Come! Listen!

O God, our God, may my lips give you praise and may our thoughts and words bless you as long as we live. Amen.

The prophet proclaimed God’s word to the people:

Let the wicked forsake their way,

  and the unrighteous their thoughts;

 let them return to the Lord for mercy,

  and to our God for abundant pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

  nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

(Isaiah 55:7-8, NRSV – modified)

Let the wicked forsake their way.

That’s what I’m talking about. Those people who drive us crazy, who have done something to hurt us – those people had better change their ways.

I don’t know about you, but when someone has wronged me in some way, my gut reaction is that I want them to get what’s coming to them.

That person who cut me off in traffic? I hope they get a ticket.

The guy who made a sexist comment about me? I hope he gets passed over for his next promotion, in favor of a lower-ranked female employee.

And you know what? Even if someone hasn’t actively wronged me, I still want them to get what they deserve. One of my colleagues shared a slightly less vindictive example… she and her brother are on the same diet. He totally went off of it and ate a whole bunch of junk food. Didn’t gain an ounce. She ate exactly as she was supposed to, and gained half a pound.

It’s not fair! If he’s going to cheat on the diet, he’s the one who should gain the extra weight!

I would like to say, let’s bring judgment down on these people’s heads, and let them suffer the consequences of their actions!

And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.

Thankfully, God’s mercy is broader than mine is.

God’s thoughts are not my thoughts, nor are my ways God’s ways.

Where I see someone who has done something wrong and needs to suffer the consequences, God just sees a beloved child.

God’s grace and love and forgiveness and mercy are shared with all people, even the ones who tick me off.

God’s response to the person who upset me is the same response that God gives to me and to you – God says, “Come! Eat the good food. Listen! Hear the good news.”

It’s a message of love, not a message of judgment.

This is the message that God sent to the people of Israel in today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah.

There is just one catch to that story.

At the time, the people of Israel weren’t actually living in Israel.

A few years back, God’s people had been living in the Promised Land, but then they were conquered by the Babylonians. All the people were taken into exile – at least, all of the important people. If anyone was left in Israel, they were the poor and powerless folks, who were of no interest to the conquering regime.

The people who were the audience for Isaiah’s prophesy were the exiled Hebrew people. They would have been mostly second-generation exiles – people who had never themselves lived in the Promised Land. The only home they knew was Babylon.

They didn’t know anyone who was still living back in the old world. They only knew about the place at all through the stories of their parents.

And yet, Isaiah tells them to go back.

The Babylonian Empire had just been defeated by the Persians. Cyrus the Great, the Persian ruler, released the exiles from captivity and told them to go back to their homeland.

Now that they have the freedom to return to the Promised Land, this message comes from God, through Isaiah – go back home.

People of God, return to the land that your God gave to your ancestors.

Go back to that land flowing with milk and honey.

Abundant gifts await you there!  

A rich banquet and the promise of God’s love are beckoning.

While they were living in exile, some of the Israelites turned away from worshipping God. They became involved with Babylonian culture at the expense of their Hebrew identity.

You might remember the stories from the book of Daniel, which took place in Babylon during this time of exile – the people were challenged to abandon their culture and religion and join forces with their captors.

Some of them did give up their culture and religion.

Those who refused to do so were likely to get thrown into a fire or a pit filled with lions.

Those people who abandoned God when they were challenged by the Babylonians – why should they get to go back to the Promised Land? They made their choice – God shouldn’t be showing any special care to them.

At least, that’s what our human nature would say.

But God’s ways are not our ways, and God’s mercy is bigger than our judgment.

It doesn’t matter how much someone deserves good things – or whether they have done nothing at all to deserve them. As long as that person is focused on God, they can receive the grace that God has to offer.

Come, God says!

Take your fill of all this great food, and don’t worry about the bill! I’ve got this one covered. Wine and milk, rich food and things that satisfy – have as much as you want.

Listen, God says!

Turn to God and listen to the promises that God is making with you. God has glorified you – yes, you! – and will give you a good life. God is making good on the promises that had been made to Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam.  

It doesn’t matter whether you turned away from God while you were in exile in Babylon, or remained faithful.

It doesn’t matter whether you cheated on your diet or cut me off in traffic.

God’s message of love and abundance and mercy is for everyone – not just those people who have earned it.

Return to the Lord – or as Jesus says, repent!

Turn back to God, as the Israelites returned to the Promised Land. When you focus yourself on God, you’ll notice the gifts that are being offered to you.

God’s banquet table is filled with food that bypasses all dietary restrictions and ethical issues and personal preferences.

It is a feast that fulfills all of our deepest desires.

In Isaiah, repentance means, come and get the free stuff that God has to offer! It’s just sitting here waiting for you. All you have to do is turn and accept it.

So why do we spend our time and energy on things that don’t matter and things that aren’t life-giving?

That anger I described earlier – the frustration with bad drivers or sexist colleagues or people who just seem to get an unfair advantage – that anger doesn’t bring me life.

Why should I spend my time on what doesn’t satisfy me? Why should I eat the junk food of bitterness and frustration when God is offering me a table full of peace and love?

When someone has done something that we think is wrong, our human society tends to want justice to be carried out.

And what we mean by justice, in this kind of situation, is usually that the guilty party will pay for their error. That kind of justice, we think, will bring us satisfaction.

But God’s justice doesn’t work that way.

God’s justice means that all people receive mercy. Everyone has access to forgiveness, not to punishment. 

We want people to be held accountable for their actions.

And sometimes that happens.

But making sure that it happens isn’t our job. It’s God’s job.

And more often than not, the way that God carries out that job is to extend forgiveness and mercy and grace to people.

God gives people a second chance, like the gardener did with the fig tree in today’s Gospel lesson.

And really, that’s the good news of today’s readings. Because all of us have found ourselves in need of a second chance at some point or other in our lives.

Sometimes we’re the ones who neglect to check our blind spot and cut someone off in traffic. Sometimes we make an insensitive comment. Sometimes we just get lucky, and we might not notice those others around us who are less lucky.

We all need to be given a second chance when we mess up.

And God tells us today, you’ve got that second chance.

In fact, I’m going to set you up for success by giving you everything that you need to get past this next challenge in your life. And then, go for it!

And if you mess up, there will be a third and forth and four hundredth chance waiting for you.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

So, come! Enjoy the richness of this free food!

Listen! Hear the good news that God loves and welcomes all people!

Give up your desire for justice, and repent – return to God, and live in the light of God’s forgiveness and mercy.

Amen.

Lent 3C, 2/28/16
Isaiah 55:1-9
(with Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9)