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

world (tikkun olam; see pp. xxi). They make it clear that there is no earthly
force, no matter how self-interested or destructively powerful, that can
obstruct God’s will to bring about a world in which God’s creatures enjoy
life and well-being. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Martin Luther’s
hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” rang out in the churches of East
Germany as a song of defiance. The underlying conviction is that as compared
to God the destructive rulers of this world are “like grasshoppers
... [God] brings princes to naught and makes the rulers of the earth as
nothing” (Isa. 40:22–23).
Not for the first time, the book of Isaiah sings of a time when there will
be universal peace: “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion
shall eat straw like the ox . . . they shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy
mountain” (65:25). Even predatory animals will be vegetarians! All killing
shall cease.
God will create “new heavens and a new earth” (v. 17). Jerusalem will
be “a joy and its people a delight” (v. 18), a prophecy that would be good
news indeed to all the inhabitants of present-day Jerusalem. No more
weeping and distress will be heard in Jerusalem (v. 19), neither Palestinian
nor Israeli. They will do the work of peace: build houses and plant
vineyards (v. 21). Children will not die in infancy (v. 20) nor grow up to
experience calamity (v. 23). God will be present, the people will do justice
and love mercy, and all will be well. While these promises are specific to
Israel, Isaiah’s universal horizon is always present.
In praising Eleanor Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson said: “She would rather
light a candle than curse the darkness.” That is what preachers can do with
this passage. And we can remember how she put it: “The future belongs
to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
When this text is paired on Proper 9/Year C with Jesus’ foretelling of
the Temple’s destruction in Luke 21:5–19, at a time when Jesus’ followers
were being “brought before kings and governors because of [Jesus’] . . .
name,” its message is even more apropos.
Day of Pentecost/Year C
Genesis 11:1–9
Day of Pentecost/Year C 235
Today’s text is the climax of the primeval history written by the Priestly
theologians to explain why God decided to supplement God’s attempt to
bless all human societies through nature and general instruction by calling
one family as a model for the path to blessing for all (Gen. 12:1–3).