who surprise us with their presence.
But always in the Scriptures, table fellowship is a sign of friendship and peace. And the picture that Isaiah gives us is of a universal banquet, when persons of every race and circumstance, every background and status and condition, eat and drink together in celebration of their fellowship with one another and with our God. Can you believe it? That there will come a day when nations no longer war with one another; when violence has turned into quiet security and injustice into ordered right? Indeed, will you believe that there will come a time when even you and I can get along with those neighbors and relatives whom we do not like, and every grudge and every dispute has ended in friendship and respect? Deep down within our hearts do we not long for that blessed communion? And Isaiah promises us here that such a time will come.
Isaiah also tells us that all this will come upon those who have waited for their Lord to save them. And that means that you and I must not only rely on God and work to establish his ways in our world. We must also believe that God will keep this promise that the prophet Isaiah gives us.
Yes, of course it is hard to wait for God to fulfill this prophetic word. It is hard to wait for the final banishment of death when we stand beside the grave of a loved one. It is hard to wait for God's peace and justice when violence and wrong saturate our world. It is hard to wait for "one great fellowship of love" when there seems to be so little love given anyone. We cry out, as those faithful in the Scriptures cried out, "How long, O Lord, how long?"
But God is faithful, good Christians. He always keeps his promises, and he has given us his promise here in the preaching of Isaiah. As another prophet says, "If the (vision) seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come" (Habakkuk 2:3). God's kingdom will surely come on earth, even as it is in heaven. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has made the coming of the kingdom sure, for that kingdom began to come when Christ appeared and conquered death. And so you and I and all the faithful can join in the song of the Psalmist: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yea, wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:13-14).
