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Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Year A
Feb.5, 2023
In my ministry I have done lots of weddings. One of the things I tried to do was to have several meetings with the happy couple, to talk about the service, and to help them to get to know a little more about each other. One of the questions I always asked was “what do you do when you have a disagreement? How do you fight?
They would look at me with surprise, or even disbelief. “We don’t’ fight. We love each other.” Right! They’re planning to spend fifty or so years together, and they’re never going to disagree. So we would talk about how to have an argument. It could be something as trivial as one of them leaving the cap of the toothpaste tube. Or it could be a major event, like finances, politics, family matters. And I would remind them that family dynamics and practices would be reflected in how they settled the issue. Do you stop talking to each other? Do you yell? Do you want to throw things – get some soft toys, don’t use your fists. There are constructive ways to express anger, pick one. And then kiss and make up.
Today we have a reading from the book of Isaiah, in which God and the people have a rip roaring straight out shouting match. God complains that the people are shallow, and the people scream back “You never listen to us!”: Maybe some door slamming, if people had doors. You are allowed to argue with God, but God will always win. And then we can all kiss and make up, and harmony will be restored to the world.
Sometimes, when we hear a story in Scripture, we need to refresh the history, the context of the passage. The book of Isaiah covers a huge timespan, from about 730 BCE, when Judah was a flourishing kingdom, through the days of the destruction of Jerusalem and exile of the people to Babylon in 586 BCE, and into today’s passage in 538 BCE when the exiles had returned to Jerusalem from about seventy years of captivity. That’s nearly 200 years! So, there are two or three different writers who lived during this period in the history of Judah. Your guess is as good as mine why they all got stuffed together in one book.
What’s important to remember is that almost none of the people who came back from Babylon had ever lived in Jerusalem. Most of them had been born in Babylon, and after seventy years, the original exiles would have died. So these are folk who have been fed on the dreams, the promises, the memories of Jerusalem at its finest – a beautiful city on a hill, with the glories of the temple dominating the scenery. Sure, it had been ransacked, but it would have been restored by now.
Not so. The people who remained in Jerusalem were impoverished, oppressed, and sometimes unable to build back even their own dwellings. They made some half-hearted attempts to get portions of the temple back in order but they were mainly concerned with basic survival.
So when this great influx of returning refugees appeared, with their grandiose expectations, there was lack of cooperation, disappointment, frustration and conflict. The new era, the restoration, the re-creation of past glory was never going to happen. You can’t go back, you can only proceed forward.
The discouraged people of God were worshipping with a lack of holy energy. They had outward piety, and inward emptiness. They prayed, with tired hearts. They centred on their own spiritual poverty, taking the easy way out: they dressed in sackcloth, poured ashes on their heads, fasted ostentatiously, and ignored the basic tenets of the law of God.
In a contemporary sense, it was “Sunday worship that has nothing to say to Monday’s world.” (Sacredise.com/epiphany 5a) Can we blame them? They probably felt that God had abandoned them in their time of need. They were living with uncertainty and anxiety. They were unsure how they should worship without the temple and the specific rituals that had existed in the past.
Last week, you heard the beautiful passage from Micah: what God wants is a people who practice justice, kindness and who walk in humility and devotion with their loving creator. This is the law of God and I’m sure that God felt the rules had been very well defined. But in Jerusalem there was a lot of confusion.
. ` There are three words in Hebrew which to me, help to define how a person and a society, should live:
Mishpat – justice, is the practice of the law, and that law should be one that promotes equality and concern for all.
Chesed is a bit less specific. It has been translated as kindness, but it is more than that. It is an unbreakable steadfast love, a sense of reaching out, of making connections, of joining with God in a sacred purpose.
And the third word, tsedakah, is even more difficult to define. It is an internal yearning to make things right. We define it as righteousness. It is to become part of the character or nature of a person, a conscious attitude of conduct that shows concern for all, especially those who are in need. It encompasses outward acts of charity but it is also a way of life. You don’t have to think about it, you just live that way.
These three ideas are woven together to fulfill and celebrate the ancient laws. And way back in Jerusalem, no one was doing any weaving.
So God sent a prophet to get out the message. Loud and clear, get their attention like a blast from a trumpet., shout it from the rooftops:
“Folks, you’re doing it all wrong. You’re looking to delight in God’s ways, but you’re not holding up your end of the stick.”
And the people shout back
“What do you want from us? We’re doing the best we can. We’re praying – really loudly, we’re fasting, we’re grovelling in the dust, and you’re not paying any attention.”
But God has the last word:
“Is that what you think I want? You are quarreling and fighting and beating each other up. You are ignoring my children in need. This is not a holy fast . What I expect is that you think of others, stop your unjust acts, release those you have oppressed, share your wealth and food with those who are hungry, find shelter for those who are homeless, clothe those who are naked, and find harmony in your own families. Only then will you begin to heal and prosper, and when you cry out to me, with genuine piety, I will answer.”
This is God’s tough love approach. Sometimes we all need it.
Matthew’s words from last week tell us that God blesses those who are in need: the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the ones who search for righteousness, the ones who are persecuted.
And today, we hear words of encouragement. Just for fun, because we don’t want to get too immersed in the difficulties of life, I invite you to imagine Matthew as a cheerleader. Close your eyes and picture it! Large, maybe clumsy man, wearing a short pleated skirt and a large sweater that says “Go, God, Go!” Waving some palm leaves and jumping up and down. Rah, Rah, Rah.
Matthew is telling us that we have the gifts we need: of salt and light. The ability to bring flavour - joy and laughter and creativity - to life; to offer God’s love in countless ways. It’s there, already, within you. It was there, already, in the people of Jerusalem, they just needed someone to give them a pep talk before the big game.
And there were prophets who came and told them:
“Pull up your socks, roll up your sleeves, and get to it. Time to end the pity party and start living. Stop grousing and start celebrating God’s presence. Think of others instead of yourselves. Reach out, and be a community. Then your light will break out, and your healing will begin.
In Matthew, Jesus connects all of us to the ancient writings:
Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven.”
And, more importantly, reminds us that the law and the prophetic messages of Hebrew Scripture are also for a more modern faith:
“Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill”.
We are part of that great adventure, the promise to come, if we can find it within ourselves to live lives of righteousness. We are called, not to do what is correct, but what is righteous, to restore some balance to a world that is woefully out of kilter- this world that God loves.
The Law is not a bunch of rules meant to restrict our freedom, it is the foundation, the infrastructure, for a just, compassionate and righteous society.
On the weeks when I prepare a worship service, I start out by looking at google news, and I write down some of the significant events of the week. It can be pretty depressing.
But then I open my email each day, and read the websites from some of the churches I am involved with. And my heart is lifted up, when I consider all the activities that get people involved, the welcome messages for newcomers, the programmes for those in the community who are in need, the attention given to prayers for those who are suffering, the workshops to educate people about social issues like drug addiction, racial discrimination, health problems, inclusiveness and so much more.
This past week I was energized by a message from First United in Vancouver, about the reconstruction of their building to include housing units in cooperation with Luma First Nations housing society, and I know that you, along with Cloverdale United Church, are involved in exciting plans for redevelopment of your own properties. It will take time, but you are fulfilling the call to righteous action in your outreach programmes, and tackling the serious regional problem of homelessness and the rising cost of housing with practical, faithful responses.
In the midst of all the social and personal problems that we encounter, the anxieties and discouragement, the rising cost of food, the endless changes in Covid threats, the political name calling, the concern for those in poverty in this cold winter, the housing crisis, the international political unrest and violence, we feel that inner strength that comes from faith.
We are a people who will not give up, who refuse to hide our light, who try, even if imperfectly, to fulfill God’s wish for justice, loving-kindness and righteousness. Let us continue on this path, following the words of the prophets to care for one another and the words of the Gospel to celebrate the ancient Law and the presence of Jesus who walks with us in blessing.