Year A Proper 3 Sunday 27 February 2011
Isaiah 49: 8-16a Psalm 131 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 Matthew 6:24-34
Let me tell you about the Good News!!!!
Quite often we have passages from the Bible that really challenge us. Sometimes, these scriptures can leave us feeling quite unsettled... that would be when a text taken out of context leaves you with a con.... always something of which to be aware. I often tell people that if it doesn’t seem to be good news, then you have only got part of the story.
I like to look for the connections in the scripture readings and this week we have the promise of God’s deliverance, the psalm talks about resting content in trusting God, and then St. Paul speaks about not judging and him not worrying about being judged by humans because it is only God’s judgement that counts. Finally we have the famous Gospel passage about not worrying, so I do sense that there is a definite message to trust in God.
Whenever someone says, “don’t worry”, it is because there is some situation going on that is actually causing concern. No one says, “Don’t worry”, to someone who is lazing on a beach without a care in the world. Likewise, it is interesting to imagine what the local situation may have been in each of the readings.
Isaiah 49:8 “This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favour I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you;”
The passage from Isaiah expresses the time of favour, which is actually the time of Jesus. I sense that the “Time of favour” is more a state of being in God’s favour, but it is connected to time due to the grace given through the gift of Jesus and his accomplishment through his life, death and resurrection. The favour of God is ours through our faith in Jesus.
Although the passage speaks of the time of messianic blessings, it is speaking to a nation divided and in need of a vision. We discover the mood of the people to whom this writing is addressed a little further into the reading where it says:
Isaiah 49:14 “But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.””
Zion was representative of those people within the nation who mourned the way the nation had turned from God. They were the people within the nation who remained true to God and they lament that they have been forsaken and forgotten by God.
Last week’s reading mentioned that the rain falls on both the righteous and wicked. When God allowed the nation to fall to the nations who came against them it was the people loyal to God who suffered along with those who needed the rebuke. Those people who cried out to God in that environment felt forsaken. Can you imagine how hard it would be to not lose hope under those circumstances?
God is concerned for His people. It isn’t for the sake of some Godly rage that God allowed the nation of Israel to become subject to the surrounding nations, but for the sake of their repentance. We all find it easy to forget God when we are busy with the good things of life. It is when disaster looms over our head that we remember and pray. And so God is seeking, not to inflict vengeance, but to bring His people back to Himself.
In the midst of disaster God declares His love:
Isaiah 49:15, 16 ““Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”
Also in the midst of disaster God declares His favour. What does this mean for us?
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
The nation of Isaiah’s time was serving other gods. They had their “national” religion but they mixed it with a bit of the belief systems all around them. We have the same thing today. Once upon a time the western world was one that was centred on Christianity, but in recent times, that is a long way from the reality and it certainly would be fairer to say that our national god is Money. Even in our own lives you will note the dominance of this god. Once people gathered in the church, the sacred place is now the local shopping centre.
I know various people that are feeling the strain of the workload that has come since Sunday trading has begun here in Mackay..... in other towns that have had Sunday trading for many years there is a lack of comprehension about the reason for the strain and many work constantly and never take time out. It is hard to find the balance, but aside from that, the god of Money is a monster that feeds on, and creates worry.
I don’t need to explain to you how that works. We all realize that our lives revolve around money, and although we need it, we need to decide, and periodically check whether God is in control of our lives or Money.
God’s way is a way of peace:
Matthew 6:25- 34 ““Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
It is important to understand that God knows that we still need money and things, and I believe that he desires to give us every blessing, but we need to seek His kingdom above seeking to build our own.
In the last few months we have seen so many natural disasters and it is mind blowing to know how much money will be paid out by insurance companies. Indeed money is what is needed. In these and our own personal disasters we will find that money is limited. Money cannot bring back lives that are lost or give hope of eternal life.
In all of our lives there are various personal disasters... some are physical, some emotional and some are spiritual. Within all of these we have the Good News that we have God’s favour. God’s grace is His undeserved favour. We have this favour not because we earned it but because God loves us and through the sacrifice of Jesus this favour is accomplished.
Even though there are physical disasters around us, and we’ve witnessed more of this currently with the earthquake in New Zealand, as Christians we have this wonderful assurance that we have God’s favour, we may not experience the rescue that we’d like in this physical life, but nothing can separate us from the promise of God.
You see, God’s favour is an assurance that causes us to rest and rejoice. This is the way of peace. When God rested on the seventh day He stopped working. The reason that it was so important to keep the day holy was so that we’d understand that we can rest also. Not so much from our physical work, but from our prison of trying to work our way to God. We can rest because the work was done by Jesus and we, who’ve accepted the Good News, live in His favour.
Isaiah 49:9-11 “to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up.”
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