2024-09-15
17th Sunday after Pentecost “He Who Vindicates Is Near”
September 15, 2024 Isaiah 50:4-10
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Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
‘Lectionary’ is a church word. The Latin word ‘lection’ means ‘reading.’ Our church year ‘lectionary’ is the series of scripture readings we use every Sunday to hear the word of the Lord from the OT books, the NT epistles, and the 4 Gospels. I’ve mentioned before that we use a
3-yr cycle of lessons, so that in 3 yrs we hear a large swath of the whole Bible, & not just repeating our few favorite Bible stories & teachings.
Our lectionary OT reading is chosen to relate to the Gospel reading for the day. Today, the Teacher Jesus hears the scribes using their tongues to argue with the crowd about Jesus’ disciples, who were not able to cast out a demon that made a boy deaf & muted his tongue. So, in The OT reading we hear about how the Lord gives an ‘informed tongue’ & an ‘open ear’ to restore the trust of His servant, & help those who fear & obey the Lord.
It often doesn’t happen that the Epistle lesson for the day relates to the Gospel reading, but today it did. James refers to ‘tongues’ that are taught & bridled by either righteousness or unrighteousness; which results in producing either blessings or curses, fresh water or salt water.
Last Sunday, I mentioned that maybe we would talk about James 3 today. But I think what James writes about us using our tongues for good or bad doesn’t need further explanation.
So instead, let’s consider the OT reading from Isaiah 50. And let’s begin with an illustration by way of a true story.
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The winter of 1925 was very harsh for the residents of Nome, Alaska. But even worse, they faced a deadly threat. After treating four cases of what looked like tonsillitis, the town doctor, Dr. Curtis Welch, came to a dreadful conclusion. This was the extremely contagious diphtheria. Without an antitoxin, the whole town of 2,000 people, were going to get sick and die. This was very likely because the shipping ports had been closed for the season; and back then, aircraft were mostly those old ‘Biplanes,’ very limited in capability.
And if that wasn’t enough, the diphtheria serum could only last 6 days in the freezing temperatures of the arctic. The closest source of the drug was Anchorage, Alaska, 1,000 miles away. The Alaskan railroad could bring the drug to the town of Nenana, but Nome was still 675 miles away. So, the outlook was very bleak.
The town leaders discussed their plight. It seems that the only way to save these isolated people was to deliver the serum by dogsled. A relay of 20 mushers & 100 dogs was coordinated; they would only have 5 days to cover 675 miles. Two mushers in particular had to cover over 100 miles each thru very dangerous mountain passes and partially frozen rivers. It was 40 degrees below zero when the first dogsledder, Wild-Bill Shannon, left the town of Nenana with his 30-pound package of life-bringing serum. About the same time, sledder Leonard Seppala prepared to leave from Nome. If you’ve ever heard of the names of those sled dogs, Togo and Balto, they were two of the lead dogs for this vital race for life.
For even the most experienced dog-sledder, 40 below zero is brutal & risky. But with so many lives on the line, the mushers had no choice. They each set their faces to the wind, trusting the instincts of their lead dogs, and stared into the bleak darkness ahead. The task was the most difficult any of them had ever faced = looking impossible. But lives were on the line, and souls were grasping at hope, and the clock was running.
For all of us, there are times in life when the path ahead looks dark and difficult; impossible = we fear. There are times when we are unsure which direction we should take, or whether all directions will be too difficult, & end in failure. Maybe we’d have more courage if the challenge was to bring life-saving medicine to sick people; but our challenges are far less heroic. Even so, being shunned by family feels like 40-below; our health pains feel like we’re heading into a dangerous valley; our financial struggles make it seem like we have to cross a half-frozen river, and we’re don’t know which direction to take. Our troubles are common in this fallen world; but they make it seem like we’re forced to face a dangerous darkness. At times, our hope dries up.
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Our verses from Isaiah 50 are part of the third ‘servant songs’, as scholars like to call them. For the Jewish world, the debate continues about whether this ‘servant’ is the nation of Israel, or Isaiah himself, or the promised future Messiah.
But as Christians, we hear the clear witness of these verses in the divine light of the NT. Each of the songs paints another picture of the Servant; and with each one, we become more convinced that the Servant is ‘Yeshua of Nazaret,’ the miracle-son of His mother Mary, the ‘son of David’ & Promised Messiah, who came into the world at Bethlehem to redeem the whole world from the deadly sickness of sin.
In v 4, the Servant is depicted as one who is given the ‘tongue of God’ to sustain the weary, and has his ear tuned to the voice of God. In v 5, who has been the One who was not rebellious & did not turn away; not Israel, & not imperfect Isaiah, or you or me. The words of v 6 become even more clear for us to see the Messiah, the suffering servant. He offers his back & cheeks to those who strike, and he doesn’t hide his face from the mocking & spitting.
Now, Jesus is not the only person who has been beaten up or reviled = for we live in a wicked world. But no one except Jesus was whipped, beaten, scorned & reviled in fulfillment of the once & for all sacrifice of the spotless Lamb – to atone for the sin of man in the eyes of God.
And what does this Servant do when under such darkness, suffering, & temptation?
V 7 says He ‘sets his face like a flint,’ and is not put to shame; because he’s innocent before his Father. ‘Flint’ is sharp stone. When Jesus faced-off with Satan in the wilderness, it was with a stone-like will, & did not yield to temptation. In the days leading up to Holy Week, Jesus set his flint-face toward Jerusalem. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that the cup of God’s wrath would pass from him, if possible. But after the night of praying & sweating blood, Jesus looked into the darkness & declared, “Not my will, but yours, be done.” Why?
Because His mission was to deliver life-giving blood to the souls of men, women, & children who faced eternal death, and were running short on hope.
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There are times in life when our path ahead is dark. It’s when one medical test leads to another, because the previous one wasn’t good. It’s when the numbers on our bank statement are not adding up in our favor. It’s when the repair comes at the middle of the month between paychecks. It can be those times when we have a choice to make, and the advice & pressure from a selfish, immoral world-view looks like the only way out. It’s when we get that news about our adult child’s poor lifestyle choices, or about our grandchild’s rebellion,
or when a family member refuses to talk to us or reconcile. Sometimes the shadow over us is just because we are overwhelmed with all that has to get done.
In all of these, our lives become similar to the Servant; this is the same dark world He came to share with us. This life is beating us on the back & pulling on our cheeks; it enjoys mocking & spitting on us. Since the Fall into sin, the human ear is deaf to God, the eye is blind, and the heart cannot get beyond the doubt & fear – on its own.
The Stoic philosophy tries to answer this darkness. Marcus Aurelius once said, “Everything that happens is either endurable or not. If it’s endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it’s unendurable, then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well.” In other words: ‘quit grumbling. You’ll either make it thru or at death your troubles will be over.’ That’s not much help to say: ‘just tough it out till you die!’
The Epicurean philosophy has another answer: ignore the darkness ahead. Live for today; like there is no tomorrow. Get, grab, & use; don’t get attached to anything or anyone, they’ll just let you down. But that’s not the answer; if there’s no tomorrow, there is no hope or purpose. And even our old nature has an instinct & desire that there has to be more than what we see. If there isn’t, what we have now loses value & purpose & any enjoyment.
Now, the Stoic & Epicurean view does have a grain or two of truth, but they both miss the larger solution. Even Christians can miss the real solution. If when faced with the darkness & challenge of this fallen life, we say: pray harder, trust harder. ‘God helps them that helps themselves.’ Dig deep, and you can get thru it.
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But then there is ‘The Servant way.’ Why was The Servant able to set His face like flint against His troubles? Because He ‘dug down deep?’ No. V 8 said: because “He who vindicates me is near.” Why did this perfect Servant, the very Son of God in the flesh, need vindication? Well, not for His own sake, but for ours. Jesus’ status before the heavenly Father was always secure, because He was perfectly holy & obedient. And because He is worthy, He is our substitute before the Father. When cold, dark times are ahead, it’s important for us to hear & find two things in God’s vindication of Jesus.
First, we are to understand that the root of all doubt & despair is mankind’s separation from God after the fall – by sin; and you & I are born into the separation.
There was a time when we, the human race, walked with God in the ‘cool of the day.’
We had no worries or concerns because God was walking beside us every step of the way. With His image, we knew that we were His beloved. But when sin entered the world, we broke that relationship with God, in dark rebellion, we would walk alone. But a promise was made to us. When Jesus arrived as one of us, He took that separation from God upon himself on the cross.
The Father proved that Jesus substitutes for us sinners when He abandoned His own sinless Son. Jesus testified to that when He said: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). That’s the proof or vindication of the reality of sin.
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And secondly, we are to receive another reality. God sent The Servant & He finished all that He promised in order to bring us back, from death to life. Jesus was fully human for our sake, and in this life, He relied only on the promises of God’s Word. He defeated Satan’s temptations with The Word. When He set His face toward Jerusalem & the cross, He trusted that scripture-word that, as the Anointed One, the Father’s salvation plan would succeed.
Isaiah 50:v7 was already written down as Jesus’ hope: ‘he who vindicates me is near.’ There was nothing to fear. The strikers & spitters were waiting, they had reserved His place at Golgotha. But He was not alone; ‘he who vindicates was near’ to see Him thru the darkness; so that those condemned to death were waiting in hope. And because of His love for us, The Servant has restored us to His God & Father. God IS walking with us once again in Jesus.
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The cure for dark times is to hear again & remember that Jesus, the Servant, has walked before you. Obeying His Father perfectly, dying in our place, rising from the grave, He has done everything; and by the promise of our Baptism in Nis name, we have been clothed with Him. He has brought us into His body-the church, and He is our head (Col.1) Jesus & his life for us is the hope we have when we face a dark path. The same Father who cared for our Head will surely walk with us, and vindicate us who are His body; His children by grace & faith.
Whether we face trouble, temptation, or sin, He who vindicates us is always near.
It was two o’clock in the morning when musher Gunnar Kaasen & his dogs arrived in Nome. After the work of 20 dogsled teams, 5 grueling days, and 675 miles, the antitoxins arrived into the hands of the doctor. The people would be saved = with a price. A number of the dogs died of exhaustion, and many of mushers had severe frostbite. Today, the annual Iditarod Race commemorates the accomplishment of ‘the great serum run of 1925.’
But even that heroic feat cannot compare to the work, the sacrifice, & the victory when The Servant of Isaiah 50 faced mankind’s eternal darkness & death, and walked out of the tomb alive to offer to the whole world an eternal life in Him. The One who vindicates our faith in Christ is always near; our hope is the same hope Jesus had! Amen.