Isaiah 11:1-10 Commentary

It can be hard to talk about fear. Once you get past fears of public speaking or mice or heights or whatever and start talking about fear at a gut-level, it’s an incredibly vulnerable thing. Our fears reveal to us who we are and what we value and what happens when we those things are threatened by circumstance. And fear never arrives alone. Fear brings friends. Combativeness. Retaliation. Reaction. Distraction. Denial. Hiding. Unhealthy habits. Addictions. Desperation. Disappointment. Powerlessness. Helplessness. There’s a lot to be afraid of in the world today, not least our own responses when fear and friends show up on our doorstep. Probably that’s always been the case. Probably it’s an enduring truth of being human.

Just imagine the people of Israel — an entire nation of humans with their fears and responses — receiving Isaiah’s prophecies. The first section of the book seems written from the golden age of God’s people in the Promised Land. Everyone is gliding smoothly along the surface of life. But Isaiah makes the mistake of looking beneath the surface and discovering fear in action: those with power wielding it harshly to keep their power. Those with wealth getting wealthier with no relief for the poor, the sick, the elderly or the children. Isaiah makes the further mistake of telling people about what he’s seen and warning them that this way of being will not stand. Folks didn’t care much for Isaiah’s ministry. It’s not so much that he made them afraid as that he pointed out how fear was already the grease keeping the engine of their shared enterprise chugging along.

The latter half of Isaiah’s prophecies are rooted in the historical realities and images of exile. The corruption below the surface bubbles over and the people are carted off to Babylon. Fear kept at bay or cleverly hidden is to be acknowledged now because it and its consequences are a giant mess right there for everyone to see. Isaiah who was, at first, attempting to afflict the comfortable — to compel them to see the collateral damage of their fear-driven selfishness and self-centered ways — is now in a position to comfort the afflicted. The images he paints provoke the people’s longing:

A king with wisdom and understanding. Another way to say “counsel” is “the ability to decide well.” Who doesn’t want that in a president? But is a leader like this anywhere to be found in Babylon? I read a linguistics handbook that suggested this translation of verse 3: “His great delight will be in respecting Yahweh. He will not judge on the basis of appearances, nor will he make decisions based on rumor.”  Who doesn’t want that in a president? But is a leader like this anywhere to be found in Babylon? Anywhere in human history? Here? Today?

The image of a King like this sounds wonderful … fantastical, even. And Isaiah goes on to demonstrate that such a King would reign in such a way that beasts would not harm one another. The general rule of survival-of-the-fittest, the food chain and all that will be thrown out of whack by the one who comes to govern in the fear of the Lord. Who doesn’t want a president like this? Where can such a one be found?

Commentator David L. Bartlett offers this observation: “This passage is not a call for action or even a criticism of injustice. These lines simply present unqualified good news. Whether in this world and history or beyond, they cry joyfully that God wills — and one day will bring about — justice and peace for the world and all its living creatures.”

After thousands of years of worshipping in this hope, that one day arrives. Though perhaps not as you might expect. A young man arrives at the synagogue. The Rabbi offers him a scroll, from the book of Isaiah.  He unrolled it and began to read: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Isaiah’s words here sing in concert with those expressed 50 chapters earlier. Jesus proclaims that Isaiah’s lofty, even fantastical hopes for a Savior are true. And that, more precisely, they are true in him.

If fear arrives with friends, then the good news, friends, is that hope shows up with reinforcements. Hope shows up with wisdom, with presence and peace of mind. Hope shows up with confident expectation, faith and endurance in our waiting. Hope shows up with strength enough to do the next right thing. In worship, hope is born and nurtured and enacted because, in worship, Christians learn what it means to stay put and rehearse what is true.

Note: In addition to our weekly sermon commentaries each Monday, check out our special Advent and Christmas Resource page for more sermon ideas and other Advent/Christmas resources. 

Illustration

At 1:30pm on October 26, 2018, an ordinary church service began in The Hague, Netherlands. The worship service lasted until January 30, 2019. One continuous worship service for 96 days.

Dutch law states that no legal action can interfere with or disrupt a religious service. Sheltered within the walls of Bethel Church was an Armenian family — the Tamrazyans — who, after living in the Netherlands for 9 years under asylum claims, after winning their case in court twice, recently had their case overturned and were set to be deported, despite credible death threats in their home country. So our siblings in Christ at Bethel Church in The Hague did what Christians are uniquely equipped to do — they started worshipping and they just…didn’t stop.

At first, it was hard to line up liturgists, musicians, preachers from within the congregation. By halfway through the pastor reports, “‘Even from abroad we’ve gotten help — there have been sermons held in English, French and German…It’s quite moving to us. I often see a pastor handing over the service to another pastor of another denomination who they would ordinarily not have anything to do with, liturgically.’”

The worship service only concluded when the leaders of the church received word that that the Tamrazyan family’s petition was granted and they would be allowed to safely remain in the country. Fearful reaction or retaliation, escalation didn’t keep the Tamrazyan family safe. Worship—and, more to the point, the One they worship—kept them safe. In the meantime, they learned the language and practices of hope through worship. And hope always brings reinforcements.