Many of us, if not most of us, probably do not know the story of Israel. In its simplest form it is a story if deliverance, covenant, monarchy, exile, and return.
As the story goes, God delivered the people from bondage in Egypt, made a covenant with them, brought them through the wilderness and delivered them into the land Canaan. There they became a nation and built a temple to the Lord. As a nation they saw great military victories and defeats under kings and generals. They strayed from their covenant with God, but the prophets called them back. Then, in the sixth century BCE, the unthinkable happened.
The Babylonians defeated Israel. They ransacked and pillaged . . . they destroyed the temple, stole Israel’s treasure and livelihoods, put them into bondage, and then marched them back to the gates of Babylon in chains. It was devastating and the victory was absolute. It was complete devastation of the political, social, economic, and religious life that the Israelites had known for centuries. It was all gone.
Fortunately for us, none of us have ever experienced such defeat in our lives . . . and in particular, we have never experienced anything like that on our own soil. For us it is difficult to imagine how devastating it must have been for God’s chosen people to be handed over to enemies. They were defeated . . . destroyed . . . humiliated as they were taken into bondage. Then to top it all off . . . God did nothing to intervene.
As difficult as it is to imagine what the Israelites must have felt . . . try. How could God abandon them? Removed from all they knew and understood—the temple and the land—were they still God’s people? Was God still God? Like all good humans, they imagined the worse . . . God had withdrawn favor and allowed them to be punished for their sins and disobedience at the hands of the Babylonians.
Into this crisis of identity steps, the prophet Isaiah. The prophet reminds the people who God is and how God works. He draws them out of this moment of history towards the greater purposes of God. One biblical commentator said it was like we are watching through a camera lens that is “zooming slowly out of a close-up shot to a wide-angle view, a cosmic view.” In reminding the people of who God is, how God works, and what God is doing in sending a servant, the prophet expands the frame of reference. They move from something “small” to something “big” . . . something cosmic and all encompassing.
God is not only the God of Israel but is the God of all creation. God is not confined to a designated time or place, but dwells in a wide, open cosmic space that cannot be confined in the cramped space of exile. God is not a God only for a designated people, but all people. Though they are God’s people they are not the only people of God.
The one that God sends demonstrates the ways that God acts. God sends a spirit-filled servant not a conqueror or tyrant. This entity is a liberator who will bring justice, not domination. This justice is for all . . . everywhere. And this is the expectation of those who follow this servant . . . that they live righteously as does the servant but that do not only do this for themselves but for all . . . for all the nations. Through them this work shall bring blessing.
Isaiah presents to them a new view and understanding of God. God is still God but so much more! God is a God of all and because God is, the realm of God’s purpose and kingdom is larger than they ever imagined. No longer is the possibility only what they see in front of themselves but stretches out beyond the horizon that seems to never end. It is God declaring “new things” that “spring forth”.
Through servanthood there is hope . . . hope for today and tomorrow.
In Jesus this is manifest and proclaimed on this first Sunday of Epiphany. This is the great “aha”. Through Jesus, God again sends a servant who will bring justice, who God “anoints to bring good news to the poor . . . to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and declare the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
During Epiphany we recognize and receive Jesus, the servant of God for the whole world. This is the one that the prophet Isaiah spoke of. This is the one God sent. Our God is a God that cannot be contained. We are reminded once again that if God cannot be contained and reaches to infinity and beyond . . . well, then, neither should our faith. We are called to see the world through the eyes of Jesus, and he sees everything.
Let us hear the words of the prophet once again:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
This is what God the Lord says—
I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
“I am the Lord; that is my name!
I will not yield my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
See, the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you.”
Amen!
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