From The Pulpit: Do You Not Percevie it?

                 (This excerpt is from a sermon on Isaiah 43:16-21, preached on March 17, 2013)

 

 

"Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?"  

 

Isaiah's words give us comfort for changing times, and get us motivated to move in response to the new reality that God is creating. Which really is remarkable, because so often our questions about change are questions about whether it should happen or whether God is present in the midst of it.

But Isaiah is asking a completely different question. He is seeing the changes that are already starting to happen, and he is recognizing God’s hand in them - which means that our task in changing times is not to look backwards, but rather to look around today, to discover places where God is working, and to go join in.

 It’s a beautiful reversal of the way we often think about change, but it does come with one caution. Isaiah is not telling us to embrace any and all changes, whether it be in the church or in the larger culture. We must understand that the new things we are looking for are the new things that God is working, not that are coming from the world.

And it’s not always easy to tell the difference. It takes a lot of prayer, a lot of discernment, and a lot of mutual forbearance for the body of Christ to know what to do in changing times. Fortunately, Isaiah gives us a little hint on how we can do that. At the end of today’s passages, he describes what the Godly changes in our world will bring:

“I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people.” What this means is that when a changing world makes us feel lost, God’s new thing will show us the way. And when a changing world leaves us thirsty and tired, God’s new thing will give us the sustenance that we need.

And here’s the hard part: In the new reality in which we live, we will miss out on God’s guidance and God’s care if we keep looking backward. This doesn’t mean that we don’t honor the past, or that we don’t preserve the things that we still need today. But what it does mean is that God is moving us forward, whether we want to go or not. Staying where we are is simply not an option.

And here’s the Good News: The past is still useful – not to return to, but to learn from and find inspiration in.  Think, for example, about the great historical witness of the Scriptures. Think of all the great characters who are lifted up for their willingness to trust God while God was doing a new thing: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Mary, and Paul – just to name a few. They all perceived a new thing that God was doing, and they went an joined in. Which is why we still study their stories today.

And then, of course, there’s the story that most completely represents this concept of trusting God to do a new thing. In fact, it is the very story that Isaiah’s prophecy points to – the story of Jesus Christ, and his death and resurrection. On this Fifth Sunday of Lent, as we are almost to the sacred season of Holy Week, reading this prophecy reminds us exactly what God is up to by sending his only Son to die.

In ways none of the Hebrew people could have predicted, Jesus is doing the ultimate new thing. He is fulfilling the covenant given to Abraham. He is accomplishing nothing less than the salvation of the world. He is bringing about the transformation upon which all of human history, and upon which each of our lives, will turn.

So on one level, Isaiah is asking us to look around today and see the new things that God is doing in our lives and in our communities. But in a much deeper way, he is calling us to once again see the great new thing that was done on the cross 2000 years ago, the one new thing that makes possible all of the other new things – the one that all people in all times  and in all places are called to go and join. So the questions is for us is the same as Isaiah’s question: Do we not perceive it?