Seeing and hearing
Commentary
In the midst of our Advent distinctions between vision and sight, this Sunday's pericopes seem to merge the two. The first lesson from Isaiah 35 splatters a vision of the kingdom of God all over the landscape, transforming flora and fauna, to say nothing of human welfare. The Gospel from Matthew 11 draws our attention to what was happening in the ministry of Jesus right before the very eyes of the people. Together the two lessons challenge us to consider the "already" nature of the kingdom as it dawned in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. At the same time, the Gospel raises the question about the difference between the good deeds of the world and those of the church.
Perhaps the latter question is a matter of identity. As we work through the matter of seeing and hearing, we encounter a veritable Who's Who, particularly in the Gospel. Who is John? Who is Jesus? Who are we, the church? As we struggle with those identity crises, we come to clearer understandings of the roles of our deeds and words which others see and hear. Perhaps they might conclude that the coming of Jesus makes more of a difference than simply determining time on the basis of B.C. and A.D.
Isaiah 35:1-10
Even with just a quick reading of Isaiah 35:1-10 we can catch a glimpse of the pain evident in the lives of the people who turned to this prophet for some words of encouragement. Early in the reading we encounter wilderness, dry land, desert, weak hands, feeble knees, and fearful hearts. What could have been the situation of the first hearers of this sermon? What could have prompted such fear and trembling, such despair and hopelessness? What could have led the writer to portray such a bleak existence as a parched desert and people in despair, blind, deaf, dumb? What people would need a redeemer in order to come back to Zion singing with everlasting joy?
Although our pericope appears in the section of the Book of Isaiah that has traditionally been ascribed to First Isaiah, many elements of style as well as phrases and content lead many scholars to believe this is not the work of the prophet who wrote in the eighth century. Instead our passage is probably the work of the author, known as Second Isaiah, who wrote during the exile. Because of the striking similarities between the verses in this pericope and other passages found only in Second Isaiah, we might date the passage toward the end of the exile just before 540 B.C. in Babylon.
It was toward the end of the Babylonian exile that the people began to wonder if they would ever see their homeland again. In 586 B.C. the unthinkable had happened. The city of Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed. In the face of this devastating blow, the people who had been languishing in Babylon were, not surprisingly, left feeling dejected, hopeless, and thoroughly despairing in the face of their oppressors. Had God forgotten those promises made long ago? Had God even been destroyed along with the temple? In either case, there was no hope for this people. It was no wonder the people felt as if they lived in a dry land, that their hands were weak, their knees feeble, their hearts fearful. They desperately needed someone to turn their situation around, someone to turn their hopelessness into joy and their death into life. The prophet declared that someone would do all that and more, and that someone was none other than Yahweh, "your God."
The Hebrew text at Isaiah 35:1-10 is notable for its difficulties. Verses 7-8 in particular are considered to be unintelligible. Because the Hebrew is so very difficult, even corrupt at points, we will not tackle the issue of the text except to explore some key words.
For Isaiah, as for the rest of the Hebrew Bible, the wilderness is a place of anxiety and loneliness, a place where people are vulnerable to all sorts of dangers (cf. Numbers 21:4-
9; Deuteronomy 8:15). In Second Isaiah in particular the wilderness is a place of loneliness and desolation (50:2) which God will change into a place of joy and blossom (41:18-19; 61:3) and transform into a highway for the return to Zion (40:3; 43:19-
20). Even a reference to a "highway" may reflect the Babylonian exile experience. Every New Year's festival in Babylon included a procession of the Babylonian deity known as Marduk, who was escorted by the king along the Sacred Way. It had been suggested that our anonymous author of Isaiah 35 is making a claim about Israel's God Yahweh, who will use the highway to take the people home.
In verse 4 the prophet writes, "He will come and save you," using the Hebrew word meaning "breadth" or "spaciousness." In other words, God will bring freedom from confinement and constraint. That salvation can be accomplished only by God (Isaiah 43:12; 49:25; 59:1) and not by the idols of Babylon or by diviner (45:20; 46:7; 47:13, 15).
In verse 6 we find the interesting phrase "the waters will burst open." The image is reminiscent of the waters referred to in the exodus from Egypt. In fact, the phrase is used in Exodus 14:21 to describe God's act of dividing the Reed Sea so that Hebrew people might pass to dry land and safety That Second Isaiah looked upon the return from Babylon as a new exodus is evident at Isaiah 40:3, 10, 11; 43:14-21; 48:10, 20-22; 50:2; 51:9-11.
Verse 9 of the text includes a reference to "the redeemed," that is, those who have been set free in a court case by the intervention of a kinsman known as the redeemer. This idea of God as redeemer occurs only five times outside the work of Second Isaiah. By contrast this author uses the concept thirteen times, which appears to indicate its importance for the author as well as for the exiles.
The lesson from Isaiah and Matthew's Gospel fit hand in glove. In the Isaiah passage we have the situation of exiles living far from home in the land of Babylon. What they experienced there is oppression, loneliness, anxiety, desolation. It is "a jungle out there," the prophet realized. The promise held out before the people is that the Lord is coming, and when the Lord arrives everything will be turned upside down and opposite to what was experienced. Nature itself will be turned into its opposite. Above all, notice what will happen to the people. As a result of God's coming to save, the blind will see; the lame will jump; those who cannot speak will sing for joy. When you see those things happening, you can know assuredly that the reign of God has begun (see Isaiah 52:7-10).
James 5:7-10
The Letter of James is more rightly considered a homily than an epistle although it certainly bears some characteristics of a letter. The homily seems to address the need to make faith ordinary, that is, to take it out of the realm of abstract doctrine and place it in the lives and behavior of the believing community. In many ways, the "epistle" sounds much like the wisdom instruction in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. In previous verses, after issuing wisdom instructions and citing causes of strife, the author offered warnings, even woes, to the rich. Now he moves into the theological/eschatological basis for his sermon.
The author calls on his readers to be patient, "until the coming (parousia) of the Lord." The Advent call stands at the front of our pericope, and in light of the portrayal of the Day in the lesson from Isaiah 35, we can understand all too well the need to encourage patience. The coming Day is just too wonderful to delay.
The call for patience here certainly has to do with the injustices cited in the previous paragraph. There in the warnings to rich oppressors, the nature of the oppression rings out clearly. Laborers have not been paid timely wages. Harvesters have cried out for help to the Lord and, like the slaves in Egypt centuries earlier (Exodus 3:7-8), the Lord has heard their cry. The righteous have been condemned and murdered.
The laborers, harvesters, and righteous must have rejoiced at the judgment coming upon their oppressors. The end could not come any too soon. Yet the author is not about to announce the time and day of the kingdom. He calls for patience -- both in the face of such persecution and in the everyday business of life.
The author's imagery of the farmer waiting for the crop to grow, recognizing the need for the early and late rains, settles down any rampant enthusiasm that might occur in the face of the Day's imminence. The Palestinian countryside needs the rains that come in October and November (the early rains) and also those that fall in March and April (the late rains). The mere fact that both are mentioned in the illustration indicates that life will go on as usual for a while, and so the patience is necessary on a day-to-day basis.
The announcement that "the coming of the Lord is at hand" occurs often in the New Testament, demonstrating that the first century was a time of eager expectation for the Lord's return. At Philippians 4:5 the nearness of the Lord is the basis for rejoicing. The author of Hebrews places his quotation of Habakkuk 2:3-4 in the context of endurance through persecutions. John the Seer concludes his message of apocalyptic hope with a threefold reference to the nearness of the Lord's coming (Revelation 22:10, 12, 20). In sum, the nearness of the Lord's parousia brings hope to those in dire straits, and that purpose seems present in our pericope as well.
Since we have not read the entire Letter of James, we might note here that this reference to the Lord's parousia is one of the few hints in this entire work of Christian authorship. So much of the letter sounds like contemporary Jewish instruction that some have wondered about the theological persuasion of the author. The promise of the Lord's return here, though, does not sound like an insert into existing material, and so we might conclude that this author, a Christian, from the beginning set out to adapt Jewish teaching to a Christian foundation.
The exhortation in verse 9 that forbids grumbling against one another reminds the reader of the letters of Paul in which he spells out the community implications for the message of the gospel and of the hope for the Day to come. Such a warning will enable the readers to bear the appearance of the Judge who must be the Risen Lord himself.
Finally, the author returns the readers to suffering and patience once again, calling on them to consider the example of the prophets. Throughout the Old Testament those prophets who spoke the word of the Lord found anything but a warm welcome from their audiences. Amos was sent home from Israel because his preaching about judgment fell on insecure ears. Jeremiah was almost killed for his sermons about the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel was ignored or mocked because he prophesied to the exiles the destruction of their beloved Jerusalem. So common was this prophetic experience that their example was cited even in the teachings of Jesus (Matthew 5:12 and Luke 6:23; Matthew 23:29-39).
From the first verse of our pericope to the last, then, the Advent theme rings out: wait patiently for the New Day.
Matthew 11:2-11
The background for our text from Matthew 11:2-11 is contained in the miracles of Jesus which transform the lives of suffering people. They are the signs that the expected Day of the Lord, for which the Baptist paved the way, has dawned.
In Matthew 10 Jesus commissioned the twelve to go forth as proclaimers -- in word and deed -- of the kingdom God. He was already commanding them to minister to others so that what they saw and heard would convince them of the dawning of the kingdom. Jesus concluded that commissioning by indicating that the twelve represent him, and so whoever receives them receives the one who sent them on the mission.
Now in our pericope John the Baptist is in prison. In his cell he heard tales about all that was happening and wanted to know who Jesus was. Having read the third chapter of Matthew as last week's lesson, readers might begin to wonder if John knew what he was doing back at the Jordan River. Or did something snap in his mind in the confinement of the prison's walls? Last week he knew who Jesus was. Now he does not. And so he sends his own disciples to learn the truth: "Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?"
Alas, Jesus does not answer John's question directly. There is no clear "yes" or "no" to John's question. Or is there?
Jesus sends back his response. "Tell John that the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them." Jesus has given every possible clue. The vision of Isaiah 35 was being fulfilled as the blind, the deaf, and the lame become healthy again and rejoined their communities. The apocalyptic vision of Daniel 12:1-2 about the resurrection of the dead was being fulfilled as Jesus broke up every funeral he ever attended. The punchline for the message to John came from Isaiah 61:1, the report of the call of the prophet to "bring good news to the poor" and thus begin the transformations of the kingdom of God. By using this text, Matthew clearly identifies Jesus as the one upon whom God's spirit has come and the one who is commissioned to announce the good news of God's reign. Later in Matthew, at 12:28, Jesus will connect himself even more clearly with the reign of God through a startling announcement: that his casting out demons by the Spirit of God indicates the reign of God has begun.
In verse 10 Jesus said about John: "This is he of whom it is written." He then goes on to quote from Malachi 3:1: "I am sending my messenger before me." The passage in Malachi is a reference to the return of Elijah (see the connection at Malachi 4:5). In Jesus' teaching to the crowds, the reference is to John the Baptist. It is John who plays the role of Elijah and paves the way for the coming Day of the Lord.
Although the initial question in this pericope is a question about the identity of Jesus, we now have a clearer picture of who John is. However, once the question of John's identity is settled in terms of Elijah's role, the question of Jesus' identity also becomes clearer. Jesus is not "the one who is to come," that is, Elijah. John the Baptist is Elijah, and as Elijah he paves the way for the coming kingdom of God and its Messiah. Thus, it is in Jesus, who comes after John, that the kingdom has its dawning.
That the issue of the pericope is the kingdom of God is verified by the concluding verse. Jesus announces that while in human terms John has no superior, in kingdom terms -- the kingdom that begins with himself -- everyone is superior to John.
The line is drawn sharply between the two ages here. On one side of the line, people throughout the world demonstrate a capacity to help people in need. People of other faiths and of no particular faith at all reach out to people in times of disaster to provide their gifts of talents and wealth. In that human capacity to do good for others we of the church rejoice, because the needs of people are being served. On the other side of the line, this pericope informs us, as the church participates in the healing ministry of Jesus and as it brings his good news to the poor, the church announces to all the world that something of ultimate significance occurred in the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus: the kingdom of God has begun. "What you see and hear" might not look much different on either side of the line, but as the church does its speaking and doing for the welfare of people in need, the church is performing deliberately and intentionally the work of God in the world. By that intentionality God is glorified.
Standing before that line again, we can see the issue of identity in the before and after. On the one side, all people everywhere are the beings God created to be "in God's image." While all humanity shares in the difficulty of looking in the mirror to find that identity, God does indeed love all the people that God has made. Without their knowledge of God's love, however, people tend to make new identities for themselves on the basis of their biological backgrounds, their nationalities, their occupations, or their positions in society. On the other side of the line, however, a new identity defines the kingdom people: "the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." How the pericope leads us to that concluding statement is intriguing. The passage began with the question about the identity of Jesus. Jesus would not answer that question except to point to the signs that announced he and the kingdom were somehow one and the same. In the process of clarifying that connection Jesus defined who John was: more than a prophet, he was playing the role of the prophet Elijah. Now that we know who Jesus was and who John was, we get a glimpse of who we are: "the least in the kingdom" who have more going for us than John the Baptist. Our identity is based on our baptism as children of God, making us siblings of one another. God provides us with an identity for which the world still searches.
As we live out that identity in the world by our speaking and doing, what they see and hear might indeed bring some of them across the line. If not, they will at least know what time it is.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 35:1-10
This passage has many affinities with the prophecies of Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55), and it has often been attributed to him. But there are differences. In Isaiah 40:3, the "way" is for the Lord; here it is for the redeemed and ransomed (vv. 9-10). In Isaiah 51:11, the reference is to the return from Babylonian exile. Here in verse 10, that context is missing, and those who are returning to Zion are the members of Israel dispersed throughout the ancient Near East. Thus, this text is probably from a time after Second Isaiah and sometime after 538 B.C. The problem that faces the preacher, however, is how to make this passage relevant for a modern congregation.
If we note the repetitions of words in the passage, it becomes clear that we have two strong figurative contrasts. First, there is emphasis on the dryness and heat of the desert (vv. 1, 6), which is a place of burning sand, thirsty ground, and the haunt of jackals (v. 7). That is contrasted with life-giving waters, streams (v. 6), a swamp, reeds and rushes (v. 7), and crocuses that grow abundantly in swampy land (v. 1). But as in Second Isaiah, the desert and wilderness are figures for life without God -- its dryness, its thirst for something, its death. Contrarily, the references to water and the abundant life that it gives are figures for the life with God -- its satisfaction of thirst and hunger, its vitality, its wholeness and permanence.
Other biblical passages immediately spring to mind in such a connection -- the fact that those who follow the will of God are like trees planted by streams of water, that never wither and that bring forth their fruit in due season (Psalm 1:3); or the fact that Christ, the fountain of living water (John 7:38), can keep us from ever thirsting again (John 4:13). Thus, the preacher can contrast the old life without God, that so many in any congregation still know, with the fullness of life given by fellowship with God.
Alongside that, there is in our text a strong contrast set forth between the fear, sorrow, and sighing (vv. 4, 10) known to the old life, and the joy, gladness, and singing that are given in the new life with God (vv. 1, 2, 6, 10). And that goes along with the first contrast given above. Thus, the congregation, still immersed in the ways of B.C., can be given a picture of the life they may have in Jesus Christ, in A.D. But their question is, will that life come to them?
The prophet announces in verses 3-4 that it will indeed come, that God is on the way to avenge those who have done wrong and to save those who trust his coming. Indeed, the faithful will see the glory of the Lord (v. 2) -- that is, God's presence on earth, which is the meaning of "glory" here. But is that not the message that we are given at Christmastime, that the glory of the Lord has shown in the heavens (Luke 2:9), and that in the babe of Bethlehem, we have in fact seen his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14)? God has in truth come to us in his Son.
So those who are fearful can take courage, and those who are weak can be strong (v. 4), for God has come to turn their desert of death into the eternal and watered abundance of life. In short, God has come to establish his kingdom of life on earth, even as it is in heaven.
That kingdom began in the birth of our Savior at Bethlehem. The Isaiah traditions repeatedly announce that when the kingdom comes, the blind and deaf, the lame and dumb will be restored to wholeness (vv. 5-6; cf. Isaiah 29:18-20; 32:3-4; 33:24; 42:7, 16). Thus when John the Baptist inquires who Jesus is, in our gospel lesson, he learns that the Son of God has indeed fulfilled that ancient prophecy (Matthew 11:2-11). The new life of the Kingdom of God has begun to break into our lives in the person of Jesus Christ! And the New Testament tells us that if we trust our Lord, we can begin to participate in the vitality and powers of that new age that he brings, leaving behind us the wilderness of death and the thirst of sin. We can begin now to inherit the goodness of the new age of the kingdom.
Our text not only applies to our lives now, however. It also holds out before us the picture of a glorious future. Intended originally for the people of Israel, dispersed throughout the Mediterranean world, this pronouncement by Isaiah pictures the time when the covenant people are gathered once again to the temple on Zion in Jerusalem to praise their Lord in joy and gladness (v. 10). God will prepare the way for them, announces the prophet, a "Holy Way," which means a way set apart for God's purpose. No one who has violated God's commandments (the "unclean") will walk the way, no wicked ("fools," as in Wisdom literature) will be found on it, and no natural enemies will prevent the return of the faithful. God will "redeem" or "ransom" his own from their captivity and dispersion among the nations, that is, he will buy them back. And faithful Israel will be free to return to her God and to his praise and worship.
Have we too not been "redeemed" by our God, bought back by the death and resurrection of his Son, and set free from our captivity to sin and death? And have we too not been given a "Holy Way" to return to the worship and praise of our God? But the "way" for us is Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, and through him, we all may return to fellowship with the Father. Indeed, Jesus Christ is now our incarnate temple, our place of worship (John 3:19-20; 4:21), and our return to him is our return to Zion.
But the picture is, you see, also a picture of the future, when not only we but all the faithful throughout the world gather to Jesus Christ, and every knee bows and every tongue confesses that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (cf. Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:10-11). Then God's kingdom will have come on earth, and God will be all in all.
So strengthen your weak hands and make firm your feeble knees. Be strong and fear not! This day by trust in Jesus Christ, our Lord, who has come to us at Bethlehem, you may leave behind you the dust and dryness and death of your old life, and you may inherit the beginning of the watered, abundant life of God's new age, looking forward in joy and gladness to the future, when God's good kingdom will be established over all the earth.
Perhaps the latter question is a matter of identity. As we work through the matter of seeing and hearing, we encounter a veritable Who's Who, particularly in the Gospel. Who is John? Who is Jesus? Who are we, the church? As we struggle with those identity crises, we come to clearer understandings of the roles of our deeds and words which others see and hear. Perhaps they might conclude that the coming of Jesus makes more of a difference than simply determining time on the basis of B.C. and A.D.
Isaiah 35:1-10
Even with just a quick reading of Isaiah 35:1-10 we can catch a glimpse of the pain evident in the lives of the people who turned to this prophet for some words of encouragement. Early in the reading we encounter wilderness, dry land, desert, weak hands, feeble knees, and fearful hearts. What could have been the situation of the first hearers of this sermon? What could have prompted such fear and trembling, such despair and hopelessness? What could have led the writer to portray such a bleak existence as a parched desert and people in despair, blind, deaf, dumb? What people would need a redeemer in order to come back to Zion singing with everlasting joy?
Although our pericope appears in the section of the Book of Isaiah that has traditionally been ascribed to First Isaiah, many elements of style as well as phrases and content lead many scholars to believe this is not the work of the prophet who wrote in the eighth century. Instead our passage is probably the work of the author, known as Second Isaiah, who wrote during the exile. Because of the striking similarities between the verses in this pericope and other passages found only in Second Isaiah, we might date the passage toward the end of the exile just before 540 B.C. in Babylon.
It was toward the end of the Babylonian exile that the people began to wonder if they would ever see their homeland again. In 586 B.C. the unthinkable had happened. The city of Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed. In the face of this devastating blow, the people who had been languishing in Babylon were, not surprisingly, left feeling dejected, hopeless, and thoroughly despairing in the face of their oppressors. Had God forgotten those promises made long ago? Had God even been destroyed along with the temple? In either case, there was no hope for this people. It was no wonder the people felt as if they lived in a dry land, that their hands were weak, their knees feeble, their hearts fearful. They desperately needed someone to turn their situation around, someone to turn their hopelessness into joy and their death into life. The prophet declared that someone would do all that and more, and that someone was none other than Yahweh, "your God."
The Hebrew text at Isaiah 35:1-10 is notable for its difficulties. Verses 7-8 in particular are considered to be unintelligible. Because the Hebrew is so very difficult, even corrupt at points, we will not tackle the issue of the text except to explore some key words.
For Isaiah, as for the rest of the Hebrew Bible, the wilderness is a place of anxiety and loneliness, a place where people are vulnerable to all sorts of dangers (cf. Numbers 21:4-
9; Deuteronomy 8:15). In Second Isaiah in particular the wilderness is a place of loneliness and desolation (50:2) which God will change into a place of joy and blossom (41:18-19; 61:3) and transform into a highway for the return to Zion (40:3; 43:19-
20). Even a reference to a "highway" may reflect the Babylonian exile experience. Every New Year's festival in Babylon included a procession of the Babylonian deity known as Marduk, who was escorted by the king along the Sacred Way. It had been suggested that our anonymous author of Isaiah 35 is making a claim about Israel's God Yahweh, who will use the highway to take the people home.
In verse 4 the prophet writes, "He will come and save you," using the Hebrew word meaning "breadth" or "spaciousness." In other words, God will bring freedom from confinement and constraint. That salvation can be accomplished only by God (Isaiah 43:12; 49:25; 59:1) and not by the idols of Babylon or by diviner (45:20; 46:7; 47:13, 15).
In verse 6 we find the interesting phrase "the waters will burst open." The image is reminiscent of the waters referred to in the exodus from Egypt. In fact, the phrase is used in Exodus 14:21 to describe God's act of dividing the Reed Sea so that Hebrew people might pass to dry land and safety That Second Isaiah looked upon the return from Babylon as a new exodus is evident at Isaiah 40:3, 10, 11; 43:14-21; 48:10, 20-22; 50:2; 51:9-11.
Verse 9 of the text includes a reference to "the redeemed," that is, those who have been set free in a court case by the intervention of a kinsman known as the redeemer. This idea of God as redeemer occurs only five times outside the work of Second Isaiah. By contrast this author uses the concept thirteen times, which appears to indicate its importance for the author as well as for the exiles.
The lesson from Isaiah and Matthew's Gospel fit hand in glove. In the Isaiah passage we have the situation of exiles living far from home in the land of Babylon. What they experienced there is oppression, loneliness, anxiety, desolation. It is "a jungle out there," the prophet realized. The promise held out before the people is that the Lord is coming, and when the Lord arrives everything will be turned upside down and opposite to what was experienced. Nature itself will be turned into its opposite. Above all, notice what will happen to the people. As a result of God's coming to save, the blind will see; the lame will jump; those who cannot speak will sing for joy. When you see those things happening, you can know assuredly that the reign of God has begun (see Isaiah 52:7-10).
James 5:7-10
The Letter of James is more rightly considered a homily than an epistle although it certainly bears some characteristics of a letter. The homily seems to address the need to make faith ordinary, that is, to take it out of the realm of abstract doctrine and place it in the lives and behavior of the believing community. In many ways, the "epistle" sounds much like the wisdom instruction in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. In previous verses, after issuing wisdom instructions and citing causes of strife, the author offered warnings, even woes, to the rich. Now he moves into the theological/eschatological basis for his sermon.
The author calls on his readers to be patient, "until the coming (parousia) of the Lord." The Advent call stands at the front of our pericope, and in light of the portrayal of the Day in the lesson from Isaiah 35, we can understand all too well the need to encourage patience. The coming Day is just too wonderful to delay.
The call for patience here certainly has to do with the injustices cited in the previous paragraph. There in the warnings to rich oppressors, the nature of the oppression rings out clearly. Laborers have not been paid timely wages. Harvesters have cried out for help to the Lord and, like the slaves in Egypt centuries earlier (Exodus 3:7-8), the Lord has heard their cry. The righteous have been condemned and murdered.
The laborers, harvesters, and righteous must have rejoiced at the judgment coming upon their oppressors. The end could not come any too soon. Yet the author is not about to announce the time and day of the kingdom. He calls for patience -- both in the face of such persecution and in the everyday business of life.
The author's imagery of the farmer waiting for the crop to grow, recognizing the need for the early and late rains, settles down any rampant enthusiasm that might occur in the face of the Day's imminence. The Palestinian countryside needs the rains that come in October and November (the early rains) and also those that fall in March and April (the late rains). The mere fact that both are mentioned in the illustration indicates that life will go on as usual for a while, and so the patience is necessary on a day-to-day basis.
The announcement that "the coming of the Lord is at hand" occurs often in the New Testament, demonstrating that the first century was a time of eager expectation for the Lord's return. At Philippians 4:5 the nearness of the Lord is the basis for rejoicing. The author of Hebrews places his quotation of Habakkuk 2:3-4 in the context of endurance through persecutions. John the Seer concludes his message of apocalyptic hope with a threefold reference to the nearness of the Lord's coming (Revelation 22:10, 12, 20). In sum, the nearness of the Lord's parousia brings hope to those in dire straits, and that purpose seems present in our pericope as well.
Since we have not read the entire Letter of James, we might note here that this reference to the Lord's parousia is one of the few hints in this entire work of Christian authorship. So much of the letter sounds like contemporary Jewish instruction that some have wondered about the theological persuasion of the author. The promise of the Lord's return here, though, does not sound like an insert into existing material, and so we might conclude that this author, a Christian, from the beginning set out to adapt Jewish teaching to a Christian foundation.
The exhortation in verse 9 that forbids grumbling against one another reminds the reader of the letters of Paul in which he spells out the community implications for the message of the gospel and of the hope for the Day to come. Such a warning will enable the readers to bear the appearance of the Judge who must be the Risen Lord himself.
Finally, the author returns the readers to suffering and patience once again, calling on them to consider the example of the prophets. Throughout the Old Testament those prophets who spoke the word of the Lord found anything but a warm welcome from their audiences. Amos was sent home from Israel because his preaching about judgment fell on insecure ears. Jeremiah was almost killed for his sermons about the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel was ignored or mocked because he prophesied to the exiles the destruction of their beloved Jerusalem. So common was this prophetic experience that their example was cited even in the teachings of Jesus (Matthew 5:12 and Luke 6:23; Matthew 23:29-39).
From the first verse of our pericope to the last, then, the Advent theme rings out: wait patiently for the New Day.
Matthew 11:2-11
The background for our text from Matthew 11:2-11 is contained in the miracles of Jesus which transform the lives of suffering people. They are the signs that the expected Day of the Lord, for which the Baptist paved the way, has dawned.
In Matthew 10 Jesus commissioned the twelve to go forth as proclaimers -- in word and deed -- of the kingdom God. He was already commanding them to minister to others so that what they saw and heard would convince them of the dawning of the kingdom. Jesus concluded that commissioning by indicating that the twelve represent him, and so whoever receives them receives the one who sent them on the mission.
Now in our pericope John the Baptist is in prison. In his cell he heard tales about all that was happening and wanted to know who Jesus was. Having read the third chapter of Matthew as last week's lesson, readers might begin to wonder if John knew what he was doing back at the Jordan River. Or did something snap in his mind in the confinement of the prison's walls? Last week he knew who Jesus was. Now he does not. And so he sends his own disciples to learn the truth: "Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?"
Alas, Jesus does not answer John's question directly. There is no clear "yes" or "no" to John's question. Or is there?
Jesus sends back his response. "Tell John that the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them." Jesus has given every possible clue. The vision of Isaiah 35 was being fulfilled as the blind, the deaf, and the lame become healthy again and rejoined their communities. The apocalyptic vision of Daniel 12:1-2 about the resurrection of the dead was being fulfilled as Jesus broke up every funeral he ever attended. The punchline for the message to John came from Isaiah 61:1, the report of the call of the prophet to "bring good news to the poor" and thus begin the transformations of the kingdom of God. By using this text, Matthew clearly identifies Jesus as the one upon whom God's spirit has come and the one who is commissioned to announce the good news of God's reign. Later in Matthew, at 12:28, Jesus will connect himself even more clearly with the reign of God through a startling announcement: that his casting out demons by the Spirit of God indicates the reign of God has begun.
In verse 10 Jesus said about John: "This is he of whom it is written." He then goes on to quote from Malachi 3:1: "I am sending my messenger before me." The passage in Malachi is a reference to the return of Elijah (see the connection at Malachi 4:5). In Jesus' teaching to the crowds, the reference is to John the Baptist. It is John who plays the role of Elijah and paves the way for the coming Day of the Lord.
Although the initial question in this pericope is a question about the identity of Jesus, we now have a clearer picture of who John is. However, once the question of John's identity is settled in terms of Elijah's role, the question of Jesus' identity also becomes clearer. Jesus is not "the one who is to come," that is, Elijah. John the Baptist is Elijah, and as Elijah he paves the way for the coming kingdom of God and its Messiah. Thus, it is in Jesus, who comes after John, that the kingdom has its dawning.
That the issue of the pericope is the kingdom of God is verified by the concluding verse. Jesus announces that while in human terms John has no superior, in kingdom terms -- the kingdom that begins with himself -- everyone is superior to John.
The line is drawn sharply between the two ages here. On one side of the line, people throughout the world demonstrate a capacity to help people in need. People of other faiths and of no particular faith at all reach out to people in times of disaster to provide their gifts of talents and wealth. In that human capacity to do good for others we of the church rejoice, because the needs of people are being served. On the other side of the line, this pericope informs us, as the church participates in the healing ministry of Jesus and as it brings his good news to the poor, the church announces to all the world that something of ultimate significance occurred in the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus: the kingdom of God has begun. "What you see and hear" might not look much different on either side of the line, but as the church does its speaking and doing for the welfare of people in need, the church is performing deliberately and intentionally the work of God in the world. By that intentionality God is glorified.
Standing before that line again, we can see the issue of identity in the before and after. On the one side, all people everywhere are the beings God created to be "in God's image." While all humanity shares in the difficulty of looking in the mirror to find that identity, God does indeed love all the people that God has made. Without their knowledge of God's love, however, people tend to make new identities for themselves on the basis of their biological backgrounds, their nationalities, their occupations, or their positions in society. On the other side of the line, however, a new identity defines the kingdom people: "the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." How the pericope leads us to that concluding statement is intriguing. The passage began with the question about the identity of Jesus. Jesus would not answer that question except to point to the signs that announced he and the kingdom were somehow one and the same. In the process of clarifying that connection Jesus defined who John was: more than a prophet, he was playing the role of the prophet Elijah. Now that we know who Jesus was and who John was, we get a glimpse of who we are: "the least in the kingdom" who have more going for us than John the Baptist. Our identity is based on our baptism as children of God, making us siblings of one another. God provides us with an identity for which the world still searches.
As we live out that identity in the world by our speaking and doing, what they see and hear might indeed bring some of them across the line. If not, they will at least know what time it is.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 35:1-10
This passage has many affinities with the prophecies of Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55), and it has often been attributed to him. But there are differences. In Isaiah 40:3, the "way" is for the Lord; here it is for the redeemed and ransomed (vv. 9-10). In Isaiah 51:11, the reference is to the return from Babylonian exile. Here in verse 10, that context is missing, and those who are returning to Zion are the members of Israel dispersed throughout the ancient Near East. Thus, this text is probably from a time after Second Isaiah and sometime after 538 B.C. The problem that faces the preacher, however, is how to make this passage relevant for a modern congregation.
If we note the repetitions of words in the passage, it becomes clear that we have two strong figurative contrasts. First, there is emphasis on the dryness and heat of the desert (vv. 1, 6), which is a place of burning sand, thirsty ground, and the haunt of jackals (v. 7). That is contrasted with life-giving waters, streams (v. 6), a swamp, reeds and rushes (v. 7), and crocuses that grow abundantly in swampy land (v. 1). But as in Second Isaiah, the desert and wilderness are figures for life without God -- its dryness, its thirst for something, its death. Contrarily, the references to water and the abundant life that it gives are figures for the life with God -- its satisfaction of thirst and hunger, its vitality, its wholeness and permanence.
Other biblical passages immediately spring to mind in such a connection -- the fact that those who follow the will of God are like trees planted by streams of water, that never wither and that bring forth their fruit in due season (Psalm 1:3); or the fact that Christ, the fountain of living water (John 7:38), can keep us from ever thirsting again (John 4:13). Thus, the preacher can contrast the old life without God, that so many in any congregation still know, with the fullness of life given by fellowship with God.
Alongside that, there is in our text a strong contrast set forth between the fear, sorrow, and sighing (vv. 4, 10) known to the old life, and the joy, gladness, and singing that are given in the new life with God (vv. 1, 2, 6, 10). And that goes along with the first contrast given above. Thus, the congregation, still immersed in the ways of B.C., can be given a picture of the life they may have in Jesus Christ, in A.D. But their question is, will that life come to them?
The prophet announces in verses 3-4 that it will indeed come, that God is on the way to avenge those who have done wrong and to save those who trust his coming. Indeed, the faithful will see the glory of the Lord (v. 2) -- that is, God's presence on earth, which is the meaning of "glory" here. But is that not the message that we are given at Christmastime, that the glory of the Lord has shown in the heavens (Luke 2:9), and that in the babe of Bethlehem, we have in fact seen his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14)? God has in truth come to us in his Son.
So those who are fearful can take courage, and those who are weak can be strong (v. 4), for God has come to turn their desert of death into the eternal and watered abundance of life. In short, God has come to establish his kingdom of life on earth, even as it is in heaven.
That kingdom began in the birth of our Savior at Bethlehem. The Isaiah traditions repeatedly announce that when the kingdom comes, the blind and deaf, the lame and dumb will be restored to wholeness (vv. 5-6; cf. Isaiah 29:18-20; 32:3-4; 33:24; 42:7, 16). Thus when John the Baptist inquires who Jesus is, in our gospel lesson, he learns that the Son of God has indeed fulfilled that ancient prophecy (Matthew 11:2-11). The new life of the Kingdom of God has begun to break into our lives in the person of Jesus Christ! And the New Testament tells us that if we trust our Lord, we can begin to participate in the vitality and powers of that new age that he brings, leaving behind us the wilderness of death and the thirst of sin. We can begin now to inherit the goodness of the new age of the kingdom.
Our text not only applies to our lives now, however. It also holds out before us the picture of a glorious future. Intended originally for the people of Israel, dispersed throughout the Mediterranean world, this pronouncement by Isaiah pictures the time when the covenant people are gathered once again to the temple on Zion in Jerusalem to praise their Lord in joy and gladness (v. 10). God will prepare the way for them, announces the prophet, a "Holy Way," which means a way set apart for God's purpose. No one who has violated God's commandments (the "unclean") will walk the way, no wicked ("fools," as in Wisdom literature) will be found on it, and no natural enemies will prevent the return of the faithful. God will "redeem" or "ransom" his own from their captivity and dispersion among the nations, that is, he will buy them back. And faithful Israel will be free to return to her God and to his praise and worship.
Have we too not been "redeemed" by our God, bought back by the death and resurrection of his Son, and set free from our captivity to sin and death? And have we too not been given a "Holy Way" to return to the worship and praise of our God? But the "way" for us is Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, and through him, we all may return to fellowship with the Father. Indeed, Jesus Christ is now our incarnate temple, our place of worship (John 3:19-20; 4:21), and our return to him is our return to Zion.
But the picture is, you see, also a picture of the future, when not only we but all the faithful throughout the world gather to Jesus Christ, and every knee bows and every tongue confesses that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (cf. Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:10-11). Then God's kingdom will have come on earth, and God will be all in all.
So strengthen your weak hands and make firm your feeble knees. Be strong and fear not! This day by trust in Jesus Christ, our Lord, who has come to us at Bethlehem, you may leave behind you the dust and dryness and death of your old life, and you may inherit the beginning of the watered, abundant life of God's new age, looking forward in joy and gladness to the future, when God's good kingdom will be established over all the earth.
