Friday 26 June 2015
“…the life I live is not my own; Christ is living in me…” Galatians 2:19
“…I will make you a
light to the nations
that my salvation shall reach to the ends of the earth…” Isaiah 49:6
Today the US Supreme Court decided in favor of a right to same-sex
marriage. And this decision, whether one
approves or disapproves, is a clear signal of our nation’s further move from
what was once considered a “Christian nation” toward a more and more secular nation
divorced from any spiritual or faith-based influences. Again, one may approve or disapprove of such
a movement; in fact individual Christians, Jews and Muslims, members of all
faiths, may sincerely disagree on the importance and societal value of this
movement. But, it seems pretty clear that today we no longer live in a “Christian
nation.” And I think, as a Christian we
will find very shortly that we are no longer at home in this nation, in our
homeland, but instead we are in exile (whether spiritual, political or societal
–I don’t know, perhaps all three).
Last night
(Thursday) in our theology class we were studying the Hebrew prophets (mainly
Isaiah and Jeremiah) and our professor offered us a series of passages from
Isaiah as an example of the prophet’s style and theology. When he came to 49:1-6 and introduced it by
discussing the scholarly tradition that this passage was probably written by a
second writer during the Babylonian captivity and at some point attributed to
Isaiah, I became very curious about the image of Israel as a “light to the
nations.” I began to wonder why would this image come to mind while a people is
in exile? Why a light to the nations and
not just the Jews? Why that transition would occur in exile –during captivity.
The
professor emphasized the change in theology implied by the image, from we are the chosen people to we are a light to the nations, that all people may come to God; He’s not just for
the Jews anymore.
And I still wondered why they would
come to this idea in exile? And then he went on to elaborate that some think that it was possibly in exile (in captivity) that the Jews actually gained their identity.
And still I wondered why this
change in teaching and why during captivity?
Then I began to wonder: is it
because of the captivity, because in captivity, in exile, in defeat they had to
grapple with: Why? Why did this happen to us? To God’s chosen people and why
would a good and loving God who made a covenant with us let this happen to us?
This seems terrible! Horrible! Evil! But then someone (Isaiah or
Duetero-Isaiah) had the flash of inspiration OR the Holy Spirit inspired him
(or his redactors) to see that if God is good and God is love or loves us in a
special covenantal way then there must be some good in this; some good in the
exile and captivity and defeat and destruction of the temple, etc etc. And not just some good (i.e. –we might as well look on the bright side) but…If we
are God’s people and He loves us and this happened to us there must be a good
in this that we can’t or don’t see, there must be a good intended by this that
we can’t see—and that good, Isaiah somehow realized, was to become the “light
to the nations…”
The Jews were to become “…so marred…beyond
human semblance…despised and rejected… a [people] of suffering and
acquainted with infirmities…”
(52:13-53:3) not as a sign that God rejected them or was punishing them but as
a sign to the world, a light to the nations.
Dispersed so that they could finally discover what it was God really
wanted of them: a home –not in a temple—but within them, within each one of
them, within the “lowly and afflicted…” (66:2) and that they could in their
suffering (and perhaps only through their suffering) become truly a light to
the world –a lamp not hidden behind temple walls or hidden in a bushel, but put
where it can be seen –every day by any and every one. They were to become truly
chosen people, but it didn’t look like what anyone expected. With no temple save
their own humble and contrite hearts, they were each and every one being called
to become the dwelling place of the Lord.
The land was finally truly theirs –the Holy Land was finally theirs and
the covenant complete –because the Holy Land was right beneath their feet always
and everywhere, wherever they stood all they could do was go from one piece of
Holy ground to the next.
And so we Christians now, (once again?), are
being called to go through the refining fire of exile and captivity, that we
too may finally become (once again?) truly a light to the world. And it seems to me that our light will glow through
the way we live our exile; how we live this exile will determine how bright our
light glows because the glow will in fact be not ours, but a reflection of God’s love dwelling
in us—and the love we reflect to the world will be reflected not in acts of confrontation and political activism, but in the love we
show, the love we feel for the world, the love we will toward the world.
Do we act with love and compassion
when we meet difficulties and feel oppressed? Or do we meet these moments with
clenched teeth and forced smiles –pretended tenderness? If so, then we won’t reflect much of God’s
love. But if we meet our exile with gentleness, with sincere and tender
compassion; if we are open and vulnerable and willing to embrace even our oppressors,
then we will reflect God’s love more brightly and maybe through us, through our
exile we will become a light that shines His glory to all the nations –drawing people
to Him. We shall see. It won’t be easy; for many this exile in our own land will be
terribly hard and bitter, as if they are being led out of Jerusalem through a
hole in the wall, bound and chained, a hook through their lip, dragged away to see their home no more. The
world will never again be the same, they fear... I too suspect that the world will never again be the same, not in my lifetime… But I'm not sad about that. I know God is good, therefore out
of this sea change, this fearful exile, good is coming…somehow, someday, someway…
and I know this, because the life we live now is not our own… therefore when people ask me how I think we should react to this national transformation, I can only say: do not be afraid, He is with you always. Let go of your need to prove anything, let go of your need to be right, speak the truth with humility and compassion and be
vulnerable; you may be a stranger living in a strange land, but don't be afraid --let God make of you a light for the nations, a light that will reach to the ends of the
earth.
