Message for January 8, 2017 Glennon Heights Mennonite Church Betsy Headrick McCrae Scripture passages: Isaiah 42:1-9 and Matthew 3:13-17 God s delight We ve come through another Christmas, another time of retelling the story of God coming among us as a baby in the manger. What a marvel that is! The story continues. The baby, Jesus, grows up. He becomes a man with a mission. Today we meet him again as he approaches John the Baptizer on the banks of the Jordan River. Jesus presents himself to John for baptism because it is the right and faithful thing to do. As he is coming out of the water, God appears on the scene: Suddenly the heavens were opened to Jesus and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Jesus is filled with God s Spirit. God sees him and claims him right there at the start. And God provides him with what he needs to be able to do the work he has been called to do. Jesus was a Jew, part of an age-old Jewish religious tradition. Those whom he called and taught and those who later wrote about him were, for the most part, also part of the Jewish religious tradition. They were very familiar with the writings of what we now call the Old Testament. They looked to these writings to help them understand what they were seeing in Jesus. Matthew and the other gospel writers were familiar with the words of Isaiah 42 which we read this morning. Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him. As the gospel writers told the story of Jesus, they referenced these ancient words. They studied their sacred writings and in them they found signs that pointed to Jesus as a continuing revelation of 1
God s saving work among people. They drew these words into the story of Jesus and gave them new meaning. They came to understand that what they were seeing in Jesus was part of the God story that they knew well. It was the next step as had already been proclaimed. See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them. The words of the prophet Isaiah were very important to the people of Jesus day. They were important to Jesus. He used the words of Isaiah 61 as his mission statement. Isaiah is a book that stands among the prophets as pastoral prophecy. The word pastoral refers to the spiritual care and guidance of a community of God s people. Prophecy refers to the proclamation of God s will and purpose for God s people. With that in mind that the words of Isaiah are both pastoral and prophetic, both caring and proclaiming I d like us to take a deeper look at this passage from Isaiah 42. Many of us have somehow come to believe that in order to be in God s good graces we ve got to keep climbing up the ladder. We have a ladder theology. In order to be good Christians we have to keep doing the right things, we have to keep putting our foot on that next rung which will bring us closer to God who is waiting there at the top to receive us if we can just keep on track. Only when we get to the top of ladder will we really be made right with God and accepted into God s presence. The onus is on us. The doing is all ours. God basically just hopes and waits and wills us forward. This may be what we ve learned, but it is not biblical theology. In fact, the God we see revealed in Jesus Christ, and who is written about in the scriptures, is just the opposite. It is actually God who makes the first move. God moves toward us. God sees us and loves us and comes to us first. Hear these words of Isaiah 42 as if they are spoken 2
of you: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him (or her, as the case may be). This happened for Jesus at his baptism, but this is not just a Jesus only type of thing; this is the way God sees and deals with each of us and all creation. God chooses us even before we choose God because God created us. God knows us and delights in us. And in order for us to be able to be Godly people, God pours God s spirit out upon us, upon each of us. We receive what we need from God even before we ask. There s no ladder to climb to get to God. In fact, we are more like vessels, containers, which are ready to be filled by God s spirit. Then full of the power of God s spirit we are able to do whatever needs to be done as God s people. In Isaiah 42 we see pretty clearly what it is that a spirit-filled servant of will do: He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth. We who are God s delight, we who have received freely, unsolicited an outpouring of God s spirit, will work for justice. We will do this with care and respect. We will nurture the weak and listen to those whose voices are often not heard. We will be their advocates. This won t necessarily be easy but with the Holy Spirit we will have the strength to persevere. We ll keep working because we have God s spirit within us. We ll keep faithfully following because we know God loves us. We are precious to God. God knows us deeply. Even with all our faults and foibles, we are each and every one of us God s delight. The amazing thing about this, of course, is that the God who loves each of us and 3
empowers us as we are and where we are, is also GOD in the big and unknowable sense. Listen to the words of verse 5: Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it. The God who delights in each of us in our particularity is also the source of all life and being. The God who pours out God s spirit upon us is also the one who gives us and all living beings breath. The God who will empower and stand with us as we respectfully care for the world, is also the God of all the heavens, ruler of the universe. Praise be to the One who was, who is and who is to come. In this season following Christmas we move, with Jesus, beyond the manger and into the fray of the real world. Like Jesus we do this in the knowledge that God knows who we are and that God moves with us. We are each God s beloved child. We ve received God s spirit. It has been poured into us; we are no longer empty vessels. God s spirit will empower and protect us in the work we are called to, the work of bringing healing and hope to a broken world. Like Jesus, following Jesus, we are called to be a light to the nations. We are called to proclaim the good news of God s love for the world. For it is true: New things are springing forth even if we can t yet see or even imagine them. Through us and with us, God is still very much at work in our world. God says to each of us, You are my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon you. You don t have to climb a ladder to get to God. God has already come to you. Know that this is true. It is more true than anything in the world we see around us. Sisters and brothers, like Jesus, with Jesus, you are, each of you, God s delight. Carry this knowledge with you. Live into this 4
truth with joy and commitment. Amen. 5