"Hope for Restoration - Hope for Freedom"
Sermon Presented May 25, 2008
Isaiah 49:8-16a
We who live in the United States know freedom. Because we recognize that we need to remain vigilant lest we lose our priceless heritage of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, freedom-lovers pay attention to current legislation and court decisions. Sometimes we need to be reminded of our freedoms so that we don't take them for granted. Other times we need to advocate for those whose freedoms are being encroached upon because we don't know when we will be the next target. The refugees coming to Milwaukee who have spent years in refugee camps have a much greater appreciation of freedom than we who have known freedom all of our lives.
However, at the time of the writing of our text, the people of Israel have no freedom. The year is 539 BCE, and they have been in bondage to the Babylonians for almost 50 years. Their generation has never known freedom. But change is in the air! Babylon has been captured by Cyrus - Emperor of Persia, and Cyrus gives the captives the freedom to go home. What do they do now? How do they act when they have always been in bondage? How do they appropriate what they have been longing for?
The words of our text come from what is called Deutero-Isaiah - or Second Isaiah. They were written during the tail-end of the Babylonian captivity, while the beginning of Isaiah was written before the Exile. Second Isaiah describes the deliverance God promises to those who were taken into captivity when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 BCE. The Jews have been scattered - some fled to Egypt and elsewhere long before the temple was destroyed - and many are captives in Babylon. God tells the servant in our text to proclaim freedom to God's people. It's time to go home! I'm reading Isaiah 49:8-16a.
Here God speaks to the servant, assuring him of God's support and solidarity. The servant is to command the prisoners to come out! Prison and darkness, and the despair and fear that go with it, are images of exile. "Come out" is an Exodus term inviting the exiles to leave Babylon just as their ancestors left Egypt. The people are promised new freedom, as well as the help necessary to appropriate that freedom. God's faithfulness will enable Israel to return to Jerusalem.
There are several images here that are as easy for us to understand as they were for the captives. The first is a highway that is especially prepared for the return trip. This is a metaphor for a safe means of travel. It doesn't mean that highway engineers will design and contractors will build a huge highway system through the desert and the mountains; it means that the way will be prepared for God's people to go home.
In March of 1994, Don and I flew to Los Angeles to help his 88-year-old Aunt Wanda, whose mobile home was broken apart in a devastating earthquake. We were there to help her evacuate the area - taking with her what could be salvaged. After renting a car, we discovered that the roads and bridges into her community were broken into huge chunks of concrete. There was no way we could get there as we usually did. We found a back road that was clogged with traffic, and slowly made our way to our destination. We had to find a new way. It wasn't perfect, but we reached Aunt Wanda.
God gives the exiles a picture of highways coming from all of the areas to which the exiles fled. The paths will converge at Jerusalem - at Zion. God will provide for their needs along the way, and the wind and sun will not impede their journey. Just as God prepared a way for the captives in Egypt to leave for the Promised Land, so God will prepare a way for these exiles to go home. I invite you to think of the times in your life when you believed you couldn't go on and God provided a way - a highway in the desert. This is something worth celebrating!
Another picture is the movement from darkness into light. When we are in darkness - physical or emotional, we are fearful and our imaginations run wild. A glimpse of light is what we crave, and yet we often fear what the light will reveal! When we're free to leave the darkness, our eyes must adjust to the light. At first, the light is blinding. A promise of hope - of salvation - in the midst of our darkness can have a blinding effect on us. Leaving the familiar can be scary, but we must take the necessary steps to leave the darkness and move into the light. Emerging from darkness takes courageous inner and outer work - and for this, we need God's help. The captive Israelites are promised freedom, but they need God's help to make the move from bondage to freedom. So do we! No matter what binds us, we need help to break the chains.
Another picture God gives is of God's love and care for the people. God's commitment and compassion are stronger and more intense than that of any nursing mother. God won't forget Israel. God won't abandon Zion. It's as simple as that!
God's people have been crying out for deliverance, and God answers them. God can no more forget the people than a mother can forget her nursing child or the child in her womb. God's compassion for the chosen city and its people is greater than that of a loving mother for her children. That's a great picture of love and care!
The servant in this text is God's instrument to proclaim the message and lead the people; just as Moses was given the responsibility of leading the Israelites out of Egypt into the Promised Land. God works through leaders who respond to God's call to lead.
It's tempting for a preacher to look for a "lesson" in every text - to find specific guidance for our daily lives. This is what I try to do each week. However, when I meditated on this text, I couldn't find instructions for the life of faith. What I did find was God's proclamation of salvation to people who had been in bondage. I decided that all I need to do this morning is to proclaim the truth of God's salvation to God's people.
God intends to set the captives free! God promises to transform the hostility of the desert and the mountains into a highway and provide for the needs of the travelers. God's love endures like the love of a mother for her baby. The only response I can see to this story is one of gratitude that we can accept God's gifts and sing a song of praise to God. That's a great message to proclaim! Hear God's message of love and deliverance, and then sing praises to God!
