Second Sunday after Pentecost

Richard Davenport June 9, 2022 - Proper 7 Isaiah 65:1-9 There's a particular trope that gets used in stories that shows up often enough you've probably seen it used somewhere. I can think of some action movies, where the main character is an old martial arts master or a retired Navy SEAL who is just sitting there minding his own business. Along come some punk kids or gang members who tease him, knock his stuff over and slap him around all while he just sits there and takes it. At some point, the star's patience wears out and he demonstrates exactly who they've been messing with and they all go running. Of course he could have done that at any point, but he's left the life of violence behind and has no interest in going back. Still, no one's patience is infinite and if you're the kind of person who courts disaster then you have no one to blame but yourself when it actually arrives. When you look at the Israelites through the Old Testament, you kind of get that same vibe. There's God, looking like a grizzled old war veteran, sitting on a park bench minding his own business. Then come a bunch of Israelites, strutting around self-importantly. They see the old man sitting on the bench and think they'll have themselves some fun. They take his ball cap and start tossing it around before throwing it in a trash can. They steal his lunch and throw it out in the street. Finally they try slapping him around and taking his briefcase before he decides he's had enough and he gives them a thrashing. The world around them watches and shakes their heads. They think to themselves, "No surprise there. It was bound to happen eventually and they deserved what they got." They wander off and think no more about it. The only lesson to be taken from it all is to not court disaster. That squares with other things we hear from Scripture. "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test," Jesus reminds Satan. If you keep jumping off, expecting God to catch you, at some point he's going to get bored or agitated, or just plain angry and he won't hold out his arms and you'll fall flat on your face. You won't have anyone to blame but yourself. We all kind of know repeatedly doing bad things is just asking for trouble. At some point the Lord will just decide enough is enough and be done with you. He'll bring down his divine judgment on you and that will be the end of it. You'll be grumpy about it, but whether you're actually sorry or just sorry you got caught is a bit of a toss up. It's a game similar to that played by kids the world over. Kids are always good at figuring out how to push a parent's buttons. The game becomes, "How far can I push things without getting punished?" Kids learn the warning signs when that line is about to be crossed, but sometimes they just can't stop in time. It's kind of astounding how often we treat God similarly. You might not even be thinking about him at all when you continue on with your callousness toward others, when you lazily decide you're going to let others do your work for you, when you constantly treat your comfort and happiness as more important than that of those around you, when you belittle others for not doing things in a way that meets your exacting standards. You might not be thinking of him while you're going about your self-important business and pushing others out of your way. Whether you're thinking about him or not, God takes all of that pretty personally. At some point, bad behavior ends up being enough to stir him to action. You may think you're just inflicting your nonsense on another person, but in a turn of events we rarely acknowledge, Jesus tells us, "For as much as you have done it to one of the least of these little ones, you have done it to me." The person we are callously ignoring or belittling is someone who lives under the personal protection and care of God Almighty. Our treatment of those around us becomes our treatment of him. At some point, the smoke of our bad behavior fills his nostrils and his patience runs out. He is roused to action and his punishment is swift in coming. It's undeniable that God acts this way. Here he is in our Isaiah reading talking about how the Israelites have crossed the line. They've pushed him too far. He's about to get up off the bench and administer a good thrashing and will send all of them scurrying for the hills. It's not all that different from what he did to the Egyptians in the days of Moses. They'd been picking on his people long enough. God got up off the bench and smacked the Egyptians around and the matter was done. Obviously, all of our bad behavior is a problem and when God does finally deal with it, we have no one else to blame but us. He is quite capable of putting us in our place and shows throughout Scripture that he can and does do that on a national scale, an individual scale, and even a worldwide scale. But all of that is only part of the problem. The issue we see in the Isaiah reading isn't just what God does about sin, but why he holds off so long on punishing it. God isn't some old martial arts master or Navy SEAL trying to put a life of violence behind him. He isn't haunted by his past and the terrible things he's done. He isn't sitting there on the bench trying desperately to avoid notice until things get bad enough he can't take it anymore. God is not passive. God is always active. Even when he is holding off, even when he is waiting, he is active. No one forces God to do anything. God chooses when and how he will act. The result of our sin and God's action toward it may look similar to this old man on the bench, but the reason behind it is very different. Throughout the Old Testament, God is described as "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." He does avoid violence, but not because he is a pacifist. Instead, God is sitting there patiently, all the while watching us as we go about belittling each other and treating each other with contempt. God tells us at the beginning of the reading what he is doing. He isn't sitting there trying to hide, he is calling out to everyone he sees. He calls out to the people to put their old ways aside, to turn from them and find life and peace. He calls continually, while he could send his wrath and destruction against us at any moment, this is not what he wants to do. He calls and calls in the hopes you will turn before it is too late. God holds himself back, not out of cowardice or fear, but out of mercy. Looking at Israel, we see this in action. Israelites become greedy. They abuse who have no one to help them. They lie and cheat. They swindle each other. They're violent and blood thirsty. All the while this is going on, God calls to them. God sends prophet after prophet to give them the chance to turn back. This goes on for hundreds of years as God continues to try and get them to see the disaster they will be bringing on themselves. Eventually time runs out and God's judgment falls. God does not want to be seen as the condemning judge, but rather as the merciful Father, but he can and will be either one as needed. What he definitely is not, is passive. Do not think God is letting you slide because he doesn't want to deal with your repeated sins, but because he is calling you to repentance. He calls you to look to the one who gave his very life to save you from wrath and destruction. He calls you to look to his Son, the one who shows you what mercy means, what God was willing to do, not just willing but active in doing what was needed to save you. Remember that your days are marked not by God's indifference, but by his compassion and love. God has called to you and you have heard him. You have come to him and confessed your sins and he has heard and forgiven. But that temptation is always there, the temptation to treat him as someone who isn't really there or who doesn't really care until you bother him enough to rouse him. Instead, he is involved in everything you do and is with you at every moment. His mercy is such that, instead of striking you down as you sin, he sends his Son to die in your place. He still judged and he still punished, but that punishment went to Jesus instead. Jesus takes what should be yours, not running from it or shirking the need. He is passive because he chooses to be. It is because of Jesus that his Father is able to offer the hopeful words at the end of the passage. God will not destroy it all, because there is a blessing there, Christ is present and through him, God's people are forgiven. It is on account of Christ that God's people will thrive and prosper. They will grow and fill the new world under his gracious care. We who see what Christ has done know God to be loving and compassionate, mighty, yet merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He is here watching over you, protecting you and providing for you. He abhors sin, but he has provided a way to even deal with that for those who trust in him. As Luther says of the First Article: "He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him." In spite of all we do, God continues to love and care for us, just as he truly always has.