Hope for the world. Isaiah 64:1-9, Luke 2: By John Roy. December 2017

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1 Hope for the world Isaiah 64:1-9, Luke 2:25-32 By John Roy Pelham Road Church Greenville, SC December 2017 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence-- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people 1 P age

2 That s quite the opening. O that you would tear open heaven and come down. The cry goes up from the prophet and the people of Israel in Isaiah 64, on this first Sunday in Advent. This passage is a classical biblical lament. Lament, of course, means to cry. Now laments, when we are crying, are not known for their logic or reason, in fact, most often laments are poetic protests against pain and appeals for intervention. The author of these words holds a lot in common with us. "Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come down!" These words or similar expression often fall from the mouths of the devout. "We need you, God! Where are you, God? Come down and intervene NOW, God! Enough is enough!" The cry goes up from the Sutherland Springs, Texas, from Somali refugee camps in Kenya, from medical facilities in Liberia. The suffering cry out for mercy; the needy for relief; the threatened for safety. When the world seems to be rotating off its axis, our response is God get down here. So the God who first came in the flesh as a baby in Bethlehem will return one day with great power to usher in the full reign of God, with a new heaven and a new earth, and gather his people from "the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven."(mark 13:27). God has already ripped open heaven and came down for the first time. But what do we do with this in-between time, in the meantime? How do we handle the waiting, especially when things seem to be falling apart all around us? How do we offer hope to the world when the world is in the shape its in. 4 Million people are living in Puerto Rico without power O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your 2 P age

3 presence-- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! 58 people were attending a concert in Las Vegas and where shot and killed for no apparent reason O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence-- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! This past year Nazi s marched in the streets that were built by World War 2 Veterans O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence-- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! Presently there are over 5 Million Syrian refugees, displaced by a brutal dictator, to put this in context 5 million is the size of Houston and Chicago. So it is like every citizen of Houston and Chicago having to flee to Greece, a place that is not there home and where they do not speak the language, and the native citizens don t want them. O that you would tear open the heavens and come down so that the mountains would quake at your presence-- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! Seldom does God go directly from Point A to Point B. Hope is not saying a prayer on Monday then everybody in Puerto Rico having power by Tuesday. Hope is not being diagnosed with cancer on Wednesday saying a prayer and being healed by 3 P age

4 Friday. No matter how much we crave the immediate and demand instant gratification or even salvation, God seems to act in a less direct, more roundabout manner. God promises Abram and Sarai descendants as numerous as the stars, but they have to wander and deal with many trials before Isaac is finally born. Jacob struggles with wives and birthright before he is renamed Israel after wrestling with an angel. Joseph is sold into slavery and imprisoned before he comes to power and reconciles with his family. The Israelites are slaves between 250 and 400 years until God "hears the cries of God's people" and delivers them from Egypt. They then must wander the wilderness for forty years before God gives them the Promised Land. The anointed David must run for his life from King Saul for years before he becomes king. The nation of Israel is cast into exile and suffers for seventy years before Babylon is overthrown and the temple rebuilt in Jerusalem. See the pattern? More time in the waiting room than seeing the doctor. More waiting than God tearing open the heavens. More often stories of endurance like Simeon and Anna who patiently wait and pray, worshipping in the temple week in and week out, hoping God will act, than immediate gratification. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, 4 P age

5 according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. (Luke 2:25-32) We learn much from this biblical pattern of delay and waiting. First, God will act. Delay does not mean God is not at work, uncaring or asleep. God will act, but in God's own time in God's own way. So rest assured, no matter how desperate circumstances seem, God will act and God will prevail. We must align ourselves with Anna and Simeon and trust and wait. We cultivate trust by reminding ourselves of the biblical narratives of hardship, trust, and deliverance, and by surrounding ourselves with other people of faith who wait with us. We wait confidently, knowing God will act. We wait---but not passively, we wait actively. Like the man who has left home and put his stewards in charge, "each with his work and commands," Jesus has left us with jobs to do, love to share, and a commission to fulfill. The meantime is not idle time. The vision of Christ's return compels us to live as God's agents now. We dream of the world as God would have it and commit our lives to making it a present reality. Until Christ returns, it seems that God's kingdom will come incrementally when a hungry person is fed, one who thirsts is given a cup, the stranger is welcomed, the naked one is clothed, the sick person is cared for, the prisoner is visited. I heard Sue Haupert Johnson share this story, Years ago my four-year-old niece Sarah and I planned to go to the beach together one weekend. I called her the Monday before our trip and asked, "Are you ready to go to the beach?" A half 5 P age

6 hour later my sister called and wanted to know what I had said to Sarah. "Why?" I asked. "She's sitting at the end of our driveway with a packed suitcase waiting for you!" That's the kind of urgent, expectant waiting Jesus demands. He wants us to live as if there's a pop quiz every day rather than only one end-of-life final exam! We must keep awake waiting confidently, actively, expectantly. When a fuse is lit there is a period of time before the explosion; the bomb does not go off immediately. Jesus' first coming ushered in the kingdom of God and lit the fuse. We have no idea how long that fuse is; but as Jesus promises us, the explosion of the new order, the full reign of God, is coming. So we also wait and prepare ourselves in the meantime. One day the heavens will be ripped open, God will bring the eternal justice so needed, and the forever hope we long for. We know there will be a new heaven and a new earth, a New Jerusalem, and that Christ will gather us there and we will joyfully reunite. We also know that we will face suffering and hardship in the meantime. But we face our trials hopefully, even joyfully, with that vision guiding and sustaining us. We bear witness to the hope we confess when we carry on in the meantime. Instead of sitting around waiting for God to rip open the heavens, we like Anna and Simeon continue our pilgrimage, rejecting the temptations of despair and lean into the pain on our crutch of hope- We make the most of the meantime not by looking to heaven but by lifting up Jesus. The hope we offer is by living the way of Simeon, the faithful way. The pain is real, the injustice is genuine, the waiting is necessary, but our hope is just as real. Instead of living with our eyes fixed on the sky we live with our knees bent 6 P age

7 and our hands outstretched. We are ready to give an account for our hope, like Simeon with our faithful lives. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Our hope is in God, we are the work of his hand and that is the best news I can think of. 7 P age