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: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have
taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as
a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind, to
bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the
prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise
to idols. See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare; before
they spring forth, I tell you of them.
-
Isaiah 42:5-9
When
Lindsey and I got married, our first apartment didn’t have a dishwasher, so I typically
started every morning washing the previous night’s dishes by hand. While
annoying at first, I quickly came to relish the activity as a quiet, almost therapeutic
way to begin the day. So when a few years later we moved to another apartment,
one that had a dishwasher, I didn’t adjust immediately. Just like I’d been
doing at the old place, I started the first few mornings in our new home with
soap and sponge in hand, going after the dirty dishes exactly as I had before. Lindsey
let this go on for a few days, but finally spoke up. “I know you’re used to
starting the day this way,” she said, “but there’s a better way now.”
That’s
a message that the prophet Isaiah delivered to Israel as he announced the
impending arrival of the Messiah. For a people in exile, hope was in short
supply, so they were desperate for God to save them as He had in the past. They
waited for Him to send a prophet whose word would compel the people to obey the
Law, or a priest who would sanctify the people through the Temple, or a king who
would lead them to victory and reign with justice. God had saved them with
people like this in the past—people like Moses and Joshua, Deborah and Samuel,
David and Josiah, Elijah and Hilkiah. Surely he would do so again.
But
in Isaiah 42, the prophet announces that the time has come for a better way: “the
former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare.” Instead of sending
His word through a prophet, this time God would send the Word made flesh. Instead
of having a priest offer up daily sacrifices, God would now have the Great High
Priest make the ultimate sacrifice once and for all. Instead of sending another
monarch in a long line, now God was going to send the King of Kings. The old
paradigm was gone, and Israel could now place their hope in a Messiah who would
be prophet, priest, and king.
As
Christians, we believe that Jesus of Nazareth was and is that Messiah, and that
by his death and resurrection we have hope. But when our lives and our world
veer off course, when we find ourselves identifying with exiled Israel, we can’t
seem to help returning to the old way. We raptly listen to any charming speaker
with a pulpit, hoping he’ll be the prophet who saves us. We wait with bated
breath for encouragement from the celebrity who seems so full of wisdom and
inspiration, hoping she’ll be the priest who can make us holy. We throw in our
lot with politicians, hoping they will rescue us from the powerful forces at
our doorstep.
What
we must remember is that our hope should not rest with these fallible, human
figures—as the hymn says, our “hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood
and righteousness.” Tempting as it is to look for saviors in our midst, the one
true Savior has already come, and on the cross he accomplished what no one else
could. Even when circumstances are bleak, Jesus is Lord, and his empty tomb proclaims
that no force can overcome him. So don’t allow hopelessness to seep into your life
or for cynicism to make you think that God has forgotten you. Exile has ended—and
in Christ, we are invited to a better way.
No comments:
Post a Comment