Fall 1980 - Quarterly Review

HOMILETICAL RESOURCES
making preparation for the coming of God in Christ into our
lives and our world. One development is our democratization of
governmental duty. The other is our substitution of decision
rather than birth as our rite of passage for becoming people of
God. What we get by joining these two ideas is the suggestion
that, just as God and Jesus Christ may both be identified as
subjects of the Incarnation, God and you or I may both be seen as
subjects in our preparation for the coming of God in Christ into
our life and worship during Advent.
The prophet responsible for Isaiah 11:1-10, whether Isaiah of
Jerusalem himself or one of his disciples, did not develop his
view of this transformation from scratch. He drew heavily on the
traditions of Israel's faith in drafting his liturgy. His hope for the
future did not take shape around his faith in Judah's king. It took
shape, instead, around his faith in Yahweh, the King of kings,
the Lord of lords, the God of gods.
The significance of this fact can scarcely be exaggerated.
Especially if, as many scholars are inclined to believe, these
words were written by Isaiah for use in the coronation ceremony
for Ahaz in 735 or Hezekiah in 715. With mighty Assyria on the
march and Judah's neighbors choking one by one on her
imperial dust, how could any intelligent person have construed
the crowning of a king in Jerusalem to be anything more than a
foolish and futile gesture? For one, Isaiah could, and apparently
did, see something more in that action than a routine
celebration. He glimpsed the shape of a power with which
visiting, and probably mocking, dignitaries on hand for the
coronation of Judah's king had not come to terms. That power,
of course, was the selfsame power that had taken Pharaoh and
his brick-making slaves by surprise. As it was when Yahweh
first came into Israel's life, so shall it be, the prophet believed,
when Yahweh comes into Israel's life again; and Yahweh can be
counted on to do just that. And when that happens, as in former
times, Yahweh will crash the best-laid plans of people and
nations with revolutionary impact. Yahweh will wrench power
from tyrants and turn it into the hands of those who once
cowered before them. When Yahweh comes again, the exalted
will be debased, and the debased will be exalted.
Thus shall it be with the coming of "the Spirit of the Lord."
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