Sunday 2nd March 2025
Isaiah 55.10–13
Psalm 92.1–4, 11–14
1 Corinthians 15.51–58
St. Luke 6.39–49
“For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace.” Isaiah 55: 12
Today’s first reading is from near the end of the Book of Isaiah. The early chapters of Isaiah contain both encouragements and warnings to God’s people, under the threat of the Assyrians from the north… About two-thirds of the way through, the tone of the Book of Isaiah changes: The prophet reveals that there will be a Coming One, a Suffering Servant, who will bear the sins of the people. (These are sometimes called the Suffering Servant passages. Almost all Christians understand that these verses are a prophecy about Jesus the Messiah, who will bear the sins of all people…) Toward the end of Isaiah, most of the verses change their emphasis again: There is a strong sense of new joy, of transformation within the very natural world itself, of coming wondrous transformation!… Let’s look at the last half of today’s reading from Isaiah 55:
For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (vv. 12-13)
Parts of the Bible are historical and so should be read as history. Parts of the Bible are letters and so should be read as letters. Parts of the Bible are apocalyptic and so should be read as apocalyptic writings… Parts of the Bible are prophetic or poetic, and so they should be read as prophecy or as poem. These particular verses include references to the magnificent transformation of nature itself:
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Clearly, this passage contains joyous poetry. Trees do not suddenly grow hands, or any other part of the human body. But nature itself will ring, as God will do a new thing among his people. As the hymn reads,
This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears,/
All nature sings, and ‘round me rings the music of the spheres.
The prophet also tells us that what is dead or ugly or unfruitful will be revived:
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle.
This can be understood in a literal sense – that death is not the end, but transformational new life follows instead… But this can also be understood in a spiritual way as well, that those who are spiritually dead in sin can be revived by the work of the Lord… Beauty and life will replace the thorn and the brier…
Do we get a sense of how to read these passages? They are movements of the heart… They can remind us, or point us toward, Jesus Christ himself. It is a kind of hymn of praise…
Perhaps it’s because of the British heritage that some of us have, Anglicans have sometimes been criticized that we have been “a little sparing of the hosannas;” we aren’t always exuberant in our acts of praise… Now, some of us are just made to dance and to sing, to overflow with the praise of the Lord… For others of us, we might not be so exuberant on the outside. That doesn’t matter so much… What does matter, however, is that we carry the joy of the Lord in our heart… These verses begin, “For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace…” It’s a kind of new Exodus for God’s people, a new journey into joy and peace and freedom…
Now, some of us might want to say, “Wait a moment, preacher!… Haven’t you watched the news this past week? It’s all doom and gloom!… If you are preaching about joy, then you are out of step with the reality of the world around us…”
However, carrying the presence of joy doesn’t mean that everything is all right in the world… It doesn’t mean everything is going all right with us!… We might be having a terrible time, but as we are a New Creation, as we bear the Spirit of God the Son, we can still carry God’s joy and peace, even in the fiercest of life’s storms…
That, I suggest, is exactly what we are supposed to do. The Lord Jesus didn’t promise us that life will always be easy. In fact, our Lord has warned us that we need to be prepared to bear our crosses (Matthew 16: 24), that we will be persecuted (24: 9), and so on. As another hymn begins,
Take up your cross, my Saviour said, If you would my disciple be.
Deny yourself, the world forsake, And humbly follow after me…
Surprise! The narrow road is actually the road to perfect freedom…
A life with Christ doesn’t mean that we will never face trouble, or challenges, in life… Sometimes overcoming the challenges we make is what makes us become great soldiers in the spiritual army of Christ’s love…
Peace and joy are spiritual states – the developing fruit of the Holy Spirit – which help carry us in the dark times…
When the world is quarreling and difficult, I suggest that is when we especially need the spiritual fruit of joy and peace in our lives… We don’t manufacture joy and peace by struggle and effort, like trying to lift a boulder… Instead, let’s take a long-term view: Let’s remember all that God has done for us through Jesus Christ, and that we are being shaped beautifully into our true Home; our eternal home…
Learning to cooperate with God as a choice of the will. Let’s choose to repent and to follow Christ, so that we may live for him as he lives in us…
I firmly believe that God doesn’t want meek or lazy disciples. He wants to make us great, so that we can share in his divine nature. Let’s desire to carry the joy and peace of the Lord; now and for ever.
Amen.