A few weeks ago – before Vacation Bible School, before Loch Leven, before a week of volunteering at Cub Scout Day Camp – I sat down and picked out some scriptures to preach on for these Sundays in August. The lectionary listed this reading from Isaiah as one of the selections for today, and as I read through it, my thoughts focused on verse 17: “learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
That sounded like a good scripture upon which to base a sermon, so I settled on that and then focused on the other activities on my schedule. The actual sermon writing, of course, could wait until later.
When “later” came, I took a closer look at the scripture. It was then that I realized I was in trouble, because there are several things about this scripture that are problematic.
It starts with a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah, a troubling story for many. We could ignore the reference, and ignore the story of Sodom and Gomorrah entirely, something that I am sometimes tempted to do. But that wouldn’t be very responsible of one who is called to interpret the Bible with integrity.
Also troubling is the violent tone on which this passage ends. “If you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.” I believe that our God is a God of peace, and verses like this one can be a real challenge to deal with.
Fortunately, some research and biblical scholarship is able to clear up the difficulties and misunderstandings that arise in here. Stick with me, and I’ll share with you what I’ve learned.
First, though, let’s talk about the context. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah are a distinct unit which scholars call First Isaiah, and First Isaiah does have a lot of proclamations against the nations, with anticipation of doom and disaster. But in between all these dark and dreary passages are windows of hope, through which a new, brighter vision may be glimpsed. In that new, brighter vision, a wolf shall live with a lamb in peace. In that new, brighter vision, the messianic king will inaugurate a new kingdom of righteousness and peace. In fact, he will be called the Prince of Peace.
Much of the rest of First Isaiah, however, deals with God’s anger and judgment. But one has to wonder: what is the anger and judgment about, and how does it relate to the windows of hope and peace?
Two things are going on at the time of First Isaiah. There is a war that threatens to interrupt the divinely-ordained house of David; and there is an environment of social and ethical misbehavior among the people. Isaiah sees the two as related; the social and ethical misbehavior of the people has led to the war, which Isaiah describes as God’s punishment for the people’s misbehavior.
Both war and the social injustice of the time are contrary to God’s will for the people of God. Much of the things Isaiah writes had their origins in specific events of the time. Uniting it all, however, is a vision of what the world can be like, a vision of what the world can be like when all people follow the teachings of God; a vision of peace and justice and equality; a vision of what the world can be like when all people, to use the language of the earliest Christians, live in the kingdom of God.
Unfortunately, war separates people from that kingdom. War puts the realization of that kingdom in jeopardy. And if war jeopardizes the realization of that kingdom, then so does the injustice and inequality and unethical behavior that lead to war.
Isaiah speaks against people and nations whose actions contradict the ways of that kingdom, those things which dim the vision. And Isaiah brings that vision back to the people’s attention, as if to say, “Look! This is what you should be living for.” And Isaiah says things like, “You want to know why God is not listening to your prayers? It’s because you are not living according to God’s vision. You are not following God’s teachings. You are not living in the kingdom.
“Sure, you pretend to. You go through the motions. You offer your sacrifices; you say your prayers; but your heart is not in them. That’s easy to see, because if your heart really was intent on following God, then you wouldn’t be living the way you do. You wouldn’t be depriving your neighbor of justice. You wouldn’t allow your neighbor to starve while you feast sumptuously. Come on, people! Cease to do evil; learn to do good.”
So that’s the background. Now, back to the issues I raised earlier.
“Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah.”
Isaiah mentions Sodom and Gomorrah because the names are attention-getters. Sodom and Gomorrah are cities that did not live out the vision. In fact, the lifestyles of those cities contradicted everything the vision stood for.
I think there is a general misunderstanding regarding what the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about. As the story reads in the book of Genesis, two men come to visit Sodom; these men are really God in disguise. They arrive at the house of a man named Lot, who insists that they stay with him.
Lot is a good man. He knows the teachings of God. He understands the vision. And one of the most important components of the vision is offering hospitality to travelers. Abraham had earlier offered hospitality to these divine men, and was blessed because of it.
In ancient times, offering hospitality meant offering protection. It meant protecting those who, because they were away from home or because they had no home, were vulnerable to those who might take advantage of them or do them harm. By welcoming them into his home, Lot is sworn to protect them.
Lo and behold, a gang of men come to Lot’s house and insist he throw those two guests of his out, so that they might rape him. Lot refuses, but instead offers his own daughters to them instead.
A lot of people argue that this is a story that condemns homosexuality, because the gang of men tried to rape Lot’s guests. But what about Lot’s offering of his daughters? The story seems to present that as a good thing. Are we really prepared to say that this story is about sex, that homosexual gang-rape is forbidden while heterosexual gang-rape is OK?
I don’t know anyone who would say that rape is OK, no matter what the gender of the victim and the assailants. So any attempt to derive from this story a lesson on proper sexual conduct falls flat.
But listen to what Lot says to the mob at his door. He says: “stay away from these men, for they have come under the shelter of my own roof.” He does not say, “stay away from them, because they are male.” He says “stay away from them, for I have offered them shelter. I have sworn, according to the rules of hospitality taught to us by God, to protect them.” Then he offers his daughters as a substitute, not because they are female, and certainly not because he wants to, but because he takes seriously his commitment to shelter and protect his guests, and thereby remain true to the code of hospitality.
“Stay away from these men, for they have come under the shelter of my own roof.”
So the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about hospitality. It’s about honoring and ministering to the stranger in one’s midst, the foreigner, the sojourner. It’s about living in the vision which will not allow injustice against a stranger or guest, even if standing up for justice comes at a terrible price. And yes, it’s a dramatic story about two cities that were destroyed, because they did not live in the vision of God.
So, that clears up the issue surrounding Isaiah’s reference to Sodom and Gomorrah. But there is still that violent ending to Isaiah’s passage, not to mention the violence done against the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. How does that fit into Isaiah’s vision of a peaceable kingdom?
In thinking about this, my thoughts turned to a more modern prophet, who – like Isaiah – had a vision of what life is like in God’s kingdom. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision – he called it a dream – was also of a world of peace and justice, a world that lives according to the laws and teachings of God.
It is largely because of his nonviolent ways that Martin Luther King, Jr. is regarded so highly, and honored with street names and holidays and ceremonies. And yet, in the midst of his most famous speech, the “I Have a Dream” speech he delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he said: “There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.”
Whirlwinds of revolt shaking the foundations of our nation? Sounds kind of violent for Martin Luther King. Just what was he saying?
Well, he wasn’t saying that he himself was going to take up arms, or that others should do so. We know that. He wasn’t about to lead a violent revolt, or to plant bombs that literally shake foundations.
But he was saying that there will nevertheless be turmoil until justice is granted. There will be no peace until the vision, the dream, is made real.
I believe that Isaiah’s prophecy is to be read the same way. There will be no peace until people learn to live in the vision that God has set before them. Those who do not work for justice, who intentionally or even unintentionally perpetuate cycles of injustice, will be devoured by the sword. The fact that the language is metaphorical doesn’t make it any less harsh. There will be no peace until we learn to live in the kingdom of God, until we learn to make living in God’s kingdom our number one priority.
And in that kingdom, people will cease to do evil, and learn to do good. In that kingdom, there will be justice. In that kingdom, those who are weak will be made strong; those who are poor will be made rich. The oppressed will be rescued, orphans will be defended, and widows will find an advocate. And there will be peace.
And as an outpost of that kingdom, it is our responsibility, as followers of Christ, as Christ’s ambassadors, to live in that kingdom; and living in that kingdom means that we are the ones who do good. We are the ones who seek justice. We are the ones who pursue peace. We are the ones who defend the weak and the poor.
Isaiah’s language is violent because he lives in a violent time. Foreign nations commit acts of war against the house of David, and the people commit acts of violence against one another through their acts of injustice and inhospitality.
Martin Luther King, Jr. used a violent metaphor not because he advocated violence, but because he also lived in a violent time. The violence came about through society’s injustice and inequality. He knew that injustice and violence were linked, and that justice and peace were also linked.
This weekend, we are witness to another reminder of the violence of our time. 65 years ago this weekend, perhaps the single greatest act of violence committed against people took place as an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. Ever since, we have lived in a nuclear age. And as long as we live in a nuclear age, the kingdom of God will never be fully realized on earth, as it is in heaven.
As ambassadors of Christ and Christ’s kingdom, it is our calling to be proclaimers of justice and makers of peace. The Disciples of Christ have a long history of working for peace. Our earliest leaders, Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone, were pacifists. In 1935, Disciples Peace Fellowship was formed, the first denominational peace organization in the country.
Here in Long Beach, Bixby Knolls Christian Church officially became a shalom congregation in 1984, committing itself to studying issues of peace. With the vision of Isaiah and the prophets guiding us, not to mention the teachings of Jesus, let us continue to be an outpost of God’s kingdom, doing good, seeking justice, and rescuing the oppressed, so that God’s peace may reign, honoring the Prince of Peace, in whose name we live.
If you want to rid the world of violence, you don’t build bombs. Alexander Campbell once wrote that the only way to conquer an enemy is to turn him into a friend. You work for peace and justice and equality for all.
No comments:
Post a Comment