000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany/Year B 137
We always remember “the things of old” with all the certainty and clarity
of hindsight. It is easy to be confident that the American war for independence
will turn out the same way every time we read another history
of it. What is hard to be confident about is that we can see our way through
the fog of the present when we do not benefit from knowing how it will
turn out. Isaiah appeals to the people to trust, now, that the Lord will
deliver them and to act on that trust in spite of their very real fears that
things might not work out well.
So the Lord says: “I am about to do a new thing” (v. 19). God is “the
God of the call forward,” as God has been ever since God called Abraham
and Sarah forward to a promised future. 39 God is never simply the God of
the past; God is the One who ever and again beckons God’s covenant partners
to live forward in hope toward a future that will be a source of light
and blessing. Trust in the past is easier than hope in the future, because the
latter requires us to act in spite of our lack of certainty as to outcomes and
our fears as to what might happen to us if we do live forward.
God’s “new thing” will provide a way, water in arid land (a lifesustaining
resource to the people traveling through it), and “drink to my
chosen people” (v. 20). God invites them to exercise an audacious approach
to this new option. Faith is openness to God’s future.
The purpose of all this is so that the people, once again, “might declare
my praise” (v. 21). What this means is that God’s purpose of leading all
creation to a life of shalom and justice and well-being is the end in view.
Worship of God who is the creator and redeemer of the world is what
alone makes it possible for us to give ourselves to the mission of enabling
all people to participate in blessing and peace.
Verses 22–28 indict Israel for its sins: “you have wearied me with your
iniquities” (v. 24). Among these is Israel’s failure to bring “sheep for burnt
offerings . . . sacrifices . . . sweet cane with money . . . the fat of your sacrifices”
(vv. 23–24). Instead of dismissing these verses as perversely advocating
sacrificial Temple rituals, and reassuring ourselves that surely Jesus
rejected Temple sacrifices, Christians should consider the possibility that
we’re missing something. 40
In any healthy relationship, we “waste time” on each other, just enjoying
and reveling in each other’s company. This is well-invested time that
signals our commitment to and affection for each other. We need to
“waste time” with God in activities that, to the uncomprehending, look
like “mere ritual.” But these are times of joy and self-understanding and
practicing, becoming what God gives and calls us to be, times of getting
to know God and ourselves in relation to each other.