For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your
ways my ways, says the Lord.
Isaiah describes
for us a beautiful image of the kingdom. Everyone who thirsts is invited to the
waters. All are invited to come and eat, even those who can not pay. There is free flowing wine and milk; an
abundance of bread. Readers are encouraged to eat what is good, delight in rich
food. Here one is satisfied.
It is God’s everlasting
covenant, full of God’s steadfast love; there is mercy and abundant pardon.
I have read
this passage with various groups this week.
People expressed a feeling of comfort, assurance, and peace through the
words of Isaiah. How could the kingdom of God not be all this and more?
Likewise, with
the text from Luke. Luke describes a beautiful image of the kingdom. He starts
by asking listeners to ponder why bad things happen, countering popular belief
that bad things happen to those who for some reason have brought it on themselves. Luke’s Jesus tells a parable where the
gardener convinces the landowner to give a fig tree one more year to bear
fruit. The gardener has hope that with
time, manure, care, the fig tree will bear fruit. God -the gardener- extends patience and mercy,
steadfast love to the fig tree. Listeners interpret themselves to be the fig
tree in the story; feeling a sense of comfort, assurance, and peace. How could the kingdom of God not be all this
and more?
Ho. Listen.
See. The kingdom IS more. But you are
not going to like the image of the kingdom about to be presented. You will not experience the warm fuzzy
feelings of comfort, assurance, and peace.
In Isaiah 55, the
prophet Isaiah is speaking to the people of Israel as they return to the land
of Israel from a time of exile. Isaiah
speaks of the restoration of the covenant with God and the daily implementation
of that covenant, the Law, within human interactions. There is a sense of
comfort, assurance, and peace. The
people come home and turning to God are satisfied. This is only part one of the kingdom.
God’s people
return to the land; they are the landowner. This is important to note.
Everyone who
is thirsty comes…to the land, more specifically the landowner.
The hungry who
have no money come…to the land, more specifically the landowner.
It is in the purview
of the landowner to share the wealth of the land with those who come seeking.
The people who come are from a vast array of places – some sought out by the
people of the land, others (unknown, foreign, enemies) who have come of their
own accord.
There is only
water, wine, and milk for the refugees, IF the people in the land will be
generous and hospitable with their resources. The hungry will find food IF the
people will be generous and hospitable with the food they have. The hungry will only find satisfying food –
the bread of life- God- IF the people invite the newcomers to listen as faith
stories are shared, as people are invited to participate in worship, prayer,
study.
The landowner
has been coached to eat what is good and delight in rich food; it is not so
much about eating as it is about sharing the abundance of the land. It is about
generosity and hospitality. This is part two of the kingdom.
In the fig
tree parable consider the gardener to be the prophet. The prophet speaks to the landowner, as
Isaiah spoke to Israel, God’s people. The
prophet pleads with the landowner to return to the essence of the covenant, to
be patient, offering mercy, hospitality, generosity.
The landowner
-for a year- allows for the hope of the gardener to be fulfilled. The idea is
that this small amount of mercy from the landowner is the beginning of
softening the landowner’s heart. It is hoped that over the year the landowner ‘s
heart will change to a place where mercy is its default setting.
The fig tree
is God. God drawing the landowner into the responsibility of the covenant, the
essence of the covenant which is to be patient, offer mercy, hospitality, and
generosity. Unbeknownst to the landowner,
God circuitously confronts them, to participate in part two of the kingdom of
God. Part two is the responsibility of God’s people, where the landowner is welcoming,
inviting, sharing the abundance of God with all. The kingdom comes – only comes in fulness-
when the people extend generosity, hospitality, and abundant pardon.
The landowner
is treated with a balm of patience. Just as the people have been shown over the
centuries. Prophets came and went, calling the people to return to God and the
covenant. Jesus has come calling the people to return to God and the covenant;
to live as kingdom people. God has shown great patience.
Part one of
the kingdom plan is in the hands of the Creator. It has been executed through
the centuries. Not only has the earth produced resources to sustain physical
life, God has made God’s self known to satisfy the spirit, the seeker, with
bread that is true bread. In a variety of ways God has been present and people
have experienced God’s abundance and mercy.
The trouble is that like Isaiah’s image of the kingdom where we are the
ones coming to satisfy our thirst, or see ourselves as the fig tree receiving
mercy, we get stuck in receiving ---we are hoarders of God’s abundance- and forget that the fulness
of God only comes when we release what we receive back into the world.
God has extended
copious amounts of patience, waiting for us to wake up, to divest, to clear the
storage barns, to open our land; to get that the kingdom can not, will not, be
fully present until we practice generosity and hospitality to all.
A number of years ago Yiru Sun was to be married. Two months before the wedding day, Sun, called it off because she refused to sign a prenuptial agreement. She had put down a nonrefundable deposit on a luxury hall. She could have decided to let the deposit go, to wallow in the unfairness, to be embittered by the situation. She could have decided to throw a party for her friends. Instead she participated in part two of the kingdom. Working with nonprofits, she threw a luncheon for 60 underprivileged kids and their families, none of whom she’d ever met. As host, Sun wore her wedding dress, welcomed her guests, mingled and watched the kids eat ice pops and have their faces painted. She reflects, “I cannot be the princess of my wedding day, but I can give the kids a fairy tale.”
There
was a jailbreak in Parker County, Texas.
A correctional officer is alive because of it. Inmates participated in
part two of the kingdom. They were awaiting court appearances in a holding cell
when the officer watching over them collapsed. The inmates called out for help.
When none appeared, they used their collective weight to break down the cell
door. Rather than making a run for it, they went to the officer’s aid, still
yelling for help. One tried the officer’s radio. Eventually, guards heard the
commotion and came. After placing the inmates back in their cell, CPR was
performed on the stricken officer, saving his life. “It never crossed my mind not
to help, whether he’s got a gun or a badge,” inmate Nick Kelton said, “If he
falls down, I’m gonna help.”
-----stories found on the internet----
How could the
kingdom of God not be all this and more?
These true
stories are comforting, reassuring, and peaceful; they are filled with hope for
humanity. I chose these two stories from
the millions found on the internet when googling “stories of generosity and
hospitality,” because in each case the actors had the option to not demonstrate
generosity and hospitality – and based on their circumstances we would
understand why they would choose not to do so.
But they did and furthered the kingdom of God by living the covenant
whose essence is mercy, compassion, patience, generosity, hospitality without
question.
Christopher Hays, professor
of Ancient Near Eastern studies describes the circumstances of the
people to whom Isaiah was speaking in chapter 55. He says, Despite
the allowance of Cyrus and the Persian Empire for them to return, it was not a
prosperous time. The city had not been rebuilt since its destruction by the
Babylonians fifty years earlier, social and economic structures were weak, and
there were struggles for the most desirable land between the returnees and
those who had been in the land in the meantime. Later, in the fifth century,
Nehemiah would report that common farming families were having to borrow money
and grain to pay their taxes, and even selling their children into debt slavery. And it is in the midst of these circumstances that the
prophet calls the people – the landowners (whether they own the land or not)-
to be abundantly generous and hospitable to all.
This is where we are this
morning. No matter our circumstance, or the situation of the world, whether
rich or poor, landowners or not, the prophet calls – God asks of us- that we
participate in bringing the kingdom of God. Return to the Lord, live the
covenant. Because you feel comfort,
assurance, and peace in the words of Isaiah, turn the texts upside down, and
become the landowner to redistribute the same comfort, assurance, and peace.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts [says the
Lord].
