Epiphany 2 C + When humanity shines with glory + ACL and MCL + 1.19.25
When Humanity Shines
with Glory
Epiphany 2C, Isaiah 62, John 2, 1 Cor. 12
St Paul’s Emmanuel,
Santa Paula, and All Santos, Oxnard
The Revs. Alene and Melissa Campbell-Langdell
Our passage from Isaiah today is
one that captures our imaginations. One
only has to enter the first 3 words, “For Zion’s Sake” into a music search bar
to be almost overwhelmed by the number of times these words have been set to
music. All of which got me to wondering
this week what it is about this passage that draws us in so deeply? As I sat with various versions of this song,
one lyric in particular stood out. In
Juliet Spitzer’s 2003 paraphrased lyric she writes, “For America’s sake I will
not hold back my wailing, until the vindication of humanity goes forth as
brightness.” Now there are all sorts of
theological problems with equating America and Zion, so catch me after church
if you want to talk about that; however, I think Spitzer captures something of
the longing that draws us to this passage.
It reminds me of the passage in
Genesis where God looks at humanity and we are told that “the Lord was sorry
that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart”
(Genesis 6:6). This is the great fear at
the heart of humanity that we have been forsaken. The Israelites that Isaiah is speaking to in
this passage have longed to return home from exile. In their mind they imagined all the beauty
that would await them when they finally got there. And then they arrive and the land is
overgrown, their existence is difficult at best, and they are threatened by
enemies on every side.
It is easy in those places where we
feel desolate and forsaken to wonder if God is sorry to have made humanity, to
have made us. It is here that we join
our voices with Isaiah’s cry, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for
Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest” (62:1).
We long for humanity to shine forth with the brightness of what we were
created to be, for God’s making of us to be vindicated. But if I am honest, it’s not only in the
devastating times that I am drawn to join this lament.
I love that one of Mary’s most
poignant, powerful prayers in all of Scripture is “They have no wine” (John
2:3). She seems to say: Jesus, this was
supposed to be a joyous occasion and it’s going to turn into a humiliating
spectacle. She knows that this is not
life or death. But rather, this is about
joy and abundance. About not being shamed in front of one’s friends and
family. And, it’s about all of the times
when life doesn’t live up to what we feel in our hearts it’s supposed to be. We
may say, “Jesus, they have no (and you fill in the blank).” They have no water. They have no home. They have no place where they feel safe. They’re afraid to go to the store or
school. They have lost the one they
loved. Their connections with loved ones
past have been destroyed.
Martin Luther King Jr memorialized
this longing in our collective imaginations.
“I have a dream” not of the way things are right now, but of how they
should be.
It is a wonderful thing to be
persistent in our prayers and lifting our voices for ourselves and for those in
need. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells
a parable about a widow who persists in asking the judge for justice until
finally the judge relents and gives her what she wants and needs lest she give
him a black eye. There are moments when
we are called to simply keep going, but that is not the good news of this
Isaiah passage. In both Isaiah and
Luke’s parable of widow and judge there is a considerable amount of ambiguity
around who is speaking. Is God, perhaps,
the one who will not keep silent, who will not rest, until we have been
transformed?
In the recent movie, The Wild
Robot[1],
Roz the robot is at first only able to look for their assigned task. Shipwrecked on an island inhabited only by
animals, Roz keeps insisting first on communicating and then on trying to help
even when that help is rejected in fear.
Finally, an accident causes a newly born gosling to imprint on Roz as
parent and Roz takes on the task. In the
process of loving and being loved, Roz’ own programming inexplicably gets
changed. Roz begins to work not only for
the good of this particular gosling but also for the good of the whole
island.
Paul in his letter to the
Corinthians tells them that the Holy Spirit works in a lot of ways through all
kinds of people, so how can you tell when it’s the Spirit at work and not
something else? Paul explains that no
one is able to call Jesus cursed by the Spirit.
This might seem both obvious and not particularly helpful until one
remembers Jesus’ own words about how his disciples are to be identified: “Just
as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you
did it to me.” (Matthew 25: 40). No one
operating through the Spirit can wish their neighbor ill. As if to emphasize this point, Paul goes on
to write, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common
good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).
The Spirit works in a multitude of
ways and a multitude of people, but always for the common good. Each of us has
a gift to share and each gift is different, but each gift matters an awful lot.
Every one of us must share our gift, and we know that ultimately the
culmination of God’s kin-dom on earth will look a lot like each one of us fully
living out our gifts. In fact, I believe that God’s Spirit will not rest until
humanity is a crown of beauty.
Using imagery of newlyweds and the
joy of knowing that one is cared for and fully loved, Isaiah plays with the
idea that the land itself will be “Married.”
Just as God delights in us, humanity itself will once again delight in,
love and care for the earth. When we
truly live out our gifts, we will also live out our role as carers for all of
creation. Because we know that our earth is in peril now. We lament and cry out
now for all who have lost lives, homes, places of business, leisure, and
worship.
But we also take heart. Because Mary’s
lament, “They have no wine” turns into abundance. We are told that these
purification jars mentioned in John contained the equivalent of perhaps a thousand
bottles of wine. Not just enough for a party, but enough for one hundred
parties! As God in Jesus goes from “the time is not right” to “fill the jars
with water,” the moment of perceived social peril becomes the promise of God’s
abundant life for us fulfilled.
And the good news continues.
Because when we lament and reach out for help in Jesus’ name, we will be
changed too. John O’ Donohue says “the human heart is constantly being born” in
his book Anam Cara.[2] And we know that in the process of loving and
being loved, we are not the only ones changed.
Love itself gets re-programmed. God interacts with us, as the robot with
the animals, and learns our language, too. God hears our hearts’ desire. God no
longer repents of creation and instead promises abundance and joy. We are promised that one day we will shine
with all the brightness of the heavens. And the kin_dom will come in a creation
that is cared for abundantly, with space for all to party, whether with literal
wine or with a heart that simply glories in the wine of life’s joy!
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