"If…, Then…"
Sermon Presented August 26, 2007
Isaiah 58:9b-14
If you eat your vegetables, then you can have dessert! If you finish your homework, then you can watch TV. If you clean up your room, I will give you your allowance. If you finish practicing, then you can go to the movies. If I finish my sermon, I can read my novel. "If - then" statements are heard frequently when we are children and spoken frequently by adults. We speak them to help us or others to be more disciplined. This conditional phrase makes the result dependent upon the fulfillment of conditions set out by the speaker.
According to the prophet who wrote our text, God set similar conditions for God's people. The prophet goes by the name Isaiah, but we know that three different people wrote this prophetic book - each one writing during a different historical period. Third Isaiah, as this poet is called, wrote during the post-exilic period - after the Babylonian exile - in the sixth century BCE. Here we find God speaking through the prophet using the conditional formula that our parents used with us - and that we use with others.
Read Isaiah 58:9b-14.
We hear a great deal about God's grace and that it's free - no strings attached. And yet, here the prophet quotes God as placing stipulations on grace. If you want to have joy and a vital relationship with God, then you must provide justice and kindness for those needing justice and kindness, and keep the Sabbath day holy to God. The stipulations of kindness and justice are woven into the fabric of the Hebrew prophetic writings and keeping the Sabbath holy is a strong imperative of Hebrew Law. Our text presents God's conditions for authentic worship - for true spirituality. We understand from the text that the people of Israel have broken with God and God wants to resume the relationship. However, there are conditions.
Let's look at the stipulations separately. First we hear the importance of acting with justice and kindness. God says that we are faithful in our worship when we live just and righteous lives - when we don't oppress others or speak derogatorily of them. God states that our spirituality should intersect with people's needs, so that we help make the community livable.
I just finished reading Greg Mortenson's book Three Cups of Tea - a story that epitomizes this text. Mortenson was a mountain climber trying to conquer the mountain K2 in Pakistan, when he was forced to retreat before reaching the summit. He became disorientated, separated from his guide, and wandered into the small mountain village of Korphe - a community that had no school. At this moment, he was overcome with the understanding that he must build a school there - especially for the girls. This was what I would call a "God moment."
Mortenson returned to the United States to raise $12,000 to build the school. After sending out 580 letters to wealthy people throughout the nation, he received only $100 - from Tom Brokaw. In the midst of his despondency, Dr. Jean Hoerni, another mountain climber, contacted him and after an interview, gave him $12,000 for the school and $800 for additional expenses. Filled with excitement, Mortenson returned to Pakistan to purchase the building materials.
However, the only way to access the village with the materials was with a box and a pulley attached to a wire strung across the valley. A bridge was needed! Hoerni provided additional funds for a bridge that the locals would build, while the construction materials for the school were stored. After three years, both bridge and school were completed. From this humble beginning, Hoerni established a foundation with a million dollar grant to build additional schools in remote Pakistani villages. Because Mortenson's heart was touched by the children - especially the girls who had no opportunity for education, he acted with kindness and justice by pouring his heart and soul and life into the lives of the people of Pakistan - and later in Afghanistan. He removed the yoke of illiteracy from thousands of children so that many generations would be empowered, and good will fostered in an area where Americans are despised.
The second condition God addresses is to keep the Sabbath - not nitpicking with limits of how far a person can walk or how much can be carried - but with the admonition not to trample it! God says: "It's my day! You've got six days to live for yourselves, but the Sabbath is for me."
In biblical times, keeping the Sabbath was a key behavior that evidenced justice. Keeping the Sabbath represented an expression of faith in God's abundance. It's what set the Jews apart from their neighbors. People were to rest on the Sabbath because God made enough for everyone and there was no need for commercial gain on that day. On the Sabbath everyone, including slaves, workers, and animals could rest and enjoy the abundance of creation. If a foreigner or a eunuch wanted to be a part of the Jewish faith, he was included if he kept the Sabbath.
A young man in my Rotary club was raised in Reform Judaism - the more progressive branch of Judaism. However, he and his family joined an Orthodox congregation because of the seriousness with which rituals and practices of the faith are observed there. Each Saturday, if I'm out driving, I see Orthodox Jewish families walking to the Synagogue. They keep the Sabbath according to the ancient laws and faithfully adhere to the practices. I don't believe that's what God is talking about in our text.
However, I do believe that God's people need to look at our practices on one day each week - whether it's the Sabbath, Sunday, or any other day. The important thing is to save one day a week for God to worship and to relax from the busyness of life. Keeping Sabbath is the alternative to a restless, aggressive acquisitiveness that exploits neighbors for self-gain, and/or keeps us under stress from our unbridled busyness.
How do we keep Sabbath in our 21st century culture? When I was a child, I lived in a very different culture than today. Then, Sunday was the time to attend worship, eat a family meal together, visit relatives, and return to church for evening worship. Blue Laws kept businesses closed on Sundays. Now, the best we hope for on our Sabbath is to attend church in the morning and possibly watch the Packers on TV, take a nap during half time, or read the newspaper. Taking time each week to rest from our busyness helps us to live healthy lives. We need both worship and rest.
Keeping Sabbath means the cessation of anxiety and personal control, and the people God is addressing in the text are not observing Sabbath. They oppress and exploit their workers. They are more interested in serving their own interests than in doing justice or helping another. When we take time for worship and rest, we can more easily hear God speak to us.
In this text, God speaks of a yoke. A yoke is used to control the one yoked. My granddad yoked his team of horses so he could better control their movements in plowing or pulling the wagon. He needed to keep them moving together as a single unit. The yoke in our text concerns controlling people through accusations and speaking evil of them. They couldn't control their tongues! This is an admonition from God to remove that yoke of control, and that admonition hits home.
When we follow God's conditions, we receive great blessings, according to the prophet. When we are kind and just in our words and actions toward people and keep the Sabbath holy, the rain clouds lift and the sun shines. Our needs will be met. Our role will change to that of peacemaker. And here the poet moves to mystical language as he describes the lives of those who delight in the Lord. He says that God will make them "ride upon the heights of the earth and feed them with the heritage of their ancestors." It's a marvelous image. However, there are conditions!
