“Listening” (Isaiah 50:4-9)

A classmate in seminary used to like to remind people that God created humans with two ears and one mouth . . . so, he would say, “Which do you think God considers more important? Listening or talking?”

What do you think?

The voice, the one we call the “Servant”, in our reading this morning states: “He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.  The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears.”  In doing so, God speaks to the individual . . . teaches the individual . . . guides the individual . . . shows the individual the way . . . gives the individual hope despite it all.  Out of that hope, the individual finds the strength to move forward in doing God’s will . . . “Therefore have I set my face like a flint . . .”  This is an individual who is single-minded, a person with a purpose, determined to rest in and return to the covenant promises of God.

The story in the Book of Isaiah center around the Babylonian Exile . . . a consequence of the people’s sinfulness for not listening to the call of God.  Instead of heeding the call of God, the people turned their backs to God’s will . . . strayed away from God.  Their sinfulness and deafness brought upon them the consequences they were suffering.  Oh yeah, they had been warned, but they refused to listen.  Now they stand on the brink of returning to their homeland . . . the promised land.

Our reading . . . this passage . . . sits between two scathing discourses that are filled with questions to the rebellious people who have no answer.  The history of God’s people continually points to the inability of the people to listen . . . from the first days of the fleeing of Egypt to this point of nearing the return from their exile in Babylon.  For this people . . . God’s chosen ones . . . the ability to hear God is synonymous with the ability to obey.  In a time that should be filled with celebration, the people are leery.  It is a long and hard road before them, literally and symbolically, to get back home . . . to get back to God.  The question becomes whether they are going to listen, or will they give in to the weariness of the journey that will be hard and difficult?

To this the voice of our reading . . . the Servant . . . speaks.  He speaks because he is listening to God as God speaks to him.  He hears what God is telling him and all of them in the questioning of the people.  He hears it quite plainly . . . clear as day.  God is going to walk with them . . . be with them . . . always.  God will not abandon them no matter what . . . in the good and the bad, the light and dark, the violence and peace, through thick and thin . . . through the doubt and the hope.  God will be with them.  Thus, it is that the Servant declares that he is going to follow God’s will . . . “Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.  He who vindicates me is near.”  No matter what, the Servant chooses to obey . . . to do God’s will.

It all comes down to listening.

We live in busy times.  All of us do.  Life seems to move pretty fast whether it is in our personal lives or the life we share as community, nation, and global people.  We are constantly on the go.  And, I do not know about you, but sometimes I wonder whether I have accomplished anything in all the busyness of my life . . . wonder whether I have even moved from one point to another . . . advanced my life.  Wondered what all this busyness has done for me or anyone else . . . especially God.  God is often forgotten in the busyness of living.

Often when I get really busy, a verse from the psalmist pops into my mind.  I imagine that it is the Spirit talking to me.  The psalmist writes in Psalm 46, verse 10: He says, “Be still, and know that I am God . . .”  It is then that I remember that I need to be still, and in the stillness push out the busyness of my life so that I can listen and hear the voice of God.  In the listening, as the Servant tells us in our reading this morning, we discover God’s will . . . God’s promise . . . and, hope in it all.  With such assurance despite the weariness of living, we find the strength to keep on going.  To keep on going no matter what the circumstances are that we encounter as we strive to do God’s will.

We all know the will of God.  To restore the Kingdom of God . . . to live in love with God . . . to live in love with one another.  Jesus preached it.  Jesus lived it.  Jesus showed us the way.  Everyone loved the messenger and the message . . . loved him up until he went off and got himself crucified on a cross.  Yet, that too, was part of the way.  You must take the consequences if you choose to follow Jesus.  There is bad that comes with the good when one follows Jesus.

Despite it all, if you are listening, God calls to us to come.

The Servant understood all of this as he proclaimed: “I have not drawn back.  I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.”   Neither did Jesus . . . the one we claim to follow.  Thus, it is that the Servant “. . . trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.”

So, must we.

God has spoken to us and continues to speak to us.  God does so in the still quietness and in the bustling noise of the world around us.  God calls us to hear the call to love . . . to love God . . . to love one another.  The question becomes whether or not we are listening.  Think about it for a minute . . . be still for a moment and listen . . . listen to the world around you . . . the voices in the news spewing out all the information about this or that that is taking place in our world.  Listen to the voices . . . what is your reaction . . . does it make you angry?  Does it make you sad?  Does it confuse you?  Listen to that voice because that is the voice of God speaking to you.  Do you hear it?

If you can hear God’s voice, then to hear is to obey.

In the end, the voice—the Servant—in our reading is saying to obey.  To obey God’s will no matter what . . . God will not abandon us but will walk with us.  No matter what is thrown at us, God will be there.  In that we find hope.  In hope we find strength.  We can fulfil God’s will if we only listen.

Remember, God gave us two ears and one mouth . . . listen and obey.  Amen.