Westwood Presbyterian Church

November 29th, 2009

197 Browning  Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3K 0L1

REV. PETER BUSH's SERMONS

First Sunday in Advent (Isaiah 9:1-7)

     Promises, promises – they are all around us. The sports commentators tell us that the Grey Cup should be a good game – making promises about how exciting it is going to be. Advertising promises that a given product will transform our lives – like the amazing slicer called the slap chop – that turns leftovers into wonderful sandwich fillings and helps us get fit all at the same time. We hear promises from the politicians – if we vote for them there will be a pot in every kitchen and chicken in every pot – or some variation on that theme. Business leaders said all we need is this bailout and we will be able to turn the company around and all will be well, everyone will have a job and they will be able to put a chicken in their own pot.

     We grow tired – even cynical about the promises. For we have heard other promises – and found those promises lacking. The game was not as exciting as we were promised it would be, the product did not transform our lives, for whatever reason what the politicians promised is not what happened, and so on and so on. We have heard the promises – promises that we no longer believe – we have grown tired and cynical, unwilling to believe again, unwilling to hope again – for that is what promises raise in us – hope. Hope that things can change – hope that things will change. Our hope has been dashed so many times that we have stopped hoping. Stopped even listening because we don’t again want to have our hopes raised – it is too painful to have them dashed – we have decided it is easier to live immune to having our hopes raised. What you see is what you get – this is what life is like – we choose to settle for what we have, for what is.

 

     We across words like those in Isaiah 9 – big words like “the people who walked ion darkness of seen a great light – those who lived in the land of deep darkness on them light has shined”; “you have multiplied the nation you have increased its joy”; people “rejoice as with joy at the harvest”; and you have broken the rod of their oppressor. And we say to ourselves – those are flowery words – but it sounds a lot like what the politicians say. Promises of great things – promises of prosperity and well-being. And so we doubt whether what is described will happen, we doubt that this can in fact take place. It sounds like empty words – the words that people speak when looking for your vote – for your support grow – for your money.

     We have come to not believe the words of human beings – we know that human words are subject to being changed, forgotten, disowned. Human words – as the saying goes – “are not worth the paper they are printed on” – and the last time I checked that was about 1 cent a page. Human words are exactly that human.

 

     What sets these words off in Isaiah 9 as different from human words – is what comes at the end of the passage – “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” These are not just human words – these are not just some grand promises of the politicians looking for our vote, or the spin doctors looking for our support. These are not the words of the powerful trying to control the rabble – promising whatever they want so that there will be no riots. No these words – these promises are different. These are God’s promises – the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The zeal – the passion – the commitment – the drive of the Lord of hosts will be the one who brings this into being. This is not just one more thing on the divine agenda – this is a burning passion – this is the raison d’etre of God – the coming of his Kingdom.

     It is God’s passion to see the people of the world rejoicing – rejoicing that the rod – the yoke – the abuse of the oppressors is gone. It is God’s commitment to see the signs of war – the scars of war removed. The slate wiped clean – not just the visible signs, but also the emotional scars, the brokenness – all that gone – washed away. This is God’s dream. And with God, his words are not just words – they are not promises that do not get fulfilled – they are certain – they will happen.

 

     The sign that God will carry through on the promise – will act on His zeal – is that a child of promise is coming – one who mark the beginning of God’s action in bringing about this renewal – this shift from darkness to light.

     We want to know who is this child so we can know when the promise is going to be fulfilled. And that means we need to talk for a couple of minutes about the names given to this child. We know this part of the passage well for it appears in Handel’s Messiah. And in that context we are used to hearing these names referring to Jesus.

     Wonderful Counselor – in our time and place makes us think of going to get counseling, of someone on whose shoulder we can cry, who will bear our burdens. And while that is one of the things that God does – that is not the point being made by this title. Counselor in this case means – one who gives advice about actions to be taken – so a better translation would be “Wonder-working Planner”. One who has a plan about how to bring about what is promised and is capable of doing the impossible. The force of this passage is action – of God’s zeal accomplishing things.

     We come then to the middle two names – Mighty God and Everlasting Father. Now there is no problem connecting the first of the pair to Jesus – but the second “Everlasting Father” does not fit so well – especially since Jesus calls God the Father – “Father”. I think we would do better to think of these names as pointing to what is coming – rather than as being direct identification of the child. What I mean by that is – Yes, Jesus is the one who begins the coming of the kingdom – but he does not do it all by himself – God the Father and the Holy Spirit play a role – all three persons of the Trinity are involved in bringing about the coming Kingdom For the kingdom has come in Jesus Christ – but it has not yet been fully revealed – it is already but not yet.

     That comes abundantly evident with the last name – “Prince of Peace.” There are places where peace has come – unexpected, joyful peace – the bloodless overthrow of the oppressive Marcos regime in the Philippines; the end of apartheid in South Africa and the remarkable power of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to bring wholeness and forgiveness to a nation; the influence of the church in ensuring that the coming down of the Berlin Wall and the crumbling of Communism was not marked by purges of those who had supported the previous government. Yes, there are signs of peace and justice –signs of the righteousness of God’s coming kingdom – and in those we rejoice. But we see other places where peace and justice and righteousness seem so far away. We have our lists – lists that include Iraq and Afghanistan, but we would want to add Congo and Sudan and Somalia, even the north end of our city.

     And suddenly these names and the promises they carry are not just some past reality – not just something that finds fulfillment in a manger in Bethlehem. They speak to our time and place – speak to the difficulties of our world – speak to our hopes. For these words – this promise of peace – this promise that the scars – the marks of war will be wiped out – seem too much – too great – too beyond our ability to comprehend. But we come into those words – “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” These are not human speech – these are not nice, but empty words – these are the words of the One who is the wonder-working planner -- these are the words of the One who is the Prince of Peace – whose reign of peace is still to be seen in part – but will one day be seen completely. And towards that day we look – for that day we hope – and we hope with confidence for that that day is coming is assured to us by the “zeal of the Lord of hosts.”

 

     This is Advent – and just as surely as we know Jesus Christ came a first time – we can know just as surely that He will come again. Already we see signs of his kingdom which is waiting to burst into full bloom in our world. We wait for it with hope – for we know the kingdom is coming.