Heart witnesses
Commentary
The People's Court, Judge Judy, Judge Mills Lane, Power of Attorney. The television courtroom shows are proliferating unbelievably. Even though they are staged events, they are based on reality: a genuine dispute is resolved in a courtroom before a judge, and sometimes with lawyers, all in 30 minutes. And then there's Court TV, which shows a variety of real criminal and civil trials. And then of course there are the lawyer shows that have been around: Law and Order, LA Law and, for some of us, Perry Mason.
So we know, in general, how legal proceedings -- trials, hearings and all the rest -- work. It's written into the American consciousness. We know about witnesses. We know that a trial in a courtroom needs witnesses.
The witness testifies that he was sitting in his car stopped at a traffic light at Pennsylvania and 17th Street Northwest, on June 3, at 4:15 p.m., and he saw that man over there pull out a gun and shoot another man. And then there may be another witness who will say, "That man over there was with me at 4:15 p.m. on June 3." Sometimes there are expert witnesses who testify about science or medicine or some technical piece of knowledge. But the fact is that in a trial in a court of law, the entire proceeding is built around the testimony of witnesses. The judge wasn't there, the jury wasn't there, the lawyers weren't there, the newspaper reporters who write-up the trial weren't there. Truth and justice depend on witnesses.
So does our religion. Christianity, perhaps more than any other religion, depends on the testimony of other people. Ours is a faith that relies not so much on our own experiences, or our private meditations, or our own observation of the cosmos, but on witnesses, perhaps "eye" witnesses in the beginning, who tell and describe the sights of their eyes, but later, these days, and more importantly, "heart" witnesses, who tell about the feeling in their hearts and the passion in their lives.
Christianity has depended on witnesses for the entire two millennia of its existence. It still needs witnesses. Heart witnesses.
Isaiah 42:1-9
The first four verses of this lection make up the first of the four so-called Servant Songs of Deutero-Isaiah. The historical-critical question is this: Who is the Servant, sometimes called the Suffering Servant? The usual answer is that the servant refers to Israel, and that is certainly supported by Isaiah 41:8ff. In fact, verse 1 in the Septuagint reads "Jacob is my servant ... Israel is my chosen one." There is another school of thought that holds that Isaiah was speaking of an individual person, and among the names proffered are Hezekiah, Uzziah, Cyrus, Jeremiah and even the author of Second Isaiah himself. And yet another question rears its head: Is the Servant someone from history, or is the servant yet to come?
Of course, by including this passage as one of the readings for the Sunday of the Baptism of the Lord, the lectionary makes a clear theological statement on the matter of the identity of the servant. The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible has this to say as a final word, "On all hands it is agreed that whoever was the original of the Servant, none except Christ was its fulfillment."
There are two parts to the passage. In part one (vv. 1-4) God is speaking, giving an introduction, the debut, of the Servant to the world. "Here is my servant," says God in verse 1 ("Behold my servant" in KJV and RSV). This has also been called the commissioning or ordination of the Servant. The emphasis is on the public presentation of the Servant to Israel and to the world.
It is, however, a strange introduction, since the Servant, at least historically, remains anonymous. Yet there are still things we can say about this anonymous Servant. He is chosen and supported by God. He has God's Spirit upon him (the verse that connects this passage with the Baptism of the Lord). He is quiet and unassuming, not crying out or lifting up his voice. He is untiring and single-minded in his work. And what, precisely, is the work of this Servant? In a word, justice. Three times it is stated. And the justice that the Servant will bring is distinctly not a parochial justice. It is universal, extending to "all nations" (v. 1) and "the earth" (v. 4). God's justice is not selective or limited.
In the second portion of the reading (vv. 5-9), the voice changes. Now Isaiah is speaking, quoting God. In fact, with no reference at all to the Servant, this seems at first glance to be a separate oracle altogether.
God speaks a summary of what he has done. God has created the heavens and spread out the earth, and given breath and spirit to the people on the earth. It becomes more specific in verse 6, with words about and to Israel. God has called Israel (you); walked with Israel as a father walks with a child, holding a hand; and even made Israel to be a covenant and a light for the world, giving sight to the blind and freeing prisoners. This last point in verses 6b-7 seems to baffle some commentators. But it is a clear scriptural role for Israel, the chosen people, to be a light to the nations and the means through which God will redeem the world. In fact, this adds weight to the idea of Israel itself as the Servant. Verse 8 echoes verse 6, "I am the LORD," and since God neither praises nor glorifies any other, then Yahweh alone is God.
In verse 9 comes the point of it all. "Behold," says God. "See what is happening." The old things are over, completely, five-minutes-ago. God is doing something new, and all of this is to tell you about it beforehand. This is a call to observe and take note. This is testimony, a witness, from God and from Isaiah, to the new thing and the new servant. Here is my servant, says God, and see, I will do something new.
And the question that the jury has to answer of any witness is: Do we believe the testimony?
Acts 10:34-43
Any discussion of the Acts of the Apostles must always hearken back to the commission given the apostles by the risen Christ immediately before his ascension. In Acts 1:8, Jesus says, "... you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That is Luke's purpose for the book of Acts; it is the plan of the book, and it is the story of the church, to be witnesses to more than just the Jews and Jerusalem, but to the Gentiles and the ends of the earth. That is the larger context for today's lection.
The early church's first outreach to Gentiles is carried out, perhaps surprisingly, not by Paul, who is known as the apostle to the Gentiles, but by Peter. The encounter of today's lesson really begins back in chapter 10, with two visions. The Italian centurion Cornelius received an angelic message to seek a certain Simon, also known as Peter. For his part, Peter received a vision of non-kosher food and was told to eat. When he piously demurred saying he had never eaten anything unclean, he was rebuked and told never to call God's gifts unclean.
The message of Peter's vision was clear and unmistakable, and it is stated in his first words to Cornelius's household. God is impartial, and all are equally acceptable to God. With that as the foundation, then, Peter can embark on the first sermon to Gentiles. "Let me tell you," says Peter, "about God's message of peace in Jesus." He goes on to tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth, from his baptism in Galilee when he was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, to his ministry of doing good and bringing healing, to his death on the cross, and to his resurrection on the third day.
Peter speaks passionately: We were witnesses to all that. And we were witnesses, uniquely so, after he was raised. And we are to continue to be witnesses, testifying to the things we have seen. And here's the clincher: He was the one ordained by God as the judge of all. And he is the one who brings forgiveness of sins to all.
Peter is doing in Cornelius's living room precisely what he was instructed to do by Christ, and precisely what he is speaking of: testifying about Jesus of Nazareth. And there is in this very act, in Peter's particular message and in the story as a whole, a distinct universalism that is not found in the gospels. God shows no partiality, says Peter, and everyone who believes will receive forgiveness. It includes Jews, and Gentiles, and by extension, everybody.
Really, Peter's message to Cornelius and his household is a summary of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's an introduction to Jesus Christ, and it is a message that the world sorely needs to hear, and it is one that the church sorely needs to deliver. But where are the witnesses?
Matthew 3:13-17
When Jesus came to John at the Jordan it was not a spur of the moment impulse; he came in order to be baptized. It was his intention; it was planned. But then the theological problem hits us fast and hard. Why would Jesus be baptized? After all, John was baptizing people for the forgiveness of sins. Yet Christian orthodoxy affirms as a matter of faith and doctrine that Jesus was utterly without sin. So what gives? Why should Jesus be baptized?
John the Baptist had the same question. Indeed, he was sufficiently bothered by it that he would have prevented Jesus from being baptized. And, honestly, Jesus' answer to John tells us precisely ... nothing. What does it mean "to fulfill all righteousness"? Apparently, though, the answer satisfied John, because he relented and did the baptism.
Jesus' statement in verse 15 is found only in Matthew's version of the baptism, suggesting that it may be Matthew's justification for the baptism instead of Jesus'. That would certainly be in keeping with Matthew's purpose of showing Jesus to be the fulfillment of the Hebrew scriptures. But instead of looking at Matthew's motives, let's take the story as it is given. And here we need to be careful to avoid equating the righteousness spoken of in the text with a moral quality. Instead it is speaking of God's righteousness, that is, God's purpose for people. The Phillips translation of the New Testament even goes so far as to render the line, "It is right for us to meet all the Law's demands...." The sense Matthew wishes to convey is that being baptized was for Jesus an act of faithfulness to the will of God.
The reason for Jesus to be baptized becomes even clearer when we read the rest of the account. Verse 16 describes what Jesus experienced; it is all from his point of view. The words of the text speak for themselves: "The heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him." It seems odd that Matthew should be privy to a vision that, in the story, was intended for Jesus alone. And yet this piece of it is crucial. There would be no point in Matthew telling Jewish Christians -- and the world -- about an ordinary human being, a plain sort of guy who showed up alongside many others to be baptized. No, this is somebody special, and the evidence of that, and perhaps the cause of that, is the Spirit of God coming upon Jesus.
The voice from heaven, on the other hand, was intended for everybody. Literally everybody. For John the Baptist. For the others who were there to be baptized or simply to watch. For later generations of Christians. For us. For the world. The basic question of Christianity has always been, Who is Jesus? The mysterious voice from heaven answers that, unequivocally: the Son of God, the Beloved, the One who pleases God.
Application
How wonderful it would be if the things that we teach about and preach about and pray about were as accessible as, say, yesterday's closing prices on the New York Stock Exchange that you read in the morning paper, or the video tape that you see on the NBC Evening News with Tom Brokaw, or the online information that appears on your monitor with a few keystrokes. But it is not to be. Much, if not most, about our religion and our faith is not readily apparent. The events happened a long time ago, and besides, the religious meaning that we attribute to those events in history is an interpretation of our faith; it's inside each of us. Blaise Pascal said, "Every religion that does not affirm that God is hidden is not true." It has always been so.
Therefore we need witnesses. The Bible is a witness, preachers are witnesses, churches are witnesses and each individual who responds in some way to the gospel is a witness, testifying about God's love and grace in Jesus Christ, about God's continually reaching out to humanity, and about God's ultimate and empowering acceptance of us. We need to hear those words and hear that story.
But mere information is never enough; there is plenty of that around us. In a world of masses of information, of data overflowing and running down the streets into the sewer, in a world in which we see things the instant they happen and read about them in the next day's morning paper, in a world in which the most intimate information about people's lives is always at hand, in excruciating detail, in that kind of world the last thing we need is more of the same. The issue, the problem, is not a lack of information and knowledge. We don't need people simply to tell us in a cold and dispassionate way about things that happened.
No, the real need is to hear about people's deep feelings, the passion of their lives, their commitment and love and faith. We need to be touched by another person's story, and maybe if we are, then our own story will come bubbling forth as well. In a world of limitless but sterile information, human beings need to be moved. It would be wonderful if deep feeling -- passion and inspiration -- were as available as One-a-Day vitamin tablets at the local drug store. But that isn't to be. That's why we need heart-witnesses.
The three passages hold forth the truth that God will always make sure that the chosen one -- the Servant in the Isaiah passage and Jesus Christ in the New Testament -- will be properly presented and attested to, along with the fact that the Spirit of God is upon him.
In Isaiah, God introduces a mysterious Servant to Israel and to the world, a servant who may, in fact, actually be Israel herself. God -- and Isaiah -- wanted Israel to see something, and to internalize something: that God is continuing to serve Israel, only now in new ways, and that Israel, though perhaps bloodied and beaten and silenced, is the servant and can turn and serve the world. A covenant to the people. A light to the nations. A witness showing something to the world.
In preaching to Cornelius's household, Peter was testifying to a Gentile family about a Jewish man who was, uniquely, God, and through whom is to be found forgiveness. And in doing that Peter conveyed much more than mere information to Cornelius. He conveyed his passion, his love, his commitment to Jesus Christ.
Matthew describes the brief encounter between John the Baptist and Jesus. Against all logic, Jesus was baptized, but through that came a testimony, an introduction of Jesus Christ to the world, an affirmation that he was Spirit-filled and an assurance that he was the Son of God.
We hear the introduction, "This is my Son." Now what? Well, what comes next is for us to take that testimony and that emotion, and let it work on us and in us, and then to find our own passion -- as much passion as Isaiah and Matthew and Luke and Peter had in telling the story. The next step is for us to be witnesses to others, witnesses who are willing to get into our own souls, into our lives, into our passions and tell others about them. Communicate more than data. Communicate commitment and fire.
But we weren't eyewitnesses to any of it, so what kind of testimony can we possibly provide? You can speak about the lump in your throat when you have a momentary experience of sin forgiven. Or the beating in your heart when you discover that you really can be accepted. Or the shivers that run down your spine when you hear the Easter story for the seventieth time.
Those deep feelings can be shared. It's the fervor of your heart and the passion of your soul. And it makes you a witness.
An Alternative Application
In each of the three passages there is a universal focus. Israel will be a light to the nations, we read in Isaiah. Peter is preaching to Gentiles. In the face of the all-too-human tendency to keep a good thing to ourselves, and to make Jesus Christ and salvation ours alone, the gospel is always exerting pressure outward, and moving us outward, to a broader base and to more and more people. Christ is not for any one group, Christ is for the world. The challenge for each of us is to make that a reality, to move beyond tribalism, spreading the word where it might not otherwise go.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
Isaiah 42:1-9
The whole of the Old Testament strains forward toward its fulfillment in our Lord Jesus Christ. But perhaps no book more clearly points toward that joyous revelation than do the proclamations of the sixth century B.C. prophet whom we call Second Isaiah. His prophecies are found in Isaiah 40-55, and they were originally announced to the despairing Judean exiles who languished in exile in Babylonia and who thought that they had been forgotten by God. Second Isaiah reassured his compatriots that God had their salvation from exile firmly in mind, and he did so by announcing to them, in soaring hymns, the nature of their God. Our text for the morning is part of that announcement, and it sets forth in wonderful words who God is, what he has done, and what he is going to do for his covenant people Israel.
We find in Second Isaiah a constant coupling of God's lordship over all of creation with his lordship over the events of history. And so first of all, in verse 5, our prophet tells us that the mighty God of Israel is the one who created the heavens and stretched out their infinite reaches of space. In addition, he is the one who spread forth the lands of earth and created all of the plants and animals, the waters, the mountains, the valleys upon them. But the Lord God is also the one who gave and who continues to give the breath of life to all people on the earth. As he breathed his life-giving Spirit into Adam, according to Genesis 2, so he still sustains the breath of all peoples. God is the one who keeps us alive.
Unlike any other god, however, the Lord of Creation is also the Lord of history (v. 9). He can declare what is going to happen in the future, because he holds all time in his hands. The gods of Babylonia, or of any other people, cannot do that (cf. 41:21-29). But the Lord God of Israel can make a promise and then keep it. He can declare a word and then bring it to pass. His lordship oversees all the span of time, and orders it according to his purpose.
This incomparable God of Israel -- and of the church -- can also make for himself a people for his own purposes. In fact, he did so. He called one man named Abraham to be the forbear of that people (41:8) and gave him many descendants (51:2). When those descendants fell into slavery in Egypt, he delivered them in the exodus (51:10) and then gave them a land to dwell in. But when that people deserted him, the Lord gave them into the hands of their enemies (42:24-25). Throughout, Second Isaiah rehearses Israel's long history with its God. And as the Lord of both that history and of creation, the Lord is a magnificent God, whose name and glory are shared with no other deity (42:8).
That Lord did not create his people Israel for no purpose, however. Rather, he made them to be his servant. There have been many arguments among biblical scholars as to the identity of the servant in Second Isaiah, and our text, in 42:1-4, is known as the first Servant Song addressed to that person. But in 41:9-13, for example, Israel is clearly given that identification, as the one whom God chose and took by the hand (41:13; 42:6). God created and called Israel to be his servant (44:1-2; 43:7). But they were a people who languished in exile, "a people robbed and plundered ... a prey with none to rescue, a spoil with none to say, 'Restore' " (42:22). Why on earth would such a people be God's chosen servant?
Our prophet says that God chose Israel, because God was going to rescue them from captivity, and that rescue would serve as a revelation to the nations. God was going to save Israel from exile, and the glad announcement of Second Isaiah was that when other peoples saw God's salvation of Israel, they too would be drawn to the worship of the Lord, the one true Creator and Redeemer (cf. 52:13--53:12). In his saving act toward Israel, God was making a promise, a covenant, a light, that would open the eyes of all people everywhere and lead them to the glorious freedom of salvation in the Lord (42:6-7).
Israel, in the prophecies of Second Isaiah, was called to that servant role, to be the medium through which God brought his salvation to all peoples everywhere. Indeed, to inspire Israel to accept her task for God, our text, in verses 1-4, promises that God would pour out his Spirit upon Israel, to enable her faithfully to bring God's saving order, his "justice," his mishpat, to all the nations. Servant Israel would not fulfill her task by preaching; she would not cry or lift up her voice (v. 2). She would not fulfill it by force, for she would not harm those who were faint or weak (v. 3). Rather, Israel would accomplish her God-given task of mediating the Lord's salvation to all nations by faithfully letting God work his deliverance in her life, so that she became the people he desired her to be.
Israel, according to the Old Testament, never became what Second Isaiah and the other prophets called her to be. She never became a totally faithful servant of the Lord, through whose conduct and steadfast faith and saved demeanor God could convert all peoples to his lordship.
The result was that the Lord of all creation and history called another Israelite to fulfill his purpose. He incarnated his own Son in the Jewish flesh of a descendant of Abraham, and upon that final Servant he poured out his Spirit. We read of that gift of the Spirit in our New Testament lesson for this morning. Jesus Christ became all that Israel was meant to be, the faithful Servant of the Lord. His teaching pointed the way to God's order, God's justice, for all the earth. His compassion tended the weak and faint and hopeless. And when he was put to death by the sin of human beings, his salvation, his resurrection became the light to open the eyes of all people to the one true God. His resurrection became the promise of salvation for every one held by the prisons of sin and of death. His faithfulness, even unto death, shed abroad upon the earth God's promise to save us all. The true Servant of the Lord has been revealed to us, incarnating in his flesh the glad news of God's deliverance for all people and for you and me. We have only to trust his work on our behalf and joyfully to receive our salvation.
THE POLITICAL PULPIT
Isaiah 42:1-9
There's been a lamentable lack of social concern in America during the last decades. Americans today are much more concerned about the economy and their own well-being than with international affairs like the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the alleviation of the debt of impoverished Third World nations. We worry more about the unemployment, the health of Social Security, and even personal morality than we do about justice for minorities and medical ethics.
This text proclaims the Messiah's (more properly the Suffering Servant's) work in bringing forth justice to the nations. Although these references may pertain to the Servant's work in bestowing salvation, there is much scholarly agreement that the Hebrew terms tsedaqah and mishpat (translated "justice" in this text) have an action component, refer to a "power-charged area into which [people] are ... empowered to do special deeds" (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol. 1, 370-376). Insofar as these deeds are expressions of the will of God, we can understand the Old Testament concept of justice in accord with the Ten Commandments, which entails a special concern for the weak.
The lesson provides an occasion not just for helping parishioners recognize that they need to break out of today's lethargy regarding the mandate to do justice. It also gives insight regarding the nature of justice. We are reminded that justice is for all the nations, for all people, and so must be the result of a dialogue that includes everyone. From this perspective, the text can provide an occasion to begin to consider some of the contentious cutting-edge issues facing society today. Among these seemingly insoluble issues include abortion, homosexuality and stem-cell research.
Two of these issues are likely to stir associations with the theme of the day, The Baptism of Our Lord. The majority of American Christians associate baptism with infants, and so you have a natural transition to consider the abortion question or stem-cell research. If you develop these themes, the starting point should be the sacredness of human life. Thus if human life begins at conception, these medical procedures are to be condemned as murder. But there is not unanimous medical and societal agreement that human life begins at conception. Even if it does, our lesson's reminder that the Messiah is preoccupied with justice for all means that a simple rejection of these medical procedures denies justice for all if it leads to a life of misery for the mother or fails to lead to possible cures for those victimized by dreaded diseases. Obviously there is a lot of room for different viewpoints to emerge out of these common suppositions.
A commitment to justice for all means that we need to engage these distinct views in empathetic dialogue. When we do that in our parishes and in society as a whole, a significant consensus, one that is compatible with evangelical commitments, begins to emerge. An April 1999 Gallup Poll indicated that the majority of Americans (55 percent) advocate the legality of abortion, but only in some circumstances. Both extremes in the debate (pro-life and pro-choice) are finding a voice in this consensus, and the emerging consensus seems to reflect a concern to find justice for both parents and fetus.
A similar consensus was revealed in a USA Today/Time summer 2001 poll regarding stem-cell research. It seems that the majority of Americans (55 percent) approve of the technique, as long as human cells are not expressly created for purposes of research (in which case a near majority -- 49 percent -- disapprove). The public seems to be saying that given the ambiguity about when human life begins, it is better to undertake human research on embryos only in cases when they would otherwise be destroyed. In view of this consensus, George Bush's more conservative position may not reflect a justice that takes all voices into account.
Recent Gallup Polls also evidence an emerging consensus regarding American attitudes on homosexuality that also reflects appreciation of the diversity of positions. The ambiguity over whether this predisposition is natural (the key issue from a Christian standpoint) is reflected in our emerging social consensus. When the American people are permitted to articulate their views, the interaction may lead to an evangelically compatible consensus that takes into account everyone's agenda.
If the Christian input you should share on these issues is heard, then not only civil dialogue, but even justice has a real chance to emerge. Remind your hearers that our text calls for dialogue on these issues, a dialogue that has largely been lacking in our churches (especially at the local level). This needs to be a dialogue in which everyone's interests (all the nations) can be taken into account. The lesson makes it clear that this is the Messiah's way to do justice.
So we know, in general, how legal proceedings -- trials, hearings and all the rest -- work. It's written into the American consciousness. We know about witnesses. We know that a trial in a courtroom needs witnesses.
The witness testifies that he was sitting in his car stopped at a traffic light at Pennsylvania and 17th Street Northwest, on June 3, at 4:15 p.m., and he saw that man over there pull out a gun and shoot another man. And then there may be another witness who will say, "That man over there was with me at 4:15 p.m. on June 3." Sometimes there are expert witnesses who testify about science or medicine or some technical piece of knowledge. But the fact is that in a trial in a court of law, the entire proceeding is built around the testimony of witnesses. The judge wasn't there, the jury wasn't there, the lawyers weren't there, the newspaper reporters who write-up the trial weren't there. Truth and justice depend on witnesses.
So does our religion. Christianity, perhaps more than any other religion, depends on the testimony of other people. Ours is a faith that relies not so much on our own experiences, or our private meditations, or our own observation of the cosmos, but on witnesses, perhaps "eye" witnesses in the beginning, who tell and describe the sights of their eyes, but later, these days, and more importantly, "heart" witnesses, who tell about the feeling in their hearts and the passion in their lives.
Christianity has depended on witnesses for the entire two millennia of its existence. It still needs witnesses. Heart witnesses.
Isaiah 42:1-9
The first four verses of this lection make up the first of the four so-called Servant Songs of Deutero-Isaiah. The historical-critical question is this: Who is the Servant, sometimes called the Suffering Servant? The usual answer is that the servant refers to Israel, and that is certainly supported by Isaiah 41:8ff. In fact, verse 1 in the Septuagint reads "Jacob is my servant ... Israel is my chosen one." There is another school of thought that holds that Isaiah was speaking of an individual person, and among the names proffered are Hezekiah, Uzziah, Cyrus, Jeremiah and even the author of Second Isaiah himself. And yet another question rears its head: Is the Servant someone from history, or is the servant yet to come?
Of course, by including this passage as one of the readings for the Sunday of the Baptism of the Lord, the lectionary makes a clear theological statement on the matter of the identity of the servant. The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible has this to say as a final word, "On all hands it is agreed that whoever was the original of the Servant, none except Christ was its fulfillment."
There are two parts to the passage. In part one (vv. 1-4) God is speaking, giving an introduction, the debut, of the Servant to the world. "Here is my servant," says God in verse 1 ("Behold my servant" in KJV and RSV). This has also been called the commissioning or ordination of the Servant. The emphasis is on the public presentation of the Servant to Israel and to the world.
It is, however, a strange introduction, since the Servant, at least historically, remains anonymous. Yet there are still things we can say about this anonymous Servant. He is chosen and supported by God. He has God's Spirit upon him (the verse that connects this passage with the Baptism of the Lord). He is quiet and unassuming, not crying out or lifting up his voice. He is untiring and single-minded in his work. And what, precisely, is the work of this Servant? In a word, justice. Three times it is stated. And the justice that the Servant will bring is distinctly not a parochial justice. It is universal, extending to "all nations" (v. 1) and "the earth" (v. 4). God's justice is not selective or limited.
In the second portion of the reading (vv. 5-9), the voice changes. Now Isaiah is speaking, quoting God. In fact, with no reference at all to the Servant, this seems at first glance to be a separate oracle altogether.
God speaks a summary of what he has done. God has created the heavens and spread out the earth, and given breath and spirit to the people on the earth. It becomes more specific in verse 6, with words about and to Israel. God has called Israel (you); walked with Israel as a father walks with a child, holding a hand; and even made Israel to be a covenant and a light for the world, giving sight to the blind and freeing prisoners. This last point in verses 6b-7 seems to baffle some commentators. But it is a clear scriptural role for Israel, the chosen people, to be a light to the nations and the means through which God will redeem the world. In fact, this adds weight to the idea of Israel itself as the Servant. Verse 8 echoes verse 6, "I am the LORD," and since God neither praises nor glorifies any other, then Yahweh alone is God.
In verse 9 comes the point of it all. "Behold," says God. "See what is happening." The old things are over, completely, five-minutes-ago. God is doing something new, and all of this is to tell you about it beforehand. This is a call to observe and take note. This is testimony, a witness, from God and from Isaiah, to the new thing and the new servant. Here is my servant, says God, and see, I will do something new.
And the question that the jury has to answer of any witness is: Do we believe the testimony?
Acts 10:34-43
Any discussion of the Acts of the Apostles must always hearken back to the commission given the apostles by the risen Christ immediately before his ascension. In Acts 1:8, Jesus says, "... you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That is Luke's purpose for the book of Acts; it is the plan of the book, and it is the story of the church, to be witnesses to more than just the Jews and Jerusalem, but to the Gentiles and the ends of the earth. That is the larger context for today's lection.
The early church's first outreach to Gentiles is carried out, perhaps surprisingly, not by Paul, who is known as the apostle to the Gentiles, but by Peter. The encounter of today's lesson really begins back in chapter 10, with two visions. The Italian centurion Cornelius received an angelic message to seek a certain Simon, also known as Peter. For his part, Peter received a vision of non-kosher food and was told to eat. When he piously demurred saying he had never eaten anything unclean, he was rebuked and told never to call God's gifts unclean.
The message of Peter's vision was clear and unmistakable, and it is stated in his first words to Cornelius's household. God is impartial, and all are equally acceptable to God. With that as the foundation, then, Peter can embark on the first sermon to Gentiles. "Let me tell you," says Peter, "about God's message of peace in Jesus." He goes on to tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth, from his baptism in Galilee when he was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, to his ministry of doing good and bringing healing, to his death on the cross, and to his resurrection on the third day.
Peter speaks passionately: We were witnesses to all that. And we were witnesses, uniquely so, after he was raised. And we are to continue to be witnesses, testifying to the things we have seen. And here's the clincher: He was the one ordained by God as the judge of all. And he is the one who brings forgiveness of sins to all.
Peter is doing in Cornelius's living room precisely what he was instructed to do by Christ, and precisely what he is speaking of: testifying about Jesus of Nazareth. And there is in this very act, in Peter's particular message and in the story as a whole, a distinct universalism that is not found in the gospels. God shows no partiality, says Peter, and everyone who believes will receive forgiveness. It includes Jews, and Gentiles, and by extension, everybody.
Really, Peter's message to Cornelius and his household is a summary of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's an introduction to Jesus Christ, and it is a message that the world sorely needs to hear, and it is one that the church sorely needs to deliver. But where are the witnesses?
Matthew 3:13-17
When Jesus came to John at the Jordan it was not a spur of the moment impulse; he came in order to be baptized. It was his intention; it was planned. But then the theological problem hits us fast and hard. Why would Jesus be baptized? After all, John was baptizing people for the forgiveness of sins. Yet Christian orthodoxy affirms as a matter of faith and doctrine that Jesus was utterly without sin. So what gives? Why should Jesus be baptized?
John the Baptist had the same question. Indeed, he was sufficiently bothered by it that he would have prevented Jesus from being baptized. And, honestly, Jesus' answer to John tells us precisely ... nothing. What does it mean "to fulfill all righteousness"? Apparently, though, the answer satisfied John, because he relented and did the baptism.
Jesus' statement in verse 15 is found only in Matthew's version of the baptism, suggesting that it may be Matthew's justification for the baptism instead of Jesus'. That would certainly be in keeping with Matthew's purpose of showing Jesus to be the fulfillment of the Hebrew scriptures. But instead of looking at Matthew's motives, let's take the story as it is given. And here we need to be careful to avoid equating the righteousness spoken of in the text with a moral quality. Instead it is speaking of God's righteousness, that is, God's purpose for people. The Phillips translation of the New Testament even goes so far as to render the line, "It is right for us to meet all the Law's demands...." The sense Matthew wishes to convey is that being baptized was for Jesus an act of faithfulness to the will of God.
The reason for Jesus to be baptized becomes even clearer when we read the rest of the account. Verse 16 describes what Jesus experienced; it is all from his point of view. The words of the text speak for themselves: "The heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him." It seems odd that Matthew should be privy to a vision that, in the story, was intended for Jesus alone. And yet this piece of it is crucial. There would be no point in Matthew telling Jewish Christians -- and the world -- about an ordinary human being, a plain sort of guy who showed up alongside many others to be baptized. No, this is somebody special, and the evidence of that, and perhaps the cause of that, is the Spirit of God coming upon Jesus.
The voice from heaven, on the other hand, was intended for everybody. Literally everybody. For John the Baptist. For the others who were there to be baptized or simply to watch. For later generations of Christians. For us. For the world. The basic question of Christianity has always been, Who is Jesus? The mysterious voice from heaven answers that, unequivocally: the Son of God, the Beloved, the One who pleases God.
Application
How wonderful it would be if the things that we teach about and preach about and pray about were as accessible as, say, yesterday's closing prices on the New York Stock Exchange that you read in the morning paper, or the video tape that you see on the NBC Evening News with Tom Brokaw, or the online information that appears on your monitor with a few keystrokes. But it is not to be. Much, if not most, about our religion and our faith is not readily apparent. The events happened a long time ago, and besides, the religious meaning that we attribute to those events in history is an interpretation of our faith; it's inside each of us. Blaise Pascal said, "Every religion that does not affirm that God is hidden is not true." It has always been so.
Therefore we need witnesses. The Bible is a witness, preachers are witnesses, churches are witnesses and each individual who responds in some way to the gospel is a witness, testifying about God's love and grace in Jesus Christ, about God's continually reaching out to humanity, and about God's ultimate and empowering acceptance of us. We need to hear those words and hear that story.
But mere information is never enough; there is plenty of that around us. In a world of masses of information, of data overflowing and running down the streets into the sewer, in a world in which we see things the instant they happen and read about them in the next day's morning paper, in a world in which the most intimate information about people's lives is always at hand, in excruciating detail, in that kind of world the last thing we need is more of the same. The issue, the problem, is not a lack of information and knowledge. We don't need people simply to tell us in a cold and dispassionate way about things that happened.
No, the real need is to hear about people's deep feelings, the passion of their lives, their commitment and love and faith. We need to be touched by another person's story, and maybe if we are, then our own story will come bubbling forth as well. In a world of limitless but sterile information, human beings need to be moved. It would be wonderful if deep feeling -- passion and inspiration -- were as available as One-a-Day vitamin tablets at the local drug store. But that isn't to be. That's why we need heart-witnesses.
The three passages hold forth the truth that God will always make sure that the chosen one -- the Servant in the Isaiah passage and Jesus Christ in the New Testament -- will be properly presented and attested to, along with the fact that the Spirit of God is upon him.
In Isaiah, God introduces a mysterious Servant to Israel and to the world, a servant who may, in fact, actually be Israel herself. God -- and Isaiah -- wanted Israel to see something, and to internalize something: that God is continuing to serve Israel, only now in new ways, and that Israel, though perhaps bloodied and beaten and silenced, is the servant and can turn and serve the world. A covenant to the people. A light to the nations. A witness showing something to the world.
In preaching to Cornelius's household, Peter was testifying to a Gentile family about a Jewish man who was, uniquely, God, and through whom is to be found forgiveness. And in doing that Peter conveyed much more than mere information to Cornelius. He conveyed his passion, his love, his commitment to Jesus Christ.
Matthew describes the brief encounter between John the Baptist and Jesus. Against all logic, Jesus was baptized, but through that came a testimony, an introduction of Jesus Christ to the world, an affirmation that he was Spirit-filled and an assurance that he was the Son of God.
We hear the introduction, "This is my Son." Now what? Well, what comes next is for us to take that testimony and that emotion, and let it work on us and in us, and then to find our own passion -- as much passion as Isaiah and Matthew and Luke and Peter had in telling the story. The next step is for us to be witnesses to others, witnesses who are willing to get into our own souls, into our lives, into our passions and tell others about them. Communicate more than data. Communicate commitment and fire.
But we weren't eyewitnesses to any of it, so what kind of testimony can we possibly provide? You can speak about the lump in your throat when you have a momentary experience of sin forgiven. Or the beating in your heart when you discover that you really can be accepted. Or the shivers that run down your spine when you hear the Easter story for the seventieth time.
Those deep feelings can be shared. It's the fervor of your heart and the passion of your soul. And it makes you a witness.
An Alternative Application
In each of the three passages there is a universal focus. Israel will be a light to the nations, we read in Isaiah. Peter is preaching to Gentiles. In the face of the all-too-human tendency to keep a good thing to ourselves, and to make Jesus Christ and salvation ours alone, the gospel is always exerting pressure outward, and moving us outward, to a broader base and to more and more people. Christ is not for any one group, Christ is for the world. The challenge for each of us is to make that a reality, to move beyond tribalism, spreading the word where it might not otherwise go.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
Isaiah 42:1-9
The whole of the Old Testament strains forward toward its fulfillment in our Lord Jesus Christ. But perhaps no book more clearly points toward that joyous revelation than do the proclamations of the sixth century B.C. prophet whom we call Second Isaiah. His prophecies are found in Isaiah 40-55, and they were originally announced to the despairing Judean exiles who languished in exile in Babylonia and who thought that they had been forgotten by God. Second Isaiah reassured his compatriots that God had their salvation from exile firmly in mind, and he did so by announcing to them, in soaring hymns, the nature of their God. Our text for the morning is part of that announcement, and it sets forth in wonderful words who God is, what he has done, and what he is going to do for his covenant people Israel.
We find in Second Isaiah a constant coupling of God's lordship over all of creation with his lordship over the events of history. And so first of all, in verse 5, our prophet tells us that the mighty God of Israel is the one who created the heavens and stretched out their infinite reaches of space. In addition, he is the one who spread forth the lands of earth and created all of the plants and animals, the waters, the mountains, the valleys upon them. But the Lord God is also the one who gave and who continues to give the breath of life to all people on the earth. As he breathed his life-giving Spirit into Adam, according to Genesis 2, so he still sustains the breath of all peoples. God is the one who keeps us alive.
Unlike any other god, however, the Lord of Creation is also the Lord of history (v. 9). He can declare what is going to happen in the future, because he holds all time in his hands. The gods of Babylonia, or of any other people, cannot do that (cf. 41:21-29). But the Lord God of Israel can make a promise and then keep it. He can declare a word and then bring it to pass. His lordship oversees all the span of time, and orders it according to his purpose.
This incomparable God of Israel -- and of the church -- can also make for himself a people for his own purposes. In fact, he did so. He called one man named Abraham to be the forbear of that people (41:8) and gave him many descendants (51:2). When those descendants fell into slavery in Egypt, he delivered them in the exodus (51:10) and then gave them a land to dwell in. But when that people deserted him, the Lord gave them into the hands of their enemies (42:24-25). Throughout, Second Isaiah rehearses Israel's long history with its God. And as the Lord of both that history and of creation, the Lord is a magnificent God, whose name and glory are shared with no other deity (42:8).
That Lord did not create his people Israel for no purpose, however. Rather, he made them to be his servant. There have been many arguments among biblical scholars as to the identity of the servant in Second Isaiah, and our text, in 42:1-4, is known as the first Servant Song addressed to that person. But in 41:9-13, for example, Israel is clearly given that identification, as the one whom God chose and took by the hand (41:13; 42:6). God created and called Israel to be his servant (44:1-2; 43:7). But they were a people who languished in exile, "a people robbed and plundered ... a prey with none to rescue, a spoil with none to say, 'Restore' " (42:22). Why on earth would such a people be God's chosen servant?
Our prophet says that God chose Israel, because God was going to rescue them from captivity, and that rescue would serve as a revelation to the nations. God was going to save Israel from exile, and the glad announcement of Second Isaiah was that when other peoples saw God's salvation of Israel, they too would be drawn to the worship of the Lord, the one true Creator and Redeemer (cf. 52:13--53:12). In his saving act toward Israel, God was making a promise, a covenant, a light, that would open the eyes of all people everywhere and lead them to the glorious freedom of salvation in the Lord (42:6-7).
Israel, in the prophecies of Second Isaiah, was called to that servant role, to be the medium through which God brought his salvation to all peoples everywhere. Indeed, to inspire Israel to accept her task for God, our text, in verses 1-4, promises that God would pour out his Spirit upon Israel, to enable her faithfully to bring God's saving order, his "justice," his mishpat, to all the nations. Servant Israel would not fulfill her task by preaching; she would not cry or lift up her voice (v. 2). She would not fulfill it by force, for she would not harm those who were faint or weak (v. 3). Rather, Israel would accomplish her God-given task of mediating the Lord's salvation to all nations by faithfully letting God work his deliverance in her life, so that she became the people he desired her to be.
Israel, according to the Old Testament, never became what Second Isaiah and the other prophets called her to be. She never became a totally faithful servant of the Lord, through whose conduct and steadfast faith and saved demeanor God could convert all peoples to his lordship.
The result was that the Lord of all creation and history called another Israelite to fulfill his purpose. He incarnated his own Son in the Jewish flesh of a descendant of Abraham, and upon that final Servant he poured out his Spirit. We read of that gift of the Spirit in our New Testament lesson for this morning. Jesus Christ became all that Israel was meant to be, the faithful Servant of the Lord. His teaching pointed the way to God's order, God's justice, for all the earth. His compassion tended the weak and faint and hopeless. And when he was put to death by the sin of human beings, his salvation, his resurrection became the light to open the eyes of all people to the one true God. His resurrection became the promise of salvation for every one held by the prisons of sin and of death. His faithfulness, even unto death, shed abroad upon the earth God's promise to save us all. The true Servant of the Lord has been revealed to us, incarnating in his flesh the glad news of God's deliverance for all people and for you and me. We have only to trust his work on our behalf and joyfully to receive our salvation.
THE POLITICAL PULPIT
Isaiah 42:1-9
There's been a lamentable lack of social concern in America during the last decades. Americans today are much more concerned about the economy and their own well-being than with international affairs like the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the alleviation of the debt of impoverished Third World nations. We worry more about the unemployment, the health of Social Security, and even personal morality than we do about justice for minorities and medical ethics.
This text proclaims the Messiah's (more properly the Suffering Servant's) work in bringing forth justice to the nations. Although these references may pertain to the Servant's work in bestowing salvation, there is much scholarly agreement that the Hebrew terms tsedaqah and mishpat (translated "justice" in this text) have an action component, refer to a "power-charged area into which [people] are ... empowered to do special deeds" (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol. 1, 370-376). Insofar as these deeds are expressions of the will of God, we can understand the Old Testament concept of justice in accord with the Ten Commandments, which entails a special concern for the weak.
The lesson provides an occasion not just for helping parishioners recognize that they need to break out of today's lethargy regarding the mandate to do justice. It also gives insight regarding the nature of justice. We are reminded that justice is for all the nations, for all people, and so must be the result of a dialogue that includes everyone. From this perspective, the text can provide an occasion to begin to consider some of the contentious cutting-edge issues facing society today. Among these seemingly insoluble issues include abortion, homosexuality and stem-cell research.
Two of these issues are likely to stir associations with the theme of the day, The Baptism of Our Lord. The majority of American Christians associate baptism with infants, and so you have a natural transition to consider the abortion question or stem-cell research. If you develop these themes, the starting point should be the sacredness of human life. Thus if human life begins at conception, these medical procedures are to be condemned as murder. But there is not unanimous medical and societal agreement that human life begins at conception. Even if it does, our lesson's reminder that the Messiah is preoccupied with justice for all means that a simple rejection of these medical procedures denies justice for all if it leads to a life of misery for the mother or fails to lead to possible cures for those victimized by dreaded diseases. Obviously there is a lot of room for different viewpoints to emerge out of these common suppositions.
A commitment to justice for all means that we need to engage these distinct views in empathetic dialogue. When we do that in our parishes and in society as a whole, a significant consensus, one that is compatible with evangelical commitments, begins to emerge. An April 1999 Gallup Poll indicated that the majority of Americans (55 percent) advocate the legality of abortion, but only in some circumstances. Both extremes in the debate (pro-life and pro-choice) are finding a voice in this consensus, and the emerging consensus seems to reflect a concern to find justice for both parents and fetus.
A similar consensus was revealed in a USA Today/Time summer 2001 poll regarding stem-cell research. It seems that the majority of Americans (55 percent) approve of the technique, as long as human cells are not expressly created for purposes of research (in which case a near majority -- 49 percent -- disapprove). The public seems to be saying that given the ambiguity about when human life begins, it is better to undertake human research on embryos only in cases when they would otherwise be destroyed. In view of this consensus, George Bush's more conservative position may not reflect a justice that takes all voices into account.
Recent Gallup Polls also evidence an emerging consensus regarding American attitudes on homosexuality that also reflects appreciation of the diversity of positions. The ambiguity over whether this predisposition is natural (the key issue from a Christian standpoint) is reflected in our emerging social consensus. When the American people are permitted to articulate their views, the interaction may lead to an evangelically compatible consensus that takes into account everyone's agenda.
If the Christian input you should share on these issues is heard, then not only civil dialogue, but even justice has a real chance to emerge. Remind your hearers that our text calls for dialogue on these issues, a dialogue that has largely been lacking in our churches (especially at the local level). This needs to be a dialogue in which everyone's interests (all the nations) can be taken into account. The lesson makes it clear that this is the Messiah's way to do justice.
