Isaiah 42:1-4
Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him,
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry out 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.
Advent is not about the birth of Jesus. That comes with Christmas. Advent is about those who believed and hoped . . . and waited . . . and kept on hoping.
One of the primary prophets who spoke of one to come for the people was Isaiah. Isaiah’s is a long book, with 66 chapters, covering a vast number of years – so long that scholars have identified three different Isaiahs – first, second, and third.
The story told by all three Isaiahs is a story of comfort and security turned to loss and despair and a feeling of deep abandonment. The people had grown used to having God guide them and prosper them for so long that they began to take God for granted, until it all collapsed around them and they had to learn to trust God all over again. It was a long and tortuous journey.
First Isaiah was a contemporary of, and deeply influenced by such prophets as Amos, Hosea, and Micah, who were well known as prophets of Social Justice. Influenced by these prophets, Isaiah preached a message of justice for all to all who would listen -- kings, ordinary people, cultural leaders -- a justice only to be found in adherence to far older messages of God’s justice, a Messiah to come, and the absolute necessity of placing the nation’s full dependence in Yahweh rather than in the might of nations and earthly kings.
This was the time leading up to and during the Babylonian exile and Isaiah taught, first, that bad things were going to happen if the people didn’t return to obeying God in all things, and then once the worst happened, that the only hope of the people in exile, as well as those fragmented souls left behind, was an absolute trust in God’s promises.
Years later, Babylon was itself conquered by Persia under King Cyrus and, in the time of Second Isaiah, the Hebrew people were eventually freed to return to their homeland.
This was not generally a happy time. The people had been too long torn apart – they were strangers to one another – with different hopes and dreams for this reunification. Again, a message of complete trust in God was necessary – their God – the One who chose them to be his own. But first they had to learn to live with each other again. It was not easy, but in time, they focused on God again and rebuilt their nation and their lives around their trust in God and the Promised One to come – and they learned again to hope – and to wait.
There are even older stories of rejection built all through the Hebrew Scriptures. Stories of those who waited long, long times for the fulfillment of promises given them. While there were triumphs and loses among the males heroes of the bible, one common thread among the women is that of barrenness and the rejection by both their husbands and the world’s opinion because of their failure to bear children (the failure was always the woman’s fault, never the man’s).
The Old Testament Hebrews did not believe in an afterlife, except as their name was kept alive in the memories of their sons. No sons – their memories would fade and die. Therefore, it was of the utmost importance that they had sons to carry on their line. A woman who did not give her man sons was a disgrace and a failure. Even if a man did not blame his wife he still took other wives to give him sons. Such was the non-status of women in the bible.
Some such women’s stories made it into scripture – Hannah, barren wife of Elkanah, who prayed and trusted God, and finally bore Samuel who became High Priest and a great hero. Sarai, barren wife of Abram, suffered much scorn for years, but through her trust in God’s word, she did bear Isaac in her old age. And even Elizabeth, cousin to Mary, wife to Zechariah the priest, was barren and shunned until through faith, she bore John, who would one day baptize Jesus. There were many other like them. These women suffered in the waiting, but each eventually bore a man-child who would one day play a major role in the story of their people.
Each of these women lived with a sense of failure and rejection, while still holding on to their faith in God’s promise. Even in the face of evidence that said that God had forgotten them entirely – they still believed. Each of the Hebrews defeated and forced off into exile in a foreign land, still believed. Each Jew who watched their once powerful kingdom wither and crumble making them easy prey for stronger nations – found the courage to believe – the courage to hope – the courage to trust again. They may have lost it for a while but they regained it and they hoped.
Generation after generation of faithful people trusted – they suffered, but they kept trusting. And these are the ones whose faith was repaid when God sent Jesus. In some cases hundreds of years later, long after the human lifespan – because God’s promises were more for the people as a whole more than the individual -- to show them that God does hear our prayers, and does keep God’s promises, even if it’s not on human schedules, but on God’s own.
They hoped, and trusted ... and waited . . . as we still wait today for peace in our world. And we believe in the one who “will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in all the earth.”
One of the primary prophets who spoke of one to come for the people was Isaiah. Isaiah’s is a long book, with 66 chapters, covering a vast number of years – so long that scholars have identified three different Isaiahs – first, second, and third.
The story told by all three Isaiahs is a story of comfort and security turned to loss and despair and a feeling of deep abandonment. The people had grown used to having God guide them and prosper them for so long that they began to take God for granted, until it all collapsed around them and they had to learn to trust God all over again. It was a long and tortuous journey.
First Isaiah was a contemporary of, and deeply influenced by such prophets as Amos, Hosea, and Micah, who were well known as prophets of Social Justice. Influenced by these prophets, Isaiah preached a message of justice for all to all who would listen -- kings, ordinary people, cultural leaders -- a justice only to be found in adherence to far older messages of God’s justice, a Messiah to come, and the absolute necessity of placing the nation’s full dependence in Yahweh rather than in the might of nations and earthly kings.
This was the time leading up to and during the Babylonian exile and Isaiah taught, first, that bad things were going to happen if the people didn’t return to obeying God in all things, and then once the worst happened, that the only hope of the people in exile, as well as those fragmented souls left behind, was an absolute trust in God’s promises.
Years later, Babylon was itself conquered by Persia under King Cyrus and, in the time of Second Isaiah, the Hebrew people were eventually freed to return to their homeland.
This was not generally a happy time. The people had been too long torn apart – they were strangers to one another – with different hopes and dreams for this reunification. Again, a message of complete trust in God was necessary – their God – the One who chose them to be his own. But first they had to learn to live with each other again. It was not easy, but in time, they focused on God again and rebuilt their nation and their lives around their trust in God and the Promised One to come – and they learned again to hope – and to wait.
There are even older stories of rejection built all through the Hebrew Scriptures. Stories of those who waited long, long times for the fulfillment of promises given them. While there were triumphs and loses among the males heroes of the bible, one common thread among the women is that of barrenness and the rejection by both their husbands and the world’s opinion because of their failure to bear children (the failure was always the woman’s fault, never the man’s).
The Old Testament Hebrews did not believe in an afterlife, except as their name was kept alive in the memories of their sons. No sons – their memories would fade and die. Therefore, it was of the utmost importance that they had sons to carry on their line. A woman who did not give her man sons was a disgrace and a failure. Even if a man did not blame his wife he still took other wives to give him sons. Such was the non-status of women in the bible.
Some such women’s stories made it into scripture – Hannah, barren wife of Elkanah, who prayed and trusted God, and finally bore Samuel who became High Priest and a great hero. Sarai, barren wife of Abram, suffered much scorn for years, but through her trust in God’s word, she did bear Isaac in her old age. And even Elizabeth, cousin to Mary, wife to Zechariah the priest, was barren and shunned until through faith, she bore John, who would one day baptize Jesus. There were many other like them. These women suffered in the waiting, but each eventually bore a man-child who would one day play a major role in the story of their people.
Each of these women lived with a sense of failure and rejection, while still holding on to their faith in God’s promise. Even in the face of evidence that said that God had forgotten them entirely – they still believed. Each of the Hebrews defeated and forced off into exile in a foreign land, still believed. Each Jew who watched their once powerful kingdom wither and crumble making them easy prey for stronger nations – found the courage to believe – the courage to hope – the courage to trust again. They may have lost it for a while but they regained it and they hoped.
Generation after generation of faithful people trusted – they suffered, but they kept trusting. And these are the ones whose faith was repaid when God sent Jesus. In some cases hundreds of years later, long after the human lifespan – because God’s promises were more for the people as a whole more than the individual -- to show them that God does hear our prayers, and does keep God’s promises, even if it’s not on human schedules, but on God’s own.
They hoped, and trusted ... and waited . . . as we still wait today for peace in our world. And we believe in the one who “will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in all the earth.”
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